Holt Engineering Recruitment Ltd
Principal Electronics Engineer
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Principal Electronics Engineer
Horsham, West Sussex - £65,000 – £75,000 + Benefits
A leading electro-optic / defence technology business is looking for a Principal Electronics Engineer to take a key role in driving electronics design and systems architecture across a team of around 15 engineers. This is a senior, hands-on and influential position, combining deep technical ownership with project leadership, mentoring and R&D.
The role
As Principal Electronics Engineer, you will:
- Lead electronics design activities across complex, multi-discipline projects, covering both circuit-level design and higher-level electrical architecture.
- Act as technical authority for key topics such as EMC, power management, servo control, processor interfacing, and communications.
- Define and review system-level electrical architectures, including power distribution, signal transmission, wiring and production considerations.
- Own and deliver analysis-based tasks such as circuit emulation, performance calculations and power budgets.
- Take technical leadership of multi-disciplinary project teams, setting standards of good engineering practice and fostering a systematic, quality-driven culture.
- Proactively review and improve engineering processes, tools and design methodologies, driving innovation across the function.
- Investigate and resolve complex technical issues at PCB and system level, identifying root cause and recommending design or procedural improvements.
- Support bids and proposals, working closely with senior management, directors and key customers to shape solutions, estimate work and present technical approaches.
- Provide line-management style support for a small sub-team of engineers, including development, coaching, and input into resource and training plans.
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About you
You are an experienced, hands-on electronics engineer who enjoys combining deep technical work with leadership, mentoring and process improvement.
Essential:
- Strong degree in Electronics, Electrical & Electronic Engineering or similar (IET-accredited), with typically 10+ years’ relevant experience.
- Solid theoretical and practical understanding of electronics design, including modern PCB and component technologies.
- Proven experience leading projects and/or supervising engineers in a product development environment.
- Experience across areas such as EMC, power management, servo / motor control, embedded interfaces and communications.
- Strong analytical capability – able to perform circuit analysis, power/performance budgeting and trade-off studies.
- Clear understanding of the full project lifecycle, from bid and concept, through design, verification, production and in-service support.
- Demonstrable track record of innovation in engineering solutions and/or ways of working.
- Strong fault-finding skills at PCB and system level, with a structured approach to root-cause analysis and corrective action.
- Excellent communication skills, comfortable engaging with senior management, customers and cross-functional teams.
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Desirable:
- Chartered Engineer (or working towards).
- Experience leading, managing or mentoring other engineers.
- Experience of EMC to military standards and designing for harsh / defence environments.
- Knowledge of motors and drive technologies, and an understanding of control systems analysis and performance.
- Familiarity with management and collaboration tools (e.g. JIRA, Confluence, MS Project).
- Experience with PCB design tools (e.g. Altium, Cadence OrCAD) and design resilience techniques such as FMEA.
- Awareness of lightning direct and indirect effects.
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