Chief Engineer (Air)

QinetiQ Limited; Amesbury; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Matched pension scheme

Private Medical Insurance

Dental Insurance

Employee discount portal

Job summary

QinetiQ Limited in the UK seeks a Business Chief Engineer (Air) to provide enterprise‑level technical leadership across the Air portfolio, ensuring safe, compliant and innovative engineering solutions aligned to customer requirements and QinetiQ strategic objectives.

The role leads multiple engineering disciplines, chairs governance across the lifecycle, oversees delivery on cost, schedule and safety, and acts as the primary technical interface for senior customers, regulators and industry

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or related STEM field.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) status.
• Membership or Fellowship in a relevant professional body (e.g. RAeS, IME, IET).
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain appropriate security clearance.

Responsibilities

• Defines and executes engineering strategy within the business aligned to corporate and customer objectives.
• Provides authoritative direction on complex, high-risk engineering activities.
• Leads governance and assurance across the engineering lifecycle (LCM 1–4).
• Owns First line assurance of technical bids, systems and solutions.
• Escalates critical engineering risks to leadership.

Skills

Strategic Engineering Leadership

Engineering Governance

Stakeholder Influence

Regulatory Compliance

Defence Industry Experience

Education

Bachelor's in Engineering

Chartered Engineer (CEng)

Security Clearance Eligible

Job description

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Location: Boscombe Down - three days per week on-site

Role Type: Permanent – Full Time

Role ID: 20366

Role Purpose

The Business Chief Engineer (Air) provides enterprise-level technical leadership across the Air business portfolio, ensuring the delivery of safe, compliant, assured and innovative engineering solutions aligned to customer requirements and QinetiQ strategic objectives.

The role holds delegated Engineering Delivery Authority and is accountable for engineering governance, technical integrity and through-life performance across all Air programmes, capabilities within scope.

Scope & Impact

• Enterprise-wide impact across a business unit or major portfolio.
• Influences delivery of complex, high-value and high-risk programmes.
• Impacts customer outcomes, regulatory compliance and company reputation.
• Leadership of multiple engineering disciplines and senior technical leaders.

Key Accountabilities

1. Strategic Engineering Leadership

• Defines and executes engineering strategy within the business aligned to corporate and customer objectives.
• Translates organisational strategy into actionable engineering plans, investments, and capability development.
• Shapes future engineering direction, including adoption of new technologies, facilities, and methods.

2. Engineering Authority & Technical Governance

• Acts as the senior Engineering Authority for the business portfolio, approving critical technical decisions, milestones, and deliverables.
• Provides authoritative direction on complex, high-risk or business-critical engineering activities.
• Leads First Line technical governance and assurance activities across the engineering lifecycle (LCM 1–4).
• Ensures engineering risks are proactively identified, assessed and mitigated.

3. Delivery Assurance & Operational Performance

• Accountable for engineering performance across all programmes within the portfolio, ensuring delivery to cost, schedule, quality, and safety requirements.
• Oversees technical bid quality, solution integrity and execution effectiveness.
• Drives continuous improvement in engineering delivery, processes and standards.
• Serves as the primary technical interface for senior customer stakeholders, regulators, and industry partners.
• Influences strategic decisions and builds trusted relationships at senior customer and executive level.
• Aligns engineering direction across business units and external partners.

5. Engineering Capability & Development

• Contributes to the UK Defence Engineering Leadership Team, shaping organisational capability, workforce strategy and long-term skill development.
• Works with Heads of Capabilities and Professions to develop engineering standards, tools, IP, data management and methodologies.
• Fosters a high-performance engineering culture.
• Ensures all engineering outputs comply with regulatory, internal, and customer assurance requirements.
• Owns First line assurance of technical bids, systems, and solutions.
• Escalates critical engineering risks impacting safety, cost, or schedule to leadership teams.

7. Delegated Engineering Authority

• Approval of customer engineering deliverables, technical solutions and assurance outcomes.
• Approval of engineering bids, proposals and associated risks.
• Authority to appoint and assign:
• System Design Authorities (LCM 1&2)
• Technical Assurers (LCM 1&2)
• Technical Leads (LCM 1 to 4)

Reporting

• Provides regular reporting to the UK Defence Engineering Director on business performance, engineering delivery and risk.
• Reports to the Business Managing Director on progress against business objectives, engineering risks and delivery status.

Key Capabilities/Knowledge

• Extensive experience in senior engineering leadership roles within complex, regulated air engineering environments.
• Deep technical expertise with recognised authority in one or more air engineering disciplines.
• Proven track record of leading large-scale, high-risk programmes and delivery of MOD strategic outcomes.
• Strong leadership, stakeholder influence and decision-making capability at leadership team level.
• Comprehensive understanding of MOD Acquisition and Support Policy and approaches.
• Comprehensive understanding of engineering governance, assurance frameworks and lifecycle management.

Experience & Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Physics, Mathematics, or a related STEM discipline.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) status through a recognised professional institution.
• Membership or Fellowship of a relevant professional body (e.g. Royal Aeronautical Society, Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Institution of Engineering and Technology).
• Eligibility to obtain and maintain appropriate security clearance.

Demonstrated expertise in:

• Airworthiness or platform safety management
• Defence Acquisition and Support
• 15–20+ years of defence air engineering experience.
• Significant experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Proven customer-facing leadership with organisations such as the UK Ministry of Defence and major prime contractors.

Why Join QinetiQ?

As we continue to grow into new markets around the world, there’s never been a more exciting time to join QinetiQ. The formula for success is our appetite for innovation and having the courage to take on a wide variety of complex challenges.

As a QinetiQ employee, you’ll experience a unique working environment where teams from different backgrounds, disciplines and experience enjoy collaborating widely and openly as we undertake this exciting and rewarding journey. Through effective teamwork, and pulling together, you’ll get to experience what happens when we all share different perspectives, blend disciplines, and link technologies; constantly discovering new ways of solving complex problems in a diverse and inclusive environment where you can be authentic, feel valued and realise your full potential. Visit our website to read more about our diverse and inclusive workplace culture. www.qinetiq.com/en/careers/life-at-qinetiq

• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Competitive holiday allowance, with the option to purchase additional days
• Options to join Health Cash Plan, Private Medical Insurance and Dental Insurance
• Employee discount portal: Personal Accident Insurance, Travel Insurance, Restaurants, Cinema Tickets and much more
• We are proud to support the Armed Forces community by honouring the Armed Forces Covenant and maintaining our Gold Award standard in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme
• Volunteering Opportunities - helping charities and local community

Our Recruitment Process:

Please note that applications are reviewed as they are received, so we encourage early applications. This vacancy will be closed when sufficient suitable applications are received.

We want to make sure that our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible and we aspire to bring out the best in our candidates by creating an environment where everyone feels value, heard and supported. If you have a disability or health condition that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your Recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Many roles in QinetiQ are subject to national security vetting being completed, applicants who already hold the appropriate level of vetting may be able to transfer it upon appointment. A number of roles are also subject to additional restrictions, which mean factors such as nationality or previous nationalities may affect the roles that you can be employed in.

Please note that all applicants for this role must be eligible for SC clearance, as a minimum.