Chief Project Engineer

A Project Chief Engineer (Systems Design Authority) is required to join the Sensors business sector in Leonardo, covering electro-optic systems and precision guidance products.

Within the Sensors business sector, the projects are diverse and exciting, well suited to a dynamic and driven individual, with a passion for innovation and a keen interest in the defence industry. There is a portfolio of work that covers core products that have been in service for a number of years, but also product and technology developments, which support the future growth of our business.

With customer intimacy and close collaboration with other organisations across the industry, we work to achieve a market leading position in products primarily relating to the electro-optic domain. The opportunity to be involved as a Project Chief Engineer represents a chance to be at the heart of a range of technologies and exciting projects across the full engineering lifecycle.

In this role, you will support the project teams within the Sensors sector, giving them technical guidance and assurance oversight. Using your experience and authority to provide technical leadership, you will help teams to find the appropriate approach to managing technical risk to help ensure our developments offer maximum value to our customers.

As Chief Engineer, you will ensure the governance and quality for the delivery of the equipment and lead the technical direction of all aspects of the solution delivery including adherence to safety and security regulations. Responsibilities include:

• Be delegated by the business as the Design Authority & Company Technical Signatory for the required products.
• Represent, supported by Subject Matter Experts, the company when engaging with the customer and End User to define the technical solution
• Ensure independent product assurance through Design Reviews and ensuring company procedures are adhered to
• Be responsible for delivered product design, compliance, safety and integrity.
• Work as part of a multi-disciplined project team in close partnership with key stakeholders.
• Encourage a mind-set of continuous improvement for the team and products to ensure we grow and learn.

• →Own the technical solution for all phases of the solution development by representing Leonardo with external stakeholders and representing the Line of Business with internal stakeholders to ensure all elements of Product development are considered as part of the integrated solution
• →As part of the product integrity delivery team keep up to date on related processes and requirements
• →Work closely with development teams and supply chain to ensure that the overall solution meets the End Users need by understanding their Concept of Use and Operation
• →Ensure the products are compliant with any performance, legislative and contractual requirements, with a strategy for completing a set of traceable evidence
• →Support the team in guiding them to assemble appropriate evidence and stakeholder engagement to the approval of Design Integrity certification process.
• →Ensure robust quality, performance, cost and time trade-offs are undertaken and then to establish the technical solution coherent with the agreed budgets and timescales
• →Chair design reviews on Products, Systems and Services to ensure they are technically sound and compliant with the Company’s approach to lifecycle management
• →Provide technical direction, control, evaluation and recommendations with respect to risks and opportunities
• →Ensure a high-level strategy for requirements matched to traceable evidence is set in place and executed consistently across the products and projects
• →Lead and Mentor the technical team to enable a cost-effective design programme and product solution results
• →Manage and communicate issues and opportunities to the engineering management, and design integrity group
• →Define strategic capability improvements and cost versus performance initiatives, working with colleagues to generate development roadmaps

You will have proven experience in a similar senior role and a solid working knowledge Electronic and Optical systems.

• A strong background in development of complex products
• Experience of working with Requirements, Test Qualification and Acceptance strategies.
• Experience of managing the Design Standard and associated Configuration Management.
• Experience in gaining Design Certification and Customer Acceptance.
• Have the ability to produce and develop innovative technical and system solutions, compliant with requirements within agreed programme budgets and timescales.
• Possess excellent communication and interpersonal skills, to be able to interact with SMEs and End Users of various nationalities regarding a wide range of technical and operational topics.
• Be a self-motivated leader and team player capable of working with minimum direction.

As a particular focus area for this role, the candidate should have experience and competence in the field of semi-active laser guidance. This may include:

• Experience with laser guidance concepts of operation, including designation schemes such as STANAG 3733
• Familiarity with laser physics and propagation
• Detailed knowledge of photodiode detectors and analogue electronics operating across an ultra-low noise and wide dynamic range regime
• Detailed knowledge of embedded signal processing

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.

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