Systems Safety Engineer - UAS/UAV

Future Talent Group; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 85,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Bonus

Pension matched up to 10%

Private medical

25 days leave + Bank Holidays

Hybrid working

Job summary

Future Talent Group is seeking a Senior / Principal Systems Safety Engineer to join the UK Defence Autonomy team in Bristol with hybrid working. You will embed within cross-disciplinary product squads, aligning agility with compliance and safety governance.

You will own safety artefacts (FHA, FMECA, CCA, PSSA/SSA), drive risk-based safety, and oversee the safety case end-to-end while collaborating with design and test teams. UK security clearance eligibility is required.

Qualifications

• Solid grounding in system safety techniques and reasoning across UK/international regulatory landscape.
• Familiarity with software/complex electronic hardware safety assurance.
• Eligibility for UK security clearance.
• Willingness to travel internationally.
• Embedded, cross-disciplinary collaboration experience.

Responsibilities

• Build a proportionate, risk-based safety approach tailored to actual risk.
• Own design safety artefacts (FHA, FMECA, CCA, PSSA/SSA) to regulatory standards.
• Track the safety case end-to-end and flag risks early.
• Assess safety impact of changes in real time with design and test teams.
• Act as the safety voice within a cross-disciplinary engineering team.

Skills

System safety

Regulatory landscape

Safety assurance

Security clearance eligibility

Job description

Senior / Principal Systems Safety Engineer

UK Defence Autonomy

South West England (Hybrid)

Location - Bristol (3 Days a week in office, central)

Salary - Flexible DOE

Our client, a fast-scaling autonomy business delivering uncrewed capability into UK Defence and Security programmes, is growing their safety assurance function. They're looking for Systems Safety specialists to embed directly into cross-disciplinary product teams delivering live capability - not to sit at arm's length reviewing other people's work.

You'll belong to a central safety practice for your technical home and development, but work day-to-day as a trusted, embedded partner inside a delivery team - holding agility and compliance together rather than treating them as opposites.

What you'll be doing:

• Building a proportionate, risk-based safety approach tailored to actual risk, not a fixed checklist
• Owning design safety artefacts (FHA, FMECA, CCA, PSSA/SSA) to a standard fit for regulatory scrutiny
• Tracking your programme's safety case end-to-end, flagging risk early
• Working closely with design and test teams, assessing safety impact of changes in real time
• Acting as the safety voice within a cross-disciplinary engineering team

What you'll bring:

• Solid grounding in system safety techniques and reasoning, with working knowledge of the relevant UK/international regulatory landscape
• Familiarity with software/complex electronic hardware safety assurance
• ~10 years' experience for Senior, ~15+ for Principal - though exceptional pedigree with less time served is equally welcome
• Eligibility for UK security clearance
• Willingness to travel occasionally internationally

On offer: highly competitive salary plus bonus, pension matched up to 10%, private medical, 25 days leave plus Bank Holidays, hybrid working, and mission-critical work at the forefront of defence technology.