Senior Engineering Lead – Counter-Uncrewed Systems

Sopra Steria; Hemel Hempstead; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 100,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

£5,400 car allowance

25 days holiday (+ optional 10 days)

AXA medical insurance

6% pension contribution

Life assurance at 4x salary

Job summary

Sopra Steria UK is seeking a senior systems engineering leader to build and lead a UK Counter Uncrewed Systems business. You will shape capability to bring a proven C UxS command and control solution to the UK market and work with defence customers to translate requirements into robust technical designs.

The role covers directing UK engineering activity, leading integration with sensors, communications and wider defence systems, and delivering high‑quality technical documentation.

Qualifications

• Proven systems engineering and systems integration experience within military/defence secure environment.
• Experience integrating complex systems involving C4ISR, sensors, radar, communications or electronic systems.
• Strong customer-facing and technical communication skills, including producing clear technical documentation.
• Knowledge of defence interoperability and data standards, including SAPIENT or comparable standards.
• Familiarity with NATO standards, STANAGs, open architectures or modular system design.

Responsibilities

• Lead the integration of the Counter-UAS C2 solution with sensors, effects, and wider defence systems.
• Engage with MOD, military and government customers to translate operational needs into technical requirements.
• Set the technical direction for UK engineering activity and coordinate with France to deliver UK capability.
• Lead integration design, interface definition, verification and interoperability across complex systems.
• Produce and review high-quality technical documentation including system designs and test plans.
• Support customer demonstrations and field-based activity, with limited European travel.

Skills

Systems engineering

Systems integration

C4ISR

Defence interoperability

Customer-facing communication

Technical documentation

Job description

An opportunity to be a part of building and leading a UK Counter Uncrewed Systems (C UxS) business for Sopra Steria UK. You will help build the technical capability to take a proven C UxS Command and Control solution (Boreades) into the UK market. The role requires a strong understanding of defence systems integration, experience with military strike and sensor systems, and the ability to translate customer requirements into robust technical solutions. The role will suit someone with strong systems engineering and integration experience who is comfortable working directly with defence or government customers, providing technical direction to engineering teams and supporting demonstrations in operational environments.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead the integration of our Counter-UAS Command and Control solution with sensors, effectors, communications and wider defence systems.
• Work directly with MOD, military and government customers to understand operational needs and translate them into clear technical and system requirements.
• Set the technical direction for UK engineering activity, working closely with engineering teams and colleagues in France to deliver the UK capability.
• Lead integration design, interface definition, verification and interoperability across complex military and defence systems.
• Produce and review high-quality technical documentation, including system designs, integration plans, technical proposals and test documentation.
• Support regular customer demonstrations and field-based activity, alongside limited European travel, primarily to France.

What You’ll Bring

• Proven systems engineering and systems integration experience within a military, defence or similarly complex secure environment.
• Experience integrating complex systems involving areas such as Command and Control, communications, sensors, radar, electronic systems or military strike/effect systems.
• Strong experience leading technical integration and turning customer requirements into workable engineering solutions.
• Working knowledge of C4ISR environments and how multiple systems, platforms and technologies integrate across a wider enterprise.
• Knowledge of defence interoperability and data standards, including SAPIENT or comparable standards and integration frameworks.
• Strong customer-facing and technical communication skills, including the ability to produce clear technical documentation and explain complex solutions.

It would be great if you had:

• Experience within Counter-UAS, Counter-Drone or related detection, tracking, identification and defeat technologies.
• Knowledge of electronic warfare, radar, RF, sensor fusion or other advanced sensor technologies.
• Experience with NATO standards, STANAGs, open architectures or modular system design.
• Understanding of Secure by Design principles and the constraints associated with operating within secure government or defence environments.
• Experience across the wider systems engineering lifecycle, including verification, validation and model-based systems engineering approaches.
• Previous military experience combined with commercial defence or engineering experience would be advantageous.

Employment Type: Permanent

Location: Hertfordshire – hybrid

Security Clearance Level: Active SC and willingness to go through MoD DV

Internal Recruiter: Josh

Salary: Competitive, based on experience

Benefits: £5,400 car allowance, which can also be taken as cash, 25 days’ holiday, with the option to purchase up to an additional 10 days per year, AXA medical insurance, 6% pension contribution and life assurance at 4x salary.

Loved reading about this job and want to know more about us?

Sopra Steria’s Aerospace, Defence and Security business designs, develops and deploys digital solutions to Central Government clients. The work we do makes a real difference to the client’s goal of National Security, and we operate in a unique and privileged environment. We are given time for professional development activities, and we coach and mentor our colleagues, sharing knowledge and learning from each other. We foster a culture in which employees feel valued and supported and have pride in their work for the customer, delivering outstanding rates of customer satisfaction in the UK’s most complex safety- and security-critical markets.
We embrace difference as a source of creativity, innovation and competitive advantage and are striving to become a more diverse organisation. We welcome applications from people with a diverse variety of backgrounds and identities. We are committed to equality of opportunity for all and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, colour, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation or marital status. We have partnered with Vercida, the UK's largest diversity and inclusion focused careers site, where all our vacancies are available in an accessible format.