Principal Engineer – Electrical Engineering (Control and Instrumentation)

BAE Systems; Bristol; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading defense contractor in the UK is seeking a Principal Engineer for Vehicle Motion Control Systems. This role involves architecting designs, ensuring functional safety, and guiding a team. Applicants must have a degree in a relevant field and experience with motion control systems. Competitive benefits include relocation support and a range of employee perks.

Benefits

Competitive pension scheme

Employee share plans

Flexible health benefits

Private health plans

Shopping discounts

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience architecting and developing motion control systems.
• Experience designing safety-critical systems compliant with Functional Safety standards.
• Good understanding and experience of modelling systems using parameterised plant models.

Responsibilities

• Lead the development of the flight controls design solution.
• Provide support during design, integration and verification.
• Guide junior team members.

Skills

Architecting motion control systems

Functional safety compliance

Cyber security considerations

Newtonian physics

Education

BEng (Hons) / MEng or equivalent

Tools

Speedgoat simulation environment

dSpace

NI

Job description

Elicit requirements and describe a design solution (from a functional perspective).

Understand design constraints (due to existing hardware/ software).

Perform functional safety (FuSa), Quality and Cyber analysis on your designs and architect a system that satisfies requirements.

Develop, collate and publish evidence in support of, BAE product delivery processes & applicable standards.

Ensure your designs translate into MBSE or MathWorks toolchain, without loss of any function.

Manage suppliers to deliver the required solutions on time, to quality & budget.

Guide the development of more junior members of the team.

Be the technical Subject Matter Expert for the vehicle control system.

Develop the Validation and Verification plan, including MiL and HiL.

Attend factory acceptance tests.

Configuration and testing of equipment.

The Vehicle Control Team

An excellent opportunity has arisen for a Principal Engineer - Vehicle Motion Control System Architect, working within The Vehicle Control Team. The Principal Engineer (Vehicle Control System Functional Architect) shall provide support to the Engineering Manager and/or external specialists during design, development, analysis, integration and verification of our platform's motion control system (flight controls). The Principal Engineer shall lead the development of our flight controls design solution. They must be familiar with functional safety and cyber security principles and be a role model for the application of systems engineering activities within the team. The Principal Engineer shall be responsible for technical leadership, concurrent with fostering a proactive team culture and developing the competency and skills of the team.

Relocation Support

We offer relocation support packages across all Submarines roles, subject to meeting eligibility criteria.

Why BAE Systems?

This is a place where you'll be able to make a real difference. You'll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity of thought, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you'll be empowered to fulfil your potential. We welcome people from all backgrounds and want to make sure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability or health condition (for example dyslexia, autism, an anxiety disorder etc.) that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Qualifications

• BEng (Hons) / MEng or equivalent in a relevant subject.
• Demonstrated experience, hands‑on, architecting, analysing and developing motion control or flight control systems, within a Systems Engineering framework.
• Demonstrated experience designing or developing safety‑critical systems compliant with Functional Safety and System‑of‑Systems best practice.
• Demonstrated experience developing systems compliant with cyber security considerations.
• Good understanding of Newtonian physics, demonstrable experience creating parameterised plant models, filtering and state machines.
• Significant experience developing the functional definition of bespoke motion or flight control systems that are compliant with at least one of IEC 61508 family of functional safety (FuSa) standards (e.g. ARP4761, ARP4654, ISO26262 etc.).

Desirable

• Further higher education e.g. MSc, PhD, post‑doc positions.
• Experience developing real‑time MiL & HiL test in a Speedgoat simulation environment or similar (i.e. IPG, VI Grade, dSpace, NI etc.).
• Experience working on systems that have an HMI & GUI element.
• Technical report writing skills.
• CEng.

As well as a competitive pension scheme, BAE Systems also offers employee share plans, an extensive range of flexible discounted health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits, including a green car scheme, private health plans and shopping discounts – you may also be eligible for an annual incentive.