Principal Control and Instrumentation Engineer

Cavendish Nuclear; Hull and East Yorkshire; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday allowance

Pension with life assurance

Employee discounts

Job summary

Cavendish Nuclear is seeking a Principal Control and Instrumentation Engineer to lead the design, development and assurance of C&I systems for critical national infrastructure projects. The role sits at Grimsby or Hessle offices with hybrid working and potential travel.

The successful candidate will provide technical leadership across safety-critical projects, ensuring compliance with nuclear safety standards and regulatory requirements while coordinating multi-disciplinary teams through the

Qualifications

• Experience leading the design and integration of control and instrumentation systems in highly regulated environments.
• Experience with safety cases and regulatory standards (IEC 61508/61511).
• Ability to coordinate multidisciplinary teams across complex projects.
• Experience through full lifecycle from concept to commissioning and decommissioning.

Responsibilities

• Lead design, development, integration and assurance of C&I systems for complex projects.
• Collaborate with mechanical, electrical, process, civil and safety teams to ensure compatibility.
• Act as technical authority ensuring regulatory, quality and nuclear safety compliance.
• Direct testing, commissioning and system acceptance for safe, reliable operation.
• Engage with clients, regulators, suppliers and stakeholders to deliver projects.

Skills

C&I engineering

Project leadership

Nuclear safety

PLC/SCADA/DCS

Education

Electrical/Control/Instrumentation engineering degree

Tools

PLC

SCADA

DCS

Job description

Job Title: Principal Control and Instrumentation Engineer

Location: North-East Lincolnshire or Hull + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation: Attractive Salary + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Role ID: SF 75855

Lead innovative engineering solutions that power the future of defence, clean energy and critical national infrastructure

At Cavendish Nuclear we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as a Principal Control and Instrumentation Engineer at our Grimsby office or Hessle office, near Grimsby, Lincolnshire.

The role

As a Principal Control and Instrumentation Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across complex, safety-critical engineering projects that support national defence, clean energy generation and vital infrastructure.

This role is full time working 37 hours per week and can be based at our Grimsby office in North East Lincolnshire or our Hessle office in Hull. Hybrid working patterns are available, and occasional travel to other business and customer sites may be required.

Day-to-day, You’ll Be Required To

• Leading the design, development, integration and assurance of control and instrumentation systems across complex engineering projects.
• Collaborating with multidisciplinary teams to ensure seamless integration with mechanical, electrical, process, civil and safety requirements.
• Acting as the technical authority for engineering deliverables, ensuring compliance with regulatory, quality and nuclear safety standards.
• Directing testing, commissioning and system acceptance activities to achieve safe, reliable and compliant operational performance.
• Engaging with clients, regulators, suppliers and senior stakeholders to provide technical leadership and support successful project delivery.

Essential Experience Of The Principal Control And Instrumentation Engineer

• Experience leading the design and delivery of control and instrumentation systems within nuclear, defence, energy, process or other highly regulated industries.
• Experience coordinating multidisciplinary engineering teams and managing complex technical interfaces.
• Strong understanding of functional safety, safety cases and relevant industry standards including IEC 61508 and IEC 61511.
• Experience managing the full engineering lifecycle from concept and design through to commissioning, operation and decommissioning.
• Expert knowledge of programmable logic controllers, supervisory control and data acquisition systems, distributed control systems and field instrumentation technologies.

Qualifications For The Principal Control And Instrumentation Engineer

• Degree in Electrical Engineering, Control Engineering, Instrumentation Engineering or a related discipline.
• Chartered Engineer status with a recognised professional institution, or the ability to achieve Chartered status.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What We Offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Cavendish employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. This Window opens February through to March annually.
• 'Be Kind Day' enables employees to take one working day’s paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing.

Cavendish

We’re Cavendish Nuclear - a team of c5,000 specialists and a core part of Babcock International Group.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. Across clean energy, defence, and civil decommissioning, your work will contribute to projects that are critical to energy security and national protection. Together, we’re shaping a future that lasts — not only through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email [e-mail] with the subject header 'Reasonable adjustments requirement'. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 22/09/2026

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