Leonardo
Principal Supportability Engineer
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Job Description
Your Impact
Leonardo has an exciting opportunity for a Principal Supportability Engineer within the Through Life Services (TLS) function, supporting the development of next-generation defence capabilities, including activities associated with the UK's Future Combat Air ambitions and the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
This role is suited to an engineer who enjoys working in the early stages of complex programmes, influencing support concepts, product design, and service strategies to deliver affordable, sustainable, and operationally effective solutions throughout the life-cycle. As a Principal Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across Supportability and Through Life Services activities.
The role offers an excellent opportunity for a high-performing Principal Engineer to further develop their leadership capability and position themselves for future Supportability Lead opportunities within Leonardo, focusing on Supportability strategy, technical governance, and capability development.
What you will do as a Principal Supportability Engineer
- Lead the development and delivery of supportability and Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) activities across complex programmes.
- Define, manage, and validate supportability requirements throughout the engineering lifecycle.
- Influence product and service design decisions to improve reliability, maintainability, availability, and through-life support performance.
- Develop support concepts, maintenance strategies, provisioning approaches, and through-life support solutions.
- Collaborate with customers, suppliers, and multidisciplinary engineering teams to deliver integrated support solutions.
- Support bids, proposals, and business development activities providing specialist supportability expertise.
- Conduct and review Supportability Engineering analyses including:
- Reliability Analysis
- Failure Modes, Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA)
- Maintainability Analysis
- Maintenance Task Analysis
- Level of Repair Analysis (LORA)
- Supportability Assessments
- Influence repair strategies and support solutions through the application of operational evidence, engineering judgement, and best practice.
- Provide technical advice and recommendations to customers, project teams, and engineering stakeholders on supportability risks, opportunities, and trade-offs.
- Work collaboratively with Systems, Design, Safety, Reliability, Service Delivery, and Repair Engineering teams to improve product support performance.
- Lead evidence-based analysis through trade studies and operational data assessment, producing technical reports, supportability assessments, and recommendations that inform engineering, programme, and business decisions.
- Mentor and coach engineers within the Supportability community, helping to develop capability and share knowledge across the wider team.
- Drive the development and continuous improvement of Supportability standards, processes, tools, and best practice across the organisation.
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What you'll bring
- Degree in Engineering, Science, or a related discipline, or equivalent experience.
- Significant experience applying Supportability Engineering principles within defence, aerospace, or another highly regulated environment.
- Experience analysing reliability, maintenance, or operational performance data to identify trends and drive improvements.
- Practical experience performing Supportability Engineering analyses such as Reliability Analysis, FMECA, Maintainability Analysis, and LORA.
- Understanding of reliability, maintainability, testability, and through-life support principles and their application to operational systems.
- Experience planning and delivering engineering work packages while providing technical guidance to other engineers.
- Ability to provide complex technical advice and recommendations to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.
- Experience working collaboratively within multidisciplinary engineering teams and customer-facing environments.
- Understanding of life-cycle support, repair strategies, and sustainment considerations for operational platforms.
Desirable experience
- Experience supporting Fast Jet, Radar, Avionics, or Mission Systems.
- Experience working within military operational support environments.
- Knowledge of Integrated Product Support (IPS) or Integrated Logistic Support (ILS) principles.
- Experience of support solution modelling or through-life cost analysis.
- Understanding of military airworthiness or certification frameworks.
- Chartered Engineer status, or working towards professional registration.
This is not an exhaustive list, and we are keen to hear from you even if you do not have experience in every area. The most important thing is a positive attitude, a willingness to learn, and a passion for delivering engineering excellence.
Security Clearance
This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance, please visit: Security and Vetting
Why join us
At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.
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- Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
- Secure your Future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
- Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing, and Ethnicity).
- Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
- Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
- Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
- Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships, and more.
- Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part-time opportunities, please talk to us about what might be possible for this role.
For a full list of our company benefits, please visit our website.
Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.
Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide, including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.
At Leonardo, we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.
Be part of something bigger - apply now!
Primary Location:
GB - Luton - Cap. Green 300
Additional Locations:
GB - Basildon, GB - Bristol - Coldharbour Lane, GB - Edinburgh, GB - Lincoln, GB - Newcastle, GB - Southampton
Contract Type:
Permanent
Hybrid Working:
Hybrid
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