Senior Systems Engineer - Software Systems - Defence

Positiv+ Cohort; Bristol; On-site; GBP 80,000 - 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading defence solutions provider in the UK is looking for a highly skilled Senior Systems Engineer to join their team. You will play a crucial role in engaging with clients to define requirements, manage system architectures, and contribute to product line strategies. The ideal candidate will bring proven experience in requirements management, proficiency in engineering tools, and effective stakeholder communication skills. This role offers competitive rates outside IR-35.

Qualifications

• Proven experience in requirements management, ideally in the defence sector.
• Proficiency with systems engineering tools such as DOORS or Rhapsody.
• Strong understanding of functional design and requirement flow.

Responsibilities

• Engage with clients to refine operational needs and translate requirements.
• Manage system and software requirements, ensuring traceability.
• Contribute to product line development and architecture.

Skills

Requirements management

Systems engineering tools

Functional design

Communication skills

Engineering change control

Trade studies

System development activities

Stakeholder management

Tools

DOORS

Rhapsody

Job description

About the Role:

We are seeking a highly skilled Senior Systems Engineer with a strong focus on software systems to join our dynamic team in the defence sector. This role is pivotal in shaping complex systems that meet diverse customer needs, ensuring robust requirements management, and driving software development aligned with strategic product line goals.

Key Responsibilities:

• Customer Engagement & Requirements Capture:
  Collaborate with defence clients to understand, elicit, and refine their operational needs and translate them into clear, actionable system and software requirements.
• Requirements Derivation & Flowdown:
  Develop and manage system, subsystem, and software requirements using industry-standard tools, ensuring traceability and alignment with customer expectations.
• Product Line Strategy Support:
  Contribute to product line development by informing common architecture and reusable software components that serve multiple customer applications.
• Change Management:
  Define and implement controlled processes for managing engineering changes, ensuring system integrity and compliance throughout the lifecycle.
• Software Item Ownership:
  Act as the internal customer for specific software components, guiding their development and integration within the broader system architecture.

What We’re Looking For:

• Proven experience in requirements management and derivation, ideally within the defence industry.
• Proficiency with systems engineering tools such as DOORS, DOORS NG, Rhapsody, or similar.
• Strong understanding of functional design and the ability to flow requirements through system, subsystem, and equipment levels.
• Excellent communication skills to translate complex technical concepts into clear, customer-friendly language.
• Demonstrated ability in engineering change control and configuration management.
• Experience initiating and conducting trade studies and system development activities.
• Background in developing complex systems, preferably in a defence or aerospace environment.
• Ability to communicate architectures and technical ideas effectively across all levels of stakeholders.
• Strong stakeholder management and interpersonal skills.
• Experience working with product lines and modular system architectures is highly desirable.

Competitive Rates Outside IR-35