Solutions Engineer DEFENCE

UK Connect | Defence; Farnborough; On-site; GBP 45,000 - 60,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

25 days annual leave

Enhanced Pension

On-site café and gym

Free Parking

Job summary

UK Connect Defence (UKCD) is seeking Solutions Engineers to be the technical heart of our Defence team. You will take operational requirements, determine what is possible, and turn it into a working field solution.

This hands-on role focuses on solutions, integration and trials, sitting with our Defence Account Manager and Business Development Manager as the technical specialist. You will configure sensors, networks and software, build demonstrations, run field trials and support deployed

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience integrating, configuring and troubleshooting networked systems.
• Solid IP networking knowledge with practical wireless experience.
• Experience with low-power sensor networks, telemetry or IoT systems.
• Experience building, testing and supporting demonstration or trial systems.
• Ability to translate between customers, operators and engineers.
• Clear documentation and communication skills.
• Practical, field-ready approach: outdoors, sites and exercises.
• Ability to work independently and follow through on commitments.
• Willingness to travel regularly across the UK and occasionally overseas.

Responsibilities

• Design Solutions: turn operational requirements into deliverable technical solutions.
• Support Customer Conversations: join the Account Manager and BDM when technical input is needed.
• Integrate Technology: configure and integrate sensors, gateways, networks, software and systems into working end-to-end solutions.
• Build Demonstrations: assemble, configure and test demonstration and evaluation systems before they go anywhere near a customer.
• Support Trials: be the technical hands at demonstrations, evaluations, exercises and field trials: setup, operation, troubleshooting and tear-down.
• Support Deployed Systems: act as the technical contact for sensor and connectivity systems in service with customers.
• Bridge to Engineering: work daily with our electronics and mechanical engineers: feed requirements and field findings in, carry design intent and constraints out.
• Document Solutions: produce clear solution designs, configurations, test records and trial reports that engineering, commercial and customers can act on.
• Stay Current: keep track of relevant technologies, standards and integration options, and bring the good ones to the team.

Skills

IP networking

Wireless comms

Field engineering

Systems integration

Documentation

Tools

TAK / Cursor-on-Target

Job description

Salary:Up to £60,000 DOE + company bonus

Company:UK Connect Ltd (UKCD)

Department:Defence Operations

Employment:Full Time, Permanent

Security: Capable of obtaining and maintaining appropriate UK Security Clearance

Location:UK Connect HQ Farnborough (with regular UK travel and occasional overseas travel)

Reports To:Business Unit Lead

Targeted Start Date: November 2026

Role Summary

UK Connect Defence (UKCD) is looking for Solutions Engineers to be the technical heart of our Defence team: You will take an operational requirement, work out what is possible, and turns it into a working solution in the field.

This is a hands-on technical role focused on solutions, integration and trials.

You will sit alongside our Defence Account Manager and Business Development Manager as the technical specialist. They own the relationships and the commercial side; you listen to the requirement, work out what is possible, and design the solution that meets the need.

You will, configuring and integrating sensors, networks and software, building and testing demonstration systems, running the technical side of customer demonstrations, evaluations and field trials, and supporting the systems customers go on to use. Inside UKCD, you will be the bridge between our electronics and mechanical engineering teams and the customer: translating operational requirements into engineering language, and engineering constraints back into customer options. You will work directly with the Business Unit Lead, who owns product direction.

This is not a management role. We have project managers and a commercial team, so you will not be running projects, leading meetings or carrying a sales target. You will be the technical specialist, fully supported.

This is a dedicated UKCD role. You will be our Defence technical specialist, backed by UK Connect Ltd's engineering operation.

The technology you will be working with includes:

• Low-power, long-range sensor networks
• Unattended ground sensors
• Rapidly deployable broadband and tactical connectivity
• 5G and LEO satellite communications
• TAK / Cursor-on-Target integration
• IP networking at the tactical edge
• UK-developed and manufactured Defence technology

About UK Connect Defence

UKCD helps Defence turn operational requirements into deployable, capability at pace. Our approach is simple:

We start with the user's problem, bring together the right technologies, prove the solution through practical trials and then create a route to wider deployment. Our work spans resilient connectivity, tactical communications, sensing, edge technology and systems integration.

Through our UK product-development and manufacturing capability, we also design and manufacture technology around genuine operational requirements.

UK Connect Ltd has more than a decade of experience, a national field-engineering capability, more than 3,000 deployments each year and a UK-based 24/7 Network Operations Centre.

About You

You are a hands-on engineer or technician who enjoys making different technologies work together. You are happiest on the bench or in the field getting something working, and you can explain what you built in plain language when asked.

You might currently be a solutions or applications engineer, a field or integration engineer, a network engineer working with wireless and sensor systems, or an engineer in a Defence or IoT technology business looking for a role with more variety, more field time and more interesting problems.

You understand networking, and you are comfortable with wireless communications and low-power sensor systems: how devices connect, how data moves, and what breaks in the real world.

Previous UK Armed Forces service would be useful, but is not essential. Familiarity with how technology is used at the tactical edge matters more than where you learned it.

What You Will Do

• Design Solutions: Take operational requirements and turn them into realistic, deliverable technical solutions.
• Support Customer Conversations: Join the Account Manager and BDM when a technical voice is needed.
• Integrate Technology: Configure and integrate sensors, gateways, networks, software and third-party systems into working end-to-end solutions.
• Build Demonstrations: Assemble, configure and test demonstration and evaluation systems before they go anywhere near a customer.
• Support Trials: Be the technical hands at demonstrations, evaluations, exercises and field trials: setup, operation, troubleshooting and tear-down.
• Support Deployed Systems: Act as the technical contact for sensor and connectivity systems in service with customers.
• Bridge to Engineering: Work daily with our electronics and mechanical engineers: feed requirements and field findings in, carry design intent and constraints out.
• Document Solutions: Produce clear solution designs, configurations, test records and trial reports that engineering, commercial and customers can act on.
• Support the Product: Work with the Business Unit Lead on product direction, turning what you see in the field into product improvements.
• Stay Current: Keep track of relevant technologies, standards and integration options, and bring the good ones to the team.

Experience

We are looking for someone who can demonstrate:

• Hands-on experience integrating, configuring and troubleshooting networked systems.
• Solid IP networking knowledge, with practical wireless experience.
• Experience with low-power sensor networks, telemetry or IoT systems.
• Experience building, testing and supporting demonstration or trial systems.
• The ability to translate between customers, operators and engineers.
• Clear documentation and communication skills.
• A practical, field-ready approach: comfortable working outdoors, on sites and on exercises.
• The ability to work independently and follow through on commitments.
• Willingness to travel regularly across the UK and occasionally overseas, including periods away on trials and exercises.

Experience in any of the following would be particularly useful:

TAK / Cursor-on-Target | tactical networks | CIS | SATCOM/LEO | 4G/5G | unattended sensing | RF propagation | edge computing | systems integration | Defence experimentation and trials

Company Culture and Values

We have been a certified Great Place to Work for six years running and care about the communities we impact. We give a percentage of our profits each year to our charity, the Farr Foundation, which supports children in getting into STEM subjects. Last year, we supported over 15,000 children.

What's In It for You?

This is an opportunity to be the technical specialist in a growing UK Defence technology business.

You will see the whole journey: the requirement, the solution design, the build, the trial and the deployment, and you will have genuine influence over the products we develop, without having to manage projects or people to do it.

You will work with new technology, real users and a tight, fast-moving team, with the backing of the wider UK Connect Group, including engineering, field delivery, technical specialists and a UK-based 24/7 Network Operations Centre.

• 25 days annual leave as standard, with options to increase up to 35 days annual leave.
• Unique benefits points scheme giving access to lucrative offerings (cash vouchers, Merlin passes, National Trust passes, and more).
• Enhanced Pension.
• Enhanced Maternity/Paternity Leave.
• Death in Service (4x salary).
• Work within a company whose Executive Chairman has been recognised as ‘One to Watch’ in The LDC Top 50 Most Ambitious Business Leaders Programme.
• Modern and progressive office space.
• Free Parking.
• Café, Gym and Restaurant on-site.
• Opportunity to work within a growing UK Defence technology business
• Significant opportunity to influence new products and capability