Systems Safety Engineer - UAS/UAV

Future Talent Group; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension matched up to 10%

Private medical

25 days leave + Bank Holidays

Hybrid working

Defence sector mission-critical work

Job summary

UK Defence Autonomy in Bristol is seeking a Senior/Principal Systems Safety Engineer to embed within cross-disciplinary delivery teams. The role blends agility with compliance, ensuring safety considerations drive live capability developments.

Hybrid work in South West England, with UK security clearance eligibility and extensive experience in system safety required. Travel to international sites may be needed.

Qualifications

• Solid grounding in system safety techniques and reasoning; working knowledge of UK/international regulatory landscape.
• Familiarity with software/complex electronic hardware safety assurance.
• Eligibility for UK security clearance; willingness to travel occasionally internationally.

Responsibilities

• Build a proportionate, risk-based safety approach tailored to actual risk, not a fixed checklist.
• Own design safety artefacts (FHA, FMECA, CCA, PSSA/SSA) to a standard fit for regulatory scrutiny.
• Track the safety case end-to-end and flag risks early.
• Work with design and test teams to assess safety impact of changes in real time.
• Act as the safety voice within a cross-disciplinary engineering team.

Skills

System safety techniques

Regulatory knowledge (UK/intl)

Software/hardware safety assurance

Security clearance eligibility

Travel availability

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
• mission-critical work at the forefront of defence technology