Chief Engineer

Prattwhitney; High Wycombe; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

RTX is seeking a Chief Engineer to lead the technical vision and governance of the FJCAST programme. You will assure secure, interoperable, data-driven training across UK Defence, NATO, and partner joints, integrating simulation, C2, data services and federated compute platforms.

The role demands deep systems engineering, architecture oversight, and collaboration with MOD, NATO, and industry partners. Extensive experience in Live, Virtual and Constructive environments is essential.

Qualifications

• Experience as Chief Engineer or Technical Authority in complex multi-disciplinary programmes.
• Strong systems integration experience in defence environments.
• Experience with SAFe, Agile, DevSecOps in regulated settings.
• Security clearance (SC or above) or eligibility.

Responsibilities

• Provide engineering leadership and act as the Technical Authority across the programme.
• Own the programme's technical architecture, engineering strategy, and roadmap.
• Lead modelling, simulation, synthetic environments, and LVC integration.
• Ensure governance, risk management, configuration management, and regulatory compliance.

Skills

Chief Engineer

Technical Authority

Systems engineering

Stakeholder engagement

Education

Chartered Engineer

Tools

LVC platforms

HLA/DIS

Job description

Location: High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire Position Role Type: Onsite At RTX, the world's largest aerospace and defense company, 185,000 great minds are united by purpose and inspired to make a difference solving the world’s most complex problems. With our three market leading businesses, world-class operations and investments in research and development, we offer capabilities and opportunity no one else can. Together, we push the boundaries of known science and find new ways to connect and protect our world. Raytheon brings the strength of more than 100 years of experience and renowned engineering expertise to meet the needs of today’s mission and stay ahead of tomorrow’s threat. We deliver solutions that help our nation and allies defend freedoms and deter aggression, creating a safer, more secure world. Join us and help shape the future of aerospace and defense.

Chief Engineer

About us: The Future Joint Command and Staff Trainer (FJCAST) programme will transform the delivery of senior staff training, enabling Joint Headquarters, operational commands, coalition partners and allied nations to train together across Land, Maritime, Air, Space and Cyberspace domains. Through the integration of simulation, synthetic environments, exercise design, data exploitation, operational networks and coalition interoperability, FJCAST will support the training, preparation, experimentation and evaluation of UK and allied operational headquarters.

The role:

As Chief Engineer, you will be responsible for the technical vision, engineering governance and solution integrity of the FJCAST programme. The FJCAST Chief Engineer is the senior technical authority responsible for assuring the delivery of a secure, interoperable, and data-driven Joint Collective Training capability. The role is accountable for integrating simulation, synthetic environments, operational systems, communications, and data services into a coherent training ecosystem that delivers measurable training outcomes, enhances operational readiness, and enables seamless interoperability across UK Defence, NATO, and coalition partners.

Key Responsibilities:

• Provide engineering leadership and act as the Technical Authority across the FJCAST programme, ensuring alignment with programme objectives, technical strategy, operational outcomes, and customer mission requirements.
• Own the programme's technical architecture, engineering strategy, and roadmap, leading the development of open, modular, scalable, resilient, and secure architectures that enable integration across Defence, NATO, coalition, and partner training systems.
• Lead the engineering strategy for modelling, simulation, synthetic environments, and collective training capabilities, ensuring effective federation and integration of Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) training systems to support realistic and operationally relevant exercise delivery.
• Ensure technical solutions enable effective planning, design, delivery, execution, and evaluation of Tier 3 and Tier 4 collective training exercises across UK Defence, NATO, coalition partners, and multi-domain operational environments.
• Serve as the primary technical decision-maker across the partner ecosystem and stakeholder community, providing technical assurance, solution oversight, and engineering direction throughout the programme lifecycle.
• Establish and maintain robust engineering governance, assurance, risk management, compliance, configuration management, and technical review processes, ensuring adherence to Defence, NATO, security, and industry standards and regulatory requirements.
• Develop and sustain strong collaborative relationships with MOD, NATO, coalition partners, industry stakeholders, and senior technical leaders, supporting programme delivery and collaborative working principles across a multi-organisational environment.
• Lead systems integration across simulation platforms, exercise management systems, command and control (C2) systems, communications networks, federated compute platforms, edge compute stacks, data services, operational CIS, and digital infrastructure, ensuring a coherent end-to-end training ecosystem.
• Govern simulation interoperability and information exchange standards, including HLA, DIS, and related Defence and NATO integration frameworks, ensuring seamless interoperability across joint, coalition, and multi-domain environments.
• Lead the development and evolution of the programme's data architecture, ensuring training, exercise, operational, and simulation data are exploited as strategic assets to support readiness assessment, lessons identification, experimentation, performance evaluation, and future capability development.
• Champion the exploitation of training analytics, operational insights, and After-Action Review (AAR) capabilities, enabling evidence-based decision-making, continuous improvement, force preparedness, and operational readiness.
• Ensure technical decisions support service continuity, resilience, availability, and operational readiness, maintaining effective service delivery throughout mobilisation, transition, steady-state operations, and capability evolution.
• Drive innovation and continuous improvement across engineering practices, tools, and methodologies, exploiting emerging technologies including AI-enabled training support, advanced analytics, digital engineering, synthetic environments, cloud technologies, and automation.
• Collaborate closely with Programme Director, customer representatives, and external partners to ensure coherent delivery, integration, assurance, and evolution of services, systems, processes, and technologies.
• Build engineering capability across the programme by mentoring technical teams, promoting knowledge transfer, and fostering a culture of engineering excellence, innovation, systems thinking, and professional development.
• Represent engineering interests at programme boards, design authorities, technical reviews, customer engagements, operational working groups, and senior stakeholder forums, acting as the senior engineering advocate for the FJCAST solution.

Essential Skills and Experience:

• Demonstrable experience in a Chief Engineer, Technical Authority, Chief Architect, or senior engineering leadership role within complex, multi-disciplinary programmes.
• Strong systems engineering and systems integration background, with proven experience leading engineering activities across the full programme lifecycle from concept, assessment and design through delivery, transition, operation, and sustainment.
• Experience delivering complex, multi-supplier programmes, ideally within Defence, government, or highly regulated environments, involving multiple stakeholders, subcontractors, and partner organisations.
• Deep understanding of Defence collective training, Synthetic Environments, Modelling & Simulation (M&S), and Live, Virtual and Constructive (LVC) training systems.
• Proven ability to develop and govern complex technical architectures supporting systems integration, modelling and simulation, distributed computing, data exploitation, operational CIS, and federated training environments.
• Knowledge of microservices, containerisation, orchestration platforms, and modern software deployment architectures.
• Knowledge of IT infrastructure, data centre technologies, server and virtualisation platforms, distributed edge-compute environments, networking, communications systems, cyber security, and secure operational environments.
• Strong understanding of engineering governance, technical assurance, quality management, configuration management, technology management, safety, security, and risk management frameworks.
• Experience with modern engineering and delivery methodologies, including SAFe, Agile, DevSecOps, ITIL4, digital engineering, model-based systems engineering (MBSE), or hybrid delivery approaches.
• Experience developing or governing data-centric architectures, including data integration platforms, analytics environments, data lakes/lakehouses, and the exploitation of training and simulation data to support operational readiness and exercise outcomes.
• Demonstrable experience working with synthetic training environments, simulation platforms, exercise management systems, operational CIS, controlled compute environments, and data-driven training ecosystems.
• Experience designing, delivering or governing distributed simulation infrastructures, federated training environments, server-based platforms, and edge-compute capabilities supporting collective training, experimentation, or operational rehearsal activities
• Experience integrating modelling and simulation systems, operational CIS, communications services, exercise management systems, and training support capabilities into coherent collective training solutions
• Experience operating within managed-service environments
• Ability to resolve highly complex, multi-dimensional technical challenges
• Strong analytical, problem-solving, decision-making, and strategic-thinking skills
• Excellent stakeholder engagement, communication, and influencing skills
• Experience leading capability development across people, process, technology, and data domains
• Ability to produce, review, and govern technical documentation
• Security cleared or ability to obtain (SC or above).

Desirable Skills and Experience:

• Experience supporting Joint, Combined, Multi-Domain and coalition training environments
• Experience supporting the planning, design, delivery, execution, and evaluation of large-scale collective training exercises
• Understanding of training needs analysis, training assurance, performance measurement, force readiness assessment, and the exploitation of training analytics and After-Action Review (AAR) capabilities
• Knowledge of Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Machine Learning (ML), digital engineering, and decision-support technologies
• Experience defining and implementing LVC architectures, simulation federation approaches, and interoperability standards including HLA, DIS, TENA, and NATO or coalition interoperability frameworks
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) status or equivalent recognised professional accreditation.
• Experience with defence modelling and simulation technologies, including interoperability and federation standards such as HLA, HLA Evolved/HLA4, DIS, TENA, and relevant NATO simulation standards.
• Professional certifications in SAFe, ITIL4, TOGAF, ArchiMate, MODAF, or related architecture, engineering, systems thinking, service management, or delivery disciplines.
• Knowledge of modern federated compute stack, edge compute, cloud platform technologies
• Understanding of global networking, communications systems, operational CIS, and information exchange requirements within deployed, coalition, contested, or austere operating environments.
• Experience working within secure, restricted, classified, NATO Secret, air-gapped, or otherwise controlled environments, including systems subject to accreditation, cyber assurance, and security governance activities.

RTX adheres to the principles of equal employment. All qualified applications will be given careful consideration without regard to ethnicity, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or identity, national origin, age, disability, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law.

RTX is an aerospace and defense company that provides advanced systems and services for commercial, military and government customers worldwide. It comprises three industry-leading businesses – Collins Aerospace, Pratt & Whitney, and Raytheon. Its 195,000 employees enable the company to operate at the edge of known science as they imagine and deliver solutions that push the boundaries in quantum physics, electric propulsion, directed energy, hypersonics, avionics and cybersecurity. The company, formed in 2020 through the combination of Raytheon Company and the United Technologies Corporation aerospace businesses, is headquartered in Arlington, Virginia.