Senior Systems Safety Engineer

Location: Reading, England, gb

Company Description

ALTEN is a global engineering and technology consultancy operating across over 35 countries worldwide. We partner with industry leaders across sectors including Aeronautics, Aerospace, Defence, Naval, Automotive, Energy, Rail, IT and many more to deliver innovative engineering solutions that drive technological advancement & support sustainable transformation.

Our teams of passionate and agile engineers work on cutting-edge projects that shape the future of technology and sustainability. At ALTEN, we empower talented engineers to innovate, solve complex challenges, and deliver impactful solutions that build tomorrow’s world—today.

Join us and start building tomorrow’s world today!

Job Description

Join our team as a Systems Safety Engineer and take a leadership role in ensuring the safety and compliance of mission-critical systems within a highly regulated environment. You will drive System Safety Engineering activities across the full project lifecycle, focusing on defence, aerospace, or related safety-critical industries. Your expertise will be essential in developing robust Safety Cases, conducting advanced safety analyses, and ensuring adherence to rigorous standards. This role offers the opportunity to work on cutting-edge projects where safety, reliability, and compliance are paramount.

Location: Reading or Crawley
On-site: Hybrid (3 days per week)
Seniority: Senior
Clearance: Candidates must be eligible and willing to hold SC clearance.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead System Safety Engineering activities across the full project lifecycle, in accordance with safety-critical standards.
• Develop and maintain Safety Cases, ensuring they demonstrate ALARP principles and robust safety arguments.
• Conduct detailed analyses, including Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Event Tree Analysis (ETA), Common Cause Failure Analysis, Functional Failure Analysis (FFA), and Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA).
• Maintain Hazard Logs and produce System Hazard Analysis Reports, ensuring traceability and completeness.
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary engineering teams to embed safety into system design and development.
• Support safety reviews, audits, and customer assessments to demonstrate compliance with relevant standards.

Qualifications

Required Skills

• Proven experience in System Safety Engineering within a safety-critical and regulated industry (Defence, Aerospace, Rail, Nuclear, or Oil & Gas).
• Strong understanding of Safety Case development and ALARP arguments.
• Hands-on experience performing FTA, ETA, FMECA, Hazard Analysis, and similar activities.
• Working knowledge of standards such as EN 50126, EN 50128, EN 50129, IEC 61508, Def Stan 00-056, Def Stan 00-051, ARP4761, DO-178, DO-254.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills, with the ability to produce high-quality technical reports.

Soft Skills & Collaboration

• Strong analytical and problem-solving abilities.
• Ability to work effectively in multidisciplinary teams and engage with stakeholders.
• Proactive approach to safety, compliance, and continuous improvement.
• Leadership skills to guide teams through complex safety engineering challenges.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in a relevant engineering field, or relevant technical/military background with equivalent hands-on experience.

Desirable Skills

• Experience working on Defence safety cases or certification programmes.
• Knowledge of software or electronic safety standards (DO-178C, DO-254).
• Familiarity with Hazard Log management tools and safety lifecycle management.

Additional Information

Why join us? 

We bring together entrepreneurial, tech-driven people to deliver innovative solutions for leading companies.

At ALTEN, you’ll work on exciting projects, supported by ongoing learning, mentoring, and clear career development tailored to your goals.

Join a passionate team and help build tomorrow, today.

In short you get: 

• A personalised career path and a rewarding management style 
• A huge diversity of engineering projects and industries
• Private Medical Insurance
• Cycle & Tech Scheme 
• Employee assistance programme
• Life insurance & Pension Scheme
• Social atmosphere, regular gatherings & team buildings
• Flexible way of working (role dependent)

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant & actively encourage applications from members of the Armed Forces community, including veterans, reservists, service leavers, and military spouses/partners. We recognise the value of military skills and experience and are committed to ensuring that no applicant is unfairly disadvantaged during our recruitment and selection processes. 

ALTEN is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and values the strength that comes from a global mix of backgrounds and perspectives. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates, regardless of background or protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. 

This role may require you to have or be willing to go through Security Clearance. As part of the onboarding process candidates will be asked to complete a Baseline Personnel Security Standard; details of the evidence required to apply may be found on the government website Gov.UK. If you are unable to meet this and any associated criteria, then your employment may be delayed, or rejected . Details of this will be discussed with you at interview.