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Job Description
Are you ready to take on a pivotal Chief Engineer / Systems Design Authority (SDA) role, leading delivery across complex, high-profile engineering programmes of national importance?
As the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) continues to expand in scale, complexity and international collaboration, we are growing our technical leadership team and seeking four exceptional Chief Engineers/System Design Authorities to join Leonardo's Electronic Warfare (EW) Sector.
In these highly visible and strategically critical roles, you will ensure robust governance and quality in the delivery of current products, while leading the technical direction for next-generation mission data architectures and services, including training and test solutions.
Each role offers a hybrid working arrangement, with a combination of on-site presence at our Luton office and UK and international travel.
Role 1: Project Chief Engineer for the GCAP EW System
- Responsible for technical coordination of the international stakeholders (External Interface).
- Voice of Leonardo EW into the GCAP international enterprise.
- Leading technical engagement with customers to define solutions, supported by SMEs, and representing Leonardo with internal and external stakeholders.
- Acting as the primary technical interface between Leonardo and tri-national partner organisations, ensuring alignment of requirements, architectures, development priorities and delivery plans.
- Coordinating technical activities across international stakeholders, facilitating effective collaboration and resolution of cross-organisational issues.
- Ensuring effective communication of technical risks, opportunities, assumptions and dependencies across the international stakeholder community.
- Supporting negotiation and agreement of system requirements, interface definitions and verification strategies across partner organisations.
- Promoting common engineering approaches, standards and best practice across the tri-national environment.
- Supporting conflict resolution and decision-making where competing technical, operational or national priorities exist.
- Expectation to conduct significant travel, to provide the required support within the GCAP international enterprise.
Role 2: Project Chief Engineer for the GCAP EW Joint Systems Team (JST) with Tri-National Partners
- Providing governance of the JST and responsible for delivery of the Product Maturity Reviews (Governance Lead).
- Governance of the EW system, ensuring the EW system is designed, integrated, and maintained to meet stringent technical, regulatory, and operational standards.
- Responsible for defining and subsequent management of the engineering governance throughout the EW system. E.g. establishing commonality / equivalence of development standards across the tri-national space; tri-national development, integration, qualification and validation, certification strategy.
- Responsible for the governance of the engineering lifecycle activities driven by the JST into the internal EW team – including concept development (guiding early concept and feasibility studies, include trade-off analysis and effectiveness assessment), development and testing (overseeing integration, verification, and validation activities).
- Providing independent challenge to engineering teams to ensure compliance with agreed processes, standards and quality expectations.
- Technology maturation assessment / reviews and application of governance in the early technology development life cycle phase.
- Ensuring technical maturity, readiness and risk positions are accurately assessed and reported to programme leadership.
- Product Maturity Review lifecycle implementation.
- Responsible for delivery of the EW System Product Maturity Reviews (PMRs), including iterative maturity reviews, in the tri-national environment.
- Establishing and maintaining the governance framework, review structure and assurance mechanisms necessary to support programme delivery.
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Role 3: System Design Authority (SDA) for the GCAP EW Mid-High Electronic Surveillance (MHES) Sub-System
- Overall technical lead for EW MHES Sub-System; responsible for setting and measuring technical direction and governance. Interfacing with the EW System SDA, ensuring alignment and direction into the internal sub-system team.
- Acting as the System Design Authority and Company Technical Signatory for assigned products.
- Interfacing with the EW System team, ensuring alignment and direction.
- Delivering solutions that meet end-user needs, working closely with development teams and the supply chain to understand operational use and requirements.
- Ensuring compliance with performance, legislative and contractual requirements, with clear, traceable evidence strategies in place.
- Establishing the technical strategy and roadmap for EW capability evolution and future growth.
- Leading and mentoring technical teams to deliver cost-effective, high-quality solutions.
- Communicating key issues, risks and opportunities to senior engineering leadership and contributing to strategic capability and cost improvement initiatives.
- Technical point of contact for all senior stakeholders – consisting of Tri-national partners when required, MoD/DSTL, EW Capability etc.
Role 4: System Design Authority (SDA) for the GCAP EW System Controller (SC) Sub-System
- Overall technical lead for EW SC Sub-System; responsible for setting and measuring technical direction and governance. Interfacing with the EW System SDA, ensuring alignment and direction into the internal sub-system team.
- Acting as the System Design Authority and Company Technical Signatory for assigned products.
- Interfacing with the EW System team, ensuring alignment and direction.
- Delivering solutions that meet end-user needs, working closely with development teams and the supply chain to understand operational use and requirements.
- Ensuring compliance with performance, legislative and contractual requirements, with clear, traceable evidence strategies in place.
- Establishing the technical strategy and roadmap for EW capability evolution and future growth.
- Leading and mentoring technical teams to deliver cost-effective, high-quality solutions.
- Communicating key issues, risks and opportunities to senior engineering leadership and contributing to strategic capability and cost improvement initiatives.
- Technical point of contact for all senior stakeholders – consisting of Tri-national partners when required, MoD/DSTL, EW Capability etc.
What you’ll bring
These roles offer a unique opportunity to make a significant impact within a growing engineering team, playing a key role in shaping the future of Mission Support Products using the latest technologies to meet evolving customer needs.
You Really Must Have
- A strong technical background with extensive experience in the design, development, qualification and certification of complex military products, including radar and EW systems.
- Broad experience across Requirements, Verification, Qualification and Acceptance, including achieving Design Certification and Customer Acceptance.
- Proven ability to manage Design Standards and Configuration Management and deliver innovative system-level solutions.
- Developed compliant technical solutions within cost and schedule constraints.
- Lead effectively with strong stakeholder engagement skills.
- Be a self-motivated leader and collaborative team player, able to operate with minimal direction and communicate effectively with SMEs and end users across diverse technical and cultural environments.
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It would be nice if you had
- Knowledge of EW equipment use within customer operational environments, alongside awareness of training and software development principles.
- Degree-qualified in a relevant engineering or scientific discipline, with Chartered Engineer status (or working towards) and Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) membership.
- Strong analytical capability with proven technical problem-solving skills.
This is not an exhaustive list, and we are keen to hear from you even if you might not have experience in all the above. The most important skill is a good attitude and willingness to learn.
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: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/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.
- 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
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