Principal Engineer – Safety & Environmental Engineering (Control Damage Hazards)

BAE Systems.; Barrow-in-Furness; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 80,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading defense company in Barrow-in-Furness seeks a Principal Safety Engineer for safety and environmental engineering. You will lead technical initiatives, mentor engineers, and analyze nuclear submarine designs for safety compliance. Ideal candidates possess a relevant STEM degree and strong analytical skills. Benefits include a competitive pension scheme, employee share plans, and comprehensive health benefits.

Benefits

Competitive pension scheme

Employee share plans

Health and wellbeing benefits

Shopping discounts

Relocation support packages

Qualifications

• Degree qualified in a relevant STEM discipline or equivalent experience.
• Strong analytical, written and oral communication skills.
• Proven ability to produce clear safety case arguments.

Responsibilities

• Provide technical leadership as a subject matter expert in safety engineering.
• Mentor and develop engineers, guiding safety analysis.
• Analyze and influence nuclear submarine design using safety engineering techniques.

Skills

Analytical skills

Written communication

Oral communication

Problem solving

Education

Degree in a relevant STEM discipline

Job description

Principal Safety Engineer - Safety & Environmental Engineering

Location: Barrow-in-Furness – we offer a range of hybrid and flexible working arrangements – please speak to your recruiter about the options for this particular role.

Salary: Competitive

What you'll be doing:

• Provide technical leadership as a subject matter expert in safety engineering
• Mentor and develop engineers, guiding safety analysis and influencing design decisions
• Analyse and influence nuclear submarine design using safety engineering techniques, focusing on major hazards (fires, explosions including DSEAR, steam release)
• Apply engineering judgement to justify design safety and compliance
• Interface with regulators, clients within the MOD and internal stakeholders
• Develop and review safety case documentation to substantiate design safety

Your skills and experiences:

Essential:

• Degree qualified in a relevant STEM discipline or equivalent experience
• Strong analytical, written and oral communication skills with a practical and pragmatic approach to problem solving
• Proven ability to produce clear, structured safety case arguments and supporting technical documentation for complex systems
• Ability to identify, assess, and mitigate hazards in complex engineering environments

Desirable:

• Experience in highly regulated industries (nuclear, oil and gas, maritime, aerospace)
• Experience in DSEAR and fire risk assessments, including hazard identification and analysis
• Familiarity with hazard analysis techniques (e.g. HAZOP, FMEA, Fault and Event Tree Analysis)

Benefits

As well as a competitive pension scheme, BAE Systems also offers employee share plans and 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.

The Safety & Environmental team

This is an exciting opportunity to join an established team tasked with exposure to the wider strategic initiative. You will be working with six people from principals to apprentices, liaising with operational managers, heads of departments and the Health & Safety teams. This role offers exposure to the Wider Control Damage Hazards team whilst providing the opportunity for professional growth within the function. 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 that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Please be aware that many roles at BAE Systems are subject to both security and export control restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors such as your nationality, any nationalities you may have previously held, and your place of birth can restrict the roles you are eligible to perform within the organisation. All applicants must as a minimum achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard. Many roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting where applicants must typically have 5 to 10 years of continuous residency in the UK depending on the vetting level required for the role, to allow for meaningful security vetting checks.

Closing Date: 9th December 2025 – We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.