Field Service Engineer - Naval Comms

Leonardo UK Ltd; England; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading defence contractor is seeking a Naval Communications Support Engineer for their Southampton location. The role involves supporting product development, in-service support, and conducting customer field support both in the UK and abroad. Ideal candidates will have experience with Naval Communications systems and hold an HNC or equivalent. The position requires physical fitness for field service tasks and entails travel to various locations, including military settings as needed. A strong understanding of engineering principles is essential.

Benefits

25 days annual leave

8 bank holidays

up to 12 days flex leave

Qualifications

• Experience managing performance and budgets.
• Physically fit to work at sea.
• Clear documentation skills complying with company standards.

Responsibilities

• Support product development and in-service support.
• Conduct field support at customer locations.
• Manage and generate budgets, risks, and reports.

Skills

Naval Communications systems

Operator experience in warships or submarines

System networking technology

RF bearing equipment

Cryptography

Message handling systems

Diagnostics and rectification

Technical documentation

Education

HNC or equivalent

Tools

MS Office

PowerPoint

Visio

Job description

Job Description

The Naval Communications Messaging and Support teams are looking for a Naval Communications Support Engineer to join them at Southampton. The team are looking for a driven individual capable of working independently as well as integrating into a close-knit team. The role would be split between Southampton and external platforms.

Main Responsibilities

• Support product development and in-service support
• Integration, test and acceptance responsibilities
• Design support including key documentation
• Field support at customer locations (UK and abroad)
• Remote support to deployed units

Key Experience and Skills

• Naval Communications systems, including external and internal comms
• Operator or maintainer experience in warships or submarines
• Familiarity with the following:
  • System networking technology
  • RF bearing equipment
  • Cryptography
  • Message handling systems such as MPS2000
  • Diagnostics and rectification of communications systems
  • Technical documentation and report writing
• Previous experience within a defence environment

Qualifications

• HNC or equivalent relevant experience

Additional Expectations

• Field service engineering work would often be expected to be off-site, requiring travel
• A full driving licence
• Due to the nature of our team, a full medical would be required for potential deployment to military platforms

In line with expectations working within a defence environment, the successful candidate would be expected to complete required security clearance prior to starting the role.

Annual leave/working arrangements

Annual leave of 25 days, 8 bank holidays and up to 12 days flex leave

37 hour standard working week

2. Purpose of Job

Supportability Engineering encompasses not only the management of complex systems, but the whole of the ILS disciplined approach that influences the product design and develops a Support Solution to optimise supportability and ‘Through Life Costs’. It delivers the Initial Support Package and ensures continued optimisation of the Support Solution in light of product modifications and changes in operational use and requirements.

We are looking for individuals who can effectively integrate supportability activities in synch with the lifecycle phase. Supportability Engineering includes Technical Publications, Training, Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) & Field Service Engineering (FSE).

The role is to assist in the analysis, preparation and delivery of Supportability Engineering activities with the main focus being Field Service Engineering. This is to support a variety of projects within the Leonardo company product portfolio across the Southampton and Basildon offices.

FSE

Essential Skills & Requirements

It is essential that all FSEs are physically fit and able to work at sea.

The successful candidate will be able to manage and generate budgets, utilise performance and overhead spend.

Skilled and experienced in managing Safety and generating Risk Assessments, the applicant will have a sound understanding of the applicable regulations. You will be required to write Overarching, Task Specific and Travel Risk Assessments. You will have a working knowledge of the Health and Safety legislation that apply, such as Manual Handling, Working at Height, etc. As an FSE, you will provide specific training, including safety, as identified within the risk assessments to end-users.

Demonstrable experience in conducting and leading field engineering activities including trials, development programmes, installation & commissioning, customer support and demonstrations both in the UK and abroad.

Generate Trials Plans, and Risk Assessments sufficient to conduct off site activities. The successful FSE will demonstrate the ability to produce Technical Field Reports.

Skilled and experienced in asset management techniques, planned preventative maintenance, reactive repair and documentation.

Capable of working as part of a small team or working alone in a challenging a diverse engineering environment.

The successful FSE will be able to demonstrate fault finding techniques on electronic, electrical and mechanical equipment’s down to component level. The applicant will be able to use specialised test equipment. You will have responsibility for the installation, commissioning, proving, maintenance and repair of company equipment, both on and off site.

The successful applicant will be responsible for the management of In-Service and Customer Return Failure data.

The successful candidate will have good interpersonal skills and will in many cases be the first point of contact with our customers.

The successful applicant may be required to occasionally work ‘On Standby’ this will be agreed with the line manager in advance. This will include evening, night and weekend work as part of a rota system.

Developing understanding of domain specific markets, customers/supply chain.

A good understanding of functional specific, LCM and business process.

A good working knowledge and understanding of the functional specific competencies and ability to apply them with supervision and direction.

Relationship building skills with cross-functional colleagues, customers and suppliers.

Level 5 Field Service Engineering

As a Level 5 Field Service Engineer (FSE) you will be working as part of a wider team. Individuals at this level will manage their own work with minimal supervision and solve problems that are moderately complex.

Typical Accountabilities

• Manage own development towards attaining professional standards and registration within a relevant body.
• Manage own work on a week to week basis, with minimal supervision.
• Work with Integrated Project Teams (IPTs) providing accurate engineering output and providing technical information to ensure informed decision making.
• Engineers at this level will be responsible for developing robust engineering solutions within their own discipline, taking into account the impact of their work on broader project issues.
• Engineers will be expected to plan and deliver their own work, across medium term planning horizons and provide complex technical advice to both internal and external customers.
• Engineers at this level will also be expected to translate customer requirements into clear technical solutions and specifications.
• Roles at this level will support programmes of work within the Function and will increasingly involve cross functional activity. Work content will require less supervision and will in the main be more complex in nature. The role holders will be competent and experienced in functional specific skills, business awareness and other non-functional specific competencies in order to be able to operate independently.

3. Key Responsibilities

Work with weekly input from the IPT to identify project needs.

Liaise with engineers and Subject Matter Experts (SME) to gather information, interpret the engineering information turn key points into suitable material; support the reviewing of material.

Working with a minimal level of supervision.

Organise and manage offsite activities to include documentation and logistics to successfully conduct trials and customer demonstrations both within the UK and at locations throughout the world.

PART 2: PERSON SPECIFICATION

4. Professional/Educational qualifications

An engineering background with a solid understanding of system design architecture.

Must be able to demonstrate evidence of working at a professional standard, ideally with customer interaction:

Typically experienced in more than one aspect of Field Service Engineering, covering Electronics, Software, Electrical, and Mechanical engineering.

The candidate will have a minimum of an: HND or HNC in Electrical and Electronic Engineering. Consideration will be given to candidates with relevant experience.

5. Prior experience required

Advanced MS OFFICE skills essential, MS Word skills with advanced knowledge of styles and formatting, paragraph numbing, creation of linked pdfs. Good graphical skills using PowerPoint or Visio.

Software application integration and faultfinding

The ability to Fault Find equipment down to component level, using specialised test equipment.

Previous experience of working at sea desirable but not essential.

6. Key competencies required for the job (intrinsic factors)

Highly Motivated

The candidate will be highly motivated and a 'self-starter' capable of working alone and managing their own time with limited input from their Manager. They must be able to make prompt, clear decisions adapting and coping with changes whilst considering all related risks. The role will involve working with disparate groups of engineers and support staff across multiple locations in the UK and overseas.

Clear documentation

Must be able to provide the IPT leads with robust documentation in the support of all projects and bids; this documentation will comply with company standards and processes.

Team Working

Must be a team player, providing proactive input to support the project and business delivery objectives.

Communication Skills

Must be capable of communicating with excellent written word skills. Presentation and inter-personal skills are essential to this role as working and influencing stakeholders is essential. A professional customer image is essential.

Technical Understanding

An engineering or technical understanding is essential to enable analysis and interpretation of the IPT’s requirements. Accurate recording of the customer requirements against their Statement of Work and the Requirement Specification is essential with referencing to all source documentation.

IT Literacy

The candidate must be able to demonstrate a high level of computer literacy.

Mobility

The Candidate must be capable of travelling between and working at UK and Overseas locations including customer sites for periods of several weeks at a time. In addition you may be required to work out of hours, to meet contractual requirements this could include ‘Standby Work’ and include night and weekend working.

Additional

The role will require UK Security Clearance to at least Secret Clearance (SC) Level.

Primary Location

GB - Southampton

Contract Type

Permanent

Hybrid Working

Onsite