Effects Optimisation System Architect

MBDA UK Limited; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 59,000 - 72,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Company Bonus up to 21%

Pension up to 14%

Flexible working

Enhanced parental leave

Subsidised meals and parking

Healthcare cash plan

Job summary

MBDA UK Limited is seeking a System Architect to provide knowledge and expertise for the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and Future Combat Air System (FCAS). The role requires leading a team, specifying concepts, and guiding system architecture through MBSE processes.

You will engage with customers and partners, and contribute to lifecycle activities within a high‑profile defence programme. The role involves strong governance, multi‑disciplinary collaboration, and potential international

Qualifications

• Strong understanding and experience in system architecting for complex systems, especially in early development with new technologies.
• Experience with model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools and approaches.
• Strong technical governance abilities across small team task management, support to customer demonstrations, and lifecycle activities.
• Demonstrated ability to lead and manage a team and influence the technical direction of the programme.
• Ability to clearly communicate new concepts and architectures to internal and external stakeholders.
• Cultural awareness to work with multi-disciplinary teams supporting technology and concepting.
• Ability to navigate uncertain early concept development and progress towards defining solutions.

Responsibilities

• Lead and manage a Weapon System Architect team and shape technical direction for GCAP/FCAS programs.
• Specify concepts and architectures; organize them through the system architecture and MBSE workflows.
• Provide governance and support to customer demonstrations and lifecycle activities.
• Communicate complex architectures clearly to stakeholders and collaborators.
• Support international travel and collaboration with partners as needed.

Skills

System architecture

MBSE tools

Team leadership

Stakeholder communication

Governance

Multi-disciplinary teamwork

Concept development

Tools

MBSE tools

Job description

MBDA are at the forefront of the one of the most exciting and challenging programmes within Defence – to design and deliver the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) for the RAF and international partners in record time!

Salary: Circa £65,000 depending on experience

Dynamic (hybrid) working: 4 days per week on-site due to workload classification

Security Clearance: British Citizen

Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Security Clearance checks (SC), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.

What we can offer you:

• Company Bonus: Bonus of up to 21% of base salary
• Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
• Flexible working: We welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements
• Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave -enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments
• Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more…
• Healthcare Cash Plan: The Healthcare Cash Plan benefit provides the option to claim cash back on everyday healthcare expenses such as optical, dental, health and wellbeing and more.

The opportunity:

We are looking for a System Architect to provide knowledge and expertise to an exciting new product as part of the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), and Future Combat Air System (FCAS) programme. The successful candidate will be an analytical systems thinker, able to specify new concepts and algorithms, and organise them through the system architecture.

What we're looking for:

• A strong understanding and experience of system architecting for complex systems, particularly in early development with new technologies.
• Experience with model-based systems engineering (MBSE) tools and approaches.
• Strong technical governance abilities across small team task management, support to customer demonstrations, and contribution to system development lifecycle activities.
• Demonstrated ability to directly lead and manage a team, and influence the technical direction of the broader programme.
• An ability to clearly communicate new concepts and architectures to a variety of internal and external stakeholders.
• The ability and cultural awareness to work with multi-disciplinary teams supporting technology and concepting.
• Confidence to embrace the uncertain nature of early concept development and technologies to progress towards defining solutions and system concepts.
• An understanding of aspects of weapon systems, platforms, mission system software, and battlespace architectures will be beneficial.

Here's what's in it for you:

• This is a high profile role with joint working across our customers, industry partners, and our business including systems engineering, algorithms, software, experimentation, and sales.
• This is a new programme of work, so there is opportunity to shape it as it grows.
• The role will develop a broad skill base, across technology and systems engineering processes.
• Opportunity to facilitate experiments with the customer community to communicate, explore and test them.
• There could be opportunity to travel internationally.

Join a great team!

You will be joining a growing team of highly skilled people working across the breadth of MBDA's current and future products. Your department is focussed on growing and developing a team of excellent Weapon System Architects. This is a small but experienced team focussed on technical solutions and setting the right design principles with new projects.

Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given

MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more…

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.

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