Leonardo
Project Engineering Lead
How your CV stacks up
Upload your CV to see how well it fits this job role
?%
Project Engineering Lead – Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP)
Salary Range
£59,000 - £75,000 (Bounds may vary based on market benchmarking or approved internal band exceptions.)
Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework, delving into the narrower hiring range while maintaining internal equity.
About the Role
Leonardo is seeking a Project Engineering Lead (PEL) to join their engineering team at the Luton site for the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP).
This permanent position supports the design, development, and realisation of a multi-disciplinary project by providing engineering leadership. The successful candidate will:
- Serve as key technical advisor (jointly with Project Engineering Manager and Chief Engineer)
- Drive the technical solution through identification, development, delivery, and support
- Collaborate closely with the Electronics Division and other Lines of Business to compose an integrated systems-of-systems approach.
Your Impact
Joining Leonardo UK, you will contribute to our UK defence and aerospace capabilities through:
- Advanced capabilities: Help shape industry-leading market-defining products, ensuring priority protection and performance for UK platforms.
- Agile systems engineering: Implement innovative, fast-paced development methods in an agile team.
- Continuous learning: Investing in your professional and leadership growth through structured mentoring and training.
- Collaborative environments: Partner with cross-functional teams in a recent culture of engineering excellence and pride in heritage.
- Leonardo celebrates 100 years of pioneering innovation in engineering.
Responsibilities
Reporting to the Project Engineering Manager, the PEL will:
-
Project delivery oversight
- Create and maintain efficiency-focused project plans, ensuring risk/opportunity alignment, stakeholder buy-in, and validation of estimates.
- Track and ensure meeting of development targets via Design Maturity progress validation.
-
Engineering management
- Lead a multi-disciplinary engineering team across the full project lifecycle—driving adherence to budgets, quality benchmarks, and timelines.
- Oversee the engineering aspect of monthly Project Performance Reviews, making real-time adjustments based on lifecycle milestone reviews, reporting methods, and sustained team engagement.
- Apply best-value engineering solutions while adhering to customer, legal, safety, and business requirements.
Reasons to use Rodeo
Start with a chat, not a search bar
Grad scheme, placement, apprenticeship? Not sure what you want yet — that's fine. Your agent talks it through with you and turns "I have no idea" into a shortlist.
It searches the market for you
Every day your agent scans the market matching roles against what actually matters to you, not just keywords on a CV.
Only hits
No noise. No "maybe this fits." Just roles with a clear explanation of why they're right — and where to focus when applying.
-
Process and team leadership
- Propagate streamlined and competitive workflows across the engineering lifecycle (classification, reusability, and modular architectures).
- Streamline configuration and change management procedures while fostering clear communication lines through to senior engineering leadership.
- Coordinate with suppliers, supervise make-or-buy decisions, manage conflicts with the Chief Engineer, and document design challenges comprehensively.
-
Stakeholder engagement
- Maintain effective communication with internal and external stakeholders—ensuring transparency, issue resolution, and alignment on project parameters.
- Collaborate agilely within teams (cross-site and domain-specific) to meet performance targets.
What You’ll Bring
Core Competencies
- Clear technical communication: Able to articulate engineering concepts in written or verbal formats.
- Advanced degree and experience: Degree or equivalent qualification in an engineering discipline.
- Problem-solving mindset: Proven abilities to diagnose, evaluate, and remedy technical challenges.
- Budget and time management: Track work to approve agendas upfront, monitor expenditures, and allocate resources.
- Stakeholder intelligence: Engage effectively with diverse teams, clients, and power users.
- Commercial awareness: Understand business strategies and contemplate ROI analyses for technical decisions.
- Leadership and collaboration: Demonstrate leadership while maintaining balanced teamwork and visibility.
- Lifecycle experience: Familiarity with design lifecycle stages, folder review processes, or regulatory standards.
Preferred Additional Skills
- System integration and scaling knowledge: Managing composites of subsystems.
- Prime contractor experience: Track record with engineering initiatives as principle designate.
- Electronic/radar/transportation fluency: Background utilized in systems like:
- Radar, EW, ESM/ECM (Electronic Warfare), EO/IR sensors, or communication systems.
- Airborne/modular solution development experience.
- Engineering registration: Registration as a chartered or licensed engineer.
Get help with your application
Your very own career expert that helps elevate your application to the next level.
Eligibility & clearance
- The role necessitates:
- UK Government Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) credentials.
- Additional National Security Vetting (NSV)—likely including Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV) requirements. Pre-employment screening will be conducted. For eligibility criteria and guidance, visit UK careers page.
Why Join Leonardo
Supporting Your Wellbeing & Growth
Leonardo’s matched contributions and flexible package let you thrive:
✅ Leave – Accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days annually. ✅ Pension & Sustainability – Eligible for an award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution. ✅ Health & Finance
- Premier mental/community support for wellbeing (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces).
- Financial advice and privileged access to professional guidance. ✅ Skill Development
- Unlimited access to 4,000+ courses on Coursera & LinkedIn Learning.
- Designated mentorship in engineering, leadership, and personal growth. ✅ Incentives
- Bonus for all eligible staff at management levels.
- Referral bonuses for successful candidate introductions.
- £500 flexible benefit spending annually. ✅ Flexibility
- Customizable hybrid working (contactable to explore part-time arrangements).
Culture & Ingenuity
Leonardo sits at the forefront of advancement in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Our 8,500 UK employees (across nine sites) are instrumental in shaping cutting-edge installations.
As an inclusive organisation, Leonardo champions:
- Creativity fostering through diversity, innovation, and dynamic teams.
- an accessible recruitment process accommodating any accessible needs communication during application.
Location & Contract
- Primary Site: GB-Luton (*c/o Capel Green 300).
- Workstyle: Hybrid
- Contract Type: Permanent full-time opportunity.
To apply: [Immediate opening awaiting candidate nominations].
Leonardo Logo "Innovation for Tomorrow"
“It took my CV and asked me questions relevant to understanding what kind of jobs to suggest for me. Suggestions were almost perfect. Jobs were exactly what I’ve been looking for.”
Jessica, London
Skills
Location