Maritime Systems Safety Group Lead

MBDA Missile Systems; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 63,000 - 77,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus up to 21%

Pension up to 14%

Flexible working

Enhanced parental leave

Site facilities

Healthcare plan

Job summary

MBDA Missile Systems in the United Kingdom seeks an experienced Maritime Safety Group Lead within our Safety and Reliability Engineering Department. You will lead a team of safety engineers supporting complex Maritime Defence programmes, balancing technical leadership with hands-on contribution to hazard analyses and safety cases.

You will guide risk assessments, influence design decisions, develop your team, and promote continuous improvement in safety engineering practices across product

Qualifications

• Strong background in systems safety engineering, ideally within Defence or complex safety-critical industry.
• Experience applying safety engineering to equipment and systems design.
• Ability to lead or develop engineers and coordinate workloads.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop a team of safety engineers, balancing hands-on work with leadership.
• Prepare hazard analyses, safety cases and supporting evidence.
• Influence design decisions to ensure safety is integral to development and certification.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Analytical thinking

Mentoring

Adaptability

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

Are you an experienced Systems Safety Engineer or Safety Manager looking for your next challenge in Defence?

We are looking for a safety engineering leader who combines sound technical judgement with the experience to develop people, influence engineering decisions and help shape how safety is delivered across complex Maritime systems. If you understand that product safety starts with good engineering and are motivated to challenge established approaches and improve how things are done, we would like to hear from you.

Salary

Circa £70,000 depending on experience

Dynamic (hybrid) working

2-3 days per week onsite due to workload classification

Security Clearance

British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship

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 undergone HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), 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

Join our Safety and Reliability Engineering Department as a Maritime Safety Group Lead, leading a team of safety engineers supporting complex Maritime Defence programmes.

This is a role for someone who can bring together technical expertise, people leadership and a broader perspective on the future of safety engineering. You will build on the strengths of the existing team, bringing complementary experience and fresh thinking to help us meet changing engineering demands.

As product development accelerates and digital technologies transform the engineering environment, safety engineering must adapt too. You will help the team respond to these changes, improve how we work and ensure that safety remains integral to product design and development.

The Role

You will lead and develop a team of safety engineers while retaining a hands-on technical contribution. Working closely with design teams, systems engineers and other stakeholders, you will apply safety engineering techniques to understand hazards, assess risk and influence the design of complex products.

You will prepare and guide the development of hazard analyses, safety cases and supporting technical evidence, applying engineering judgement to determine what is needed to demonstrate that risks have been adequately addressed. You will also help integrate safety engineering into the wider systems engineering process, ensuring that safety informs design decisions rather than becoming an activity focused solely on compliance or documentation.

Alongside delivering across multiple projects, you will support the development of your team, encourage constructive challenge and identify opportunities to improve our engineering processes and practices. You will need to balance technical priorities, people development and delivery commitments while helping the function adapt to changing ways of working.

What are we looking for?

• Experienced safety engineer: A strong background in systems safety engineering, product safety engineering or a related discipline, ideally within Defence or another complex, safety-critical industry.
• Engineering-led approach: Practical experience applying safety engineering techniques to equipment and systems design, working with design teams to identify hazards, understand failure mechanisms and influence risk-reduction measures.
• Leadership capability: Experience leading or developing engineers, coordinating workloads and supporting effective delivery across multiple projects.
• Technical breadth: Knowledge of hazard analysis, functional failure analysis, fault tree analysis, safety cases and supporting evidence.
• Systems engineering knowledge: An understanding of how safety engineering integrates with system development and product certification, including relevant UK and international standards such as Defence Standard 00-056.
• Constructive challenge: The confidence to question established approaches, bring complementary expertise and work collaboratively with colleagues to reach sound engineering decisions.
• Adaptability: An interest in continuous improvement and the ability to respond to rapid development, digital transformation and the effective use of digital technologies in engineering.
• Communication and judgement: Strong analytical, interpersonal and communication skills, with the ability to influence stakeholders and balance technical risk with programme priorities.
• Developing others: A commitment to sharing knowledge, mentoring engineers and building a capable, collaborative team.
• Qualifications: A relevant engineering degree or equivalent professional experience.

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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