Principal Electronics Engineer

WeAreTechWomen; Belfast City District; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Significant bonus

Strong pension

Private healthcare

Relocation support

Job summary

Thales in Belfast (Hybrid) seeks a Principal Electronics Engineer to lead and mentor a team of engineers across the full electronic lifecycle. You will design circuit assemblies and system architectures, drive component selection, and create schematics and PCB layouts while ensuring robust testing, validation and regulatory compliance to deliver state‑of‑the‑art solutions.

You will collaborate within a multidisciplinary group, contribute to bids, and work towards securing SC clearance.

Qualifications

• A relevant Engineering, Scientific or Numerate degree with a deep understanding of electronic design.
• Proven experience leading electronic engineering development or leading topics within the engineering development lifecycle.
• Experience in design of equipment for safety critical environments.
• Experience of requirements for DFT and DFM.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Excellent communication in a diverse, professional environment.
• Ability to lead, take initiative and mentor others.

Responsibilities

• Lead in the design of circuit assemblies and systems.
• Develop electronic architectures to meet design requirements.
• Lead component and sub-system selection and evaluation activities.
• Lead the creation of electronic schematics and PCB layout.
• Define testing, validation and debugging of circuit assemblies.
• Support development and integration testing of electronic assemblies.
• Create electronics specifications, development and verification plans.
• Ensure compliance with regulatory standards.
• Contribute to bid and estimating activities.

Skills

Electronic design

Leadership

DFT/DFM

Problem solving

Communication

Mentoring

Education

Engineering degree

Tools

PCB layout

Job description

Location: Belfast, United Kingdom

Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.

Principal Electronics Engineer

Belfast – Hybrid

Thales Integrated Airspace-protection Systems (IAS) UK designs and manufactures a range of cutting‑edge technologies ranging from air surveillance and mission planning systems to missiles. The company specialises in lightweight missiles and the integration of weapon systems into various platforms along with the systems to manage and exploit critical mission planning and air surveillance data. Belfast is also home to the Thales’s global Space Electric Propulsion Integration Centre.

The Role

As a Principal Electronics Engineer you will be expected to mentor, guide and lead others in the design of state‑of‑the‑art electronic systems that deliver world‑class performance. You will be working and developing alongside a multi‑disciplinary team of 45 Electronics Engineers, who are some of the most experienced Engineers in the industry.

Your role will span the entire product lifecycle from design requirements capture and analysis through to defining the system architecture and designing, building, testing and verifying that the solution meets the customer’s requirements.

The Principal Electronics role requires working within the team to optimise the design through trade‑offs, studies, analyses, modelling and simulation to produce a best‑in‑class competitive product. Your responsibilities will include:

• Lead in the design of circuit assemblies and systems

• Develop electronic architectures to meet design requirements

• Lead component and sub‑system selection and manage evaluation activities

• Lead the creation of electronic schematics and PCB layout

• Define testing, validation and debug of circuit assemblies

• Support development and integration testing of electronic assemblies

• Creation of electronics specifications, development and verification plans

• Responsible for compliance to regulatory standards

• Contribute to bid and estimating activities

What are we looking for from you.

• A relevant Engineering, Scientific or Numerate degree with a deep understanding of electronic design

• Proven experience leading electronic engineering development or leading topics within the engineering development lifecycle.

• Experience in design of equipment for safety critical environments

• Experience of requirements for DFT and DFM

• Solid, relevant, experience of analytical and problem solving

• Highly effectively communicator within a diverse, professional environment

• Self‑motivated, able to lead and take the initiative

• Outstanding team working skills

• Experience of mentoring and coaching others

Security Clearance Statement

This role will require SC Clearance. It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant will undergo, achieve, and maintain SC Clearance. Please visit the UKSV website for further guidance.

To be eligible for full SC, you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years. In some circumstances, a minimum of 3 years’ residence in the UK over the last 5 years may be accepted, with additional overseas checks. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the National Security Vetting (NSV) Agency - United Kingdom Security Vetting - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What we can offer

We are committed to giving you opportunities to be your best. We believe in embracing the passion and potential of our people, and to achieve this we offer market leading training, development and experiences, along with the opportunity to be mentored and coached by some of the smartest minds in the industry. We hire from within as our first priority, so you’ll have a myriad of opportunities within our diverse, global organisation.

Our packages will include significant bonus, a strong pension contribute, private healthcare, development focused targets and relocation support can be provided if required along with a variety of learning, development and career enhancement opportunities. Further support can be provided towards academic and membership attainments.

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At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role. Read more about our benefits here.

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring. Discover more about our programmes, employee networks, wellbeing policies, and inclusive features here.

Join Thales in the UK – Innovate with us and shape the future!