Principal / Senior Systems Engineer

Department: R&D / Hardware

Employment Type: Permanent employee

Schedule: Full-time

Seniority: Experienced

Location: Remote, UK

• Serve as the system integration lead for USV product development and upgrades, owning overall platform coherency from concept through delivery.
  
  
• Work day-to-day within multidisciplinary teams (mechanical, electrical, control hardware, software, test) across the full lifecycle of USV design, integration, test and fielding.
  
  
• Conceptualise and capture system architecture for new platforms and for enhancements to existing platforms, producing technical trade studies, sizing and system performance assessments.
  
  
• Produce layout and system design plans, define Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and enforce interface control processes for mechanical, electrical and software subsystems.
  
  
• Establish and maintain requirements baselines and traceability using industry tools (e.g., IBM DOORS) and MBSE approaches.
  
  
• Lead Verification & Validation (V&V) and acceptance activities: author test plans and procedures for critical subsystems, schedule and run tests, and compile written test reports.
  
  
• Support bench builds and hardware integration, and conduct hands-on vessel testing (VLOS/BVLOS) including travel to test ranges and customer sites as required.
  
  
• Act as the technical interface between internal teams, suppliers and customers to coordinate payload integration, unique/custom hardware or software interfaces, and ensure on-time capability delivery.
  
  
• Perform data analysis to maximise uptime: review test telemetry, identify trends and failure modes, and contribute to predictive maintenance / reliability improvements.
• Manage tactical engineering tasks during development sprints and test campaigns, resolving cross-discipline issues and maintaining configuration control.

• Degree (or equivalent) in Systems, Maritime, Aerospace, Electrical or a closely related Engineering discipline.
  
  
• Significant industry experience with demonstrable systems engineering responsibility on USV/maritime or equivalent complex Autonomous systems platforms in aerospace
  
  
• Strong practical experience integrating complex systems: power systems, RF/EMC, EO sensors, networking, embedded controllers and payload interfaces.
  
  
• Hands-on build, prototyping and troubleshooting experience with robotic or maritime hardware; comfortable using basic electronics test equipment.
  
  
• Proven track record in requirements capture, compliance analysis and verification/validation activities; proficient with requirements management tools (IBM DOORS or similar).
  
  
• Familiarity with MBSE principles, interface control processes and configuration management in regulated environments.
  
  
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills; highly organised and detail-oriented.
  
  
• Ability to operate effectively in fast-moving, ambiguous environments and to travel within the UK/Europe for testing and integration.
  
  
• A genuine passion for system development, integration and testing and a collaborative, inclusive team approach.
  
  
• Ideally you will hold a UK Security clearance or be eligible to obtain UK defence clearance and be able to travel to the South West England area 3 days per week

• Maritime product development experience and familiarity with appropriate standards such as WBC3.
• Prior experience leading V&V programmes and authoring safety assurance documentation and risk management artefacts.
• Experience integrating complex/custom payloads for partner or customer use (hardware, electrical and software interfaces).
• Background in start-up or scale-up environments where rapid prototyping, iterative testing and pragmatic engineering decisions are typical.