Principal Supportability Engineer

weServed; Helensburgh; Hybrid; GBP 57,000 - 72,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Generous holiday allowance

Pension with life assurance

Digital GP and health checks

Employee shopping portal

Professional fees coverage

Be Kind Day

Job summary

Babcock in the United Kingdom is seeking a Principal Supportability Engineer at HMNB Clyde Faslane with hybrid working. You will lead supportability activities across defence programmes, ensuring availability, maintainability and through-life performance are embedded from the outset.

The role requires Chartered Engineer status and a engineering degree, with SC clearance. Collaborate with managers, engineers and suppliers to drive continuous improvement and lifecycle success.

Qualifications

• Significant experience delivering supportability solutions within complex defence/marine/nuclear industries.
• Experience providing technical leadership across major programmes or initiatives.
• Ability to analyse maintenance, repair and overhaul to improve performance.

Responsibilities

• Lead supportability activities across a portfolio of defence programmes.
• Develop engineering solutions to improve availability and through-life performance.
• Analyse maintenance and overhaul requirements to boost operational effectiveness.

Skills

Supportability engineering

Defence industry

Technical leadership

Stakeholder management

Maintenance analysis

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Engineering

Chartered Engineer (CEng)

CPD in engineering

Job description

Job Title: Principal Supportability Engineer

Location: Helensburgh, Argyll and Bute + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation: £57,300 - £71,600 + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Role ID: SF75707

Help Shape the Future of Defence Capability

At Babcock we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as a Principal Supportability Engineer at our HMNB Clyde Faslane site.

The role

As aPrincipal Supportability Engineer, you’ll have a role that’s out of the ordinary. You'll play a critical role in developing the future capabilities that support the UK's submarine programme and wider defence infrastructure. Working within our Future Programmes team, you'll provide technical leadership across high-profile projects, ensuring supportability, maintainability and availability are built into complex engineering solutions from the outset.

Day-to-day, you'll be required to:

• Leading supportability engineering activities across a portfolio of future defence programmes and projects.
• Developing engineering and support solutions that improve availability, maintainability and through-life performance.
• Analysing maintenance, repair and overhaul requirements to enhance operational effectiveness and support outcomes.
• Collaborating with project managers, engineers, customers, suppliers and senior stakeholders to embed supportability requirements.
• Driving continuous improvement initiatives and providing technical leadership across strategic programme activities.

This role is full time, 36 hours per week Monday to Thursday 07:15 – 16:45 and provides hybrid working arrangements.

Essential experience of the Principal Supportability Engineer

• Significant experience delivering supportability, maintenance or engineering solutions within complex defence, marine, nuclear or similarly regulated industries.
• Experience providing technical leadership across major programmes, projects or engineering initiatives.
• Experience analysing maintenance, repair and overhaul activities to improve operational performance.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including engagement with customers, suppliers and senior leadership teams.
• Experience developing innovative engineering solutions and driving continuous improvement.

Qualifications for the Principal Supportability Engineer

• Bachelor's Degree (or equivalent) in an Engineering discipline.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) status, or the ability to achieve professional registration within one year.
• Demonstrable continuing professional development within an engineering discipline.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. 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 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 Babcock 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

Babcock

We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 29,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please [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: 15/10/2026

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