Principal Systems Engineer

Fortress Recruit is supporting a leading defence engineering organisation in their search for an experienced Principal Systems Engineer to join their specialist engineering team based in Poole.

This role offers the opportunity to provide technical leadership across complex electrical and electronic systems, taking ownership of engineering programmes throughout the full product lifecycle, from requirements and concept development through to detailed design, verification, qualification, manufacturing and customer acceptance.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Providing technical leadership across multiple complex engineering programmes, ensuring delivery against customer and business requirements
• Taking technical ownership of electrical and electronic systems and ensuring compliance with applicable engineering, quality and defence standards
• Leading and mentoring multidisciplinary engineering teams, providing technical direction and guidance throughout the product lifecycle
• Producing, reviewing and approving electrical engineering documentation including schematics, specifications, interface definitions and verification evidence
• Supporting requirements development, system definition, design reviews, verification, validation and qualification activities
• Managing technical risk and ensuring appropriate engineering governance is maintained throughout project delivery
• Working closely with customers, suppliers, production, quality, project management and certification teams to resolve technical issues and deliver programme objectives
• Supporting technical cost estimates and ensuring engineering activities remain aligned with project cost, quality and schedule requirements
• Contributing to continuous improvement of engineering processes, standards and ways of working
• Maintaining knowledge of relevant defence technologies, standards and engineering best practice

To be successful in this role, you will have:

• A recognised Degree or equivalent qualification in Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering or a closely related discipline
• Significant experience in electrical, electronic or systems engineering, ideally within defence or another highly regulated industry
• Proven experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams and providing senior technical direction
• Strong understanding of the complete engineering lifecycle, from concept and design through to verification, qualification, manufacture and customer acceptance
• Extensive experience producing, reviewing and approving electrical design documentation
• Strong experience in technical risk management, engineering governance and design reviews
• Experience with design verification and validation
• Working knowledge of electrical CAD systems such as Zuken E3, EPLAN or equivalent
• Strong stakeholder management and communication skills, with the ability to operate confidently with customers, suppliers and senior internal stakeholders
• Chartered Engineer status or actively working towards CEng is desirable
• Knowledge of DEF STAN, MIL-STD, EMC, environmental qualification, configuration management and requirements management would be advantageous
• Eligibility for SC clearance (5 years' UK residency without visa or sponsorship requirement)

This role offers genuine technical ownership across the complete engineering lifecycle. You'll be working on complex defence products designed to operate in demanding environments, giving you the opportunity to influence technical decisions from initial requirements through to manufacture and customer acceptance.

This is a permanent, full-time role based in Poole, with the opportunity to work within a specialist defence engineering environment on mission-critical products and programmes. On offer is a competitive salary plus opportunities for professional development and progression within a growing engineering organisation.

For more details or a confidential discussion, apply or contact Devon directly on (phone number removed)