Project Engineering Lead

Leonardo UK Ltd; Basildon; Hybrid; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexi-days and extended leave

Pension with ~15% employer contrib.

Mental health support

Bonus scheme

Free online courses (Coursera/LinkedIn

Referral programme

Flexible benefits up to £500

Hybrid working

Job summary

Leonardo UK Ltd in the United Kingdom is seeking a Project Engineering Lead to drive the engineering content for future programmes. You will lead cross-disciplinary teams, ensure compliance with customer requirements, and contribute to governance and bid activities across multiple projects.

Based in Basildon with hybrid working, the role requires strong leadership, proactive communication and a solid product design and business awareness to manage engineering efforts within project contexts.

Qualifications

• Educated to a degree level in an engineering-related subject (essential).
• Experience leading multi-disciplined engineering teams (essential).
• Experience leading low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) research programmes (essential).
• Strong understanding of engineering lifecycles and processes (essential).
• Experience developing hardware electronics, firmware and mechanical products (desirable).
• Experience collaborating with external partners on development activities (desirable).
• Experience in defence or aerospace industry (desirable).

Responsibilities

• Engineering Delivery: manage multi-disciplinned teams and deliver output against time, cost and performance budgets.
• Planning and Risk Management: create clear plans, milestones and identify risks and inter-dependencies.
• Stakeholder Management: prepare and communicate monthly status reports to line manager.
• Business Winning: coordinate engineering input into bids as part of the process.
• Leadership: line manage a cross-functional team and develop engineers' careers.

Skills

Engineering degree

Team leadership

TRL programme experience

Engineering lifecycles

Hardware/firmware/mechanical

External partner collaboration

Defence/aerospace experience

Education

Engineering degree

Job description

Job Description: Your Impact Due to continued growth in the sector, we have a requirement for an additional Project Engineering Lead to deliver the engineering content of our Future Seeker programmes. Our Future Seekers area delivers leading edge research, working with a range of internal and external partners. Project Engineering Leads are responsible for the total engineering activity undertaken on a project or portfolio of projects and so manage cross-disciplined engineering teams. The Project Engineering Lead is tasked to ensure that the engineering team delivers a solution that is compliant with the customer technical requirements; contractual requirements; and legislative requirements. Reporting to a Project Engineering Manager, the Project Engineering Lead contributes to the monthly engineering governance cycle through preparation of engineering status reports. Project Engineering Leads build strong relationships with Engineering Functional Leads to ensure the resourcing plans for their projects are realistic and any issues arising are resolved swiftly. Project Engineering Leads play a key role in business winning activities, coordinating the collection of engineering costs, preparation of engineering plans and holding engineering bid reviews. The role requires a candidate who is self-motivated, proactive and enthusiastic, with strong leadership and communication skills. The ability to foster and develop effective working relationships is key to ensure engineers perform to the levels required of the projects. A strong product design, commercial and business awareness is also essential to ensure that the engineering effort can be managed in the correct context for each given project.

Key Responsibility Areas

Engineering Delivery

Project Engineering Leads manage multi-disciplined engineering team across multiple projects. Working closely with project managers and project engineering managers, they are responsible for delivery of the overall engineering output against time, cost and performance budgets. They are accountable for engineering decision-making within the project, including leading cross-discipline trade-offs and resolution of complex technical issues. They drive design maturity and lead engineering design reviews.

Planning and Risk Management

Project Engineering Leads are responsible for generating clear and relevant engineering plans, establishing key milestones and identifying risks, opportunities and inter-dependencies. They are responsible for reviewing the current engineering positions on projects, and adapting plans as required to mitigate risks to either cost, schedule or performance budgets.

Stakeholder Management

Project Engineering Leads prepare and communicate monthly engineering status reports for each of their assigned projects into their line manager.

Business Winning

Project Engineering Leads are responsible for the coordination of engineering input into bids as part of the business winning process.

Leadership

Project Engineering Leads line manage a multi-disciplinary team or engineers, playing an active role in their career development.

Skills, Qualifications & Knowledge Required

The following skills and experience are required:

• Educated to a degree level in an engineering-related subject (essential)
• Previous experience of managing and/or leading multi-disciplined engineering teams (essential)
• Previous experience of managing and/or leading low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) research programmes (essential)
• Strong understanding and proven track record of engineering lifecycles and processes (essential)
• Experience of working on the development of hardware electronics, firmware and mechanical based products (desirable)
• Experience of collaborating with external partners on development activities (desirable)
• Experience of working within the defence or aerospace industry (desirable)

Intrinsic Factors

The candidate must have demonstrable relevant experience and proven success in their previous roles. The candidate must have well-rounded engineering experience in all phases of the design lifecycle and must have previous significant exposure to all aspects of engineering planning.

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/security-and-vetting

Why join us

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work-life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part time opportunities, please talk to us about what might be possible for this role. For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website.

Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity. Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety. At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Locations and Working Arrangements

Primary Location: GB - Basildon Additional Locations: GB - Bristol - Coldharbour Lane, GB - Southampton Contract Type: Permanent Hybrid Working: Hybrid International, multicultural, innovative, technological: this is Leonardo. The company’s passionate and talented team is strongly influenced by STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) expertise, with a diverse range of experience that enables colleagues to share knowledge and know-how across the generations.