Principal Mechanical Engineer

Job Title: Principal Mechanical Engineer

Location: Plymouth, Devon + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation: £57,300 - £71,600 Depending on Experience + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Role ID: SF72890

At Babcock we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as a Principal Mechanical Engineer at our Devonport Royal Dockyard site.

The role

As a Principal Mechanical Engineer, you’ll have an exciting opportunity to join our Major Infrastructure Projects team, delivering complex new-build and upgrade programmes that support ship and submarine sustainment operations. You'll play a key role in ensuring that critical mechanical systems are designed, reviewed and accepted into service, helping to maintain facilities that are fundamental to national security. As a senior engineering professional, you'll work across multidisciplinary teams, influence technical decisions and contribute to projects that have a lasting impact on the UK's defence infrastructure.

Day-to-day, you’ll provide technical leadership across major infrastructure projects, ensuring that mechanical engineering solutions are safe, compliant and fit for purpose. You'll use your expertise to review designs, guide project teams and help deliver high-integrity engineering solutions within a highly regulated environment. This role offers the opportunity to work on nationally significant programmes while further developing your technical, leadership and stakeholder management capabilities.

• Reviewing mechanical engineering designs to ensure compliance with engineering standards and project requirements.
• Providing subject matter expert guidance and technical support across complex infrastructure programmes.
• Supporting the integration of mechanical engineering solutions with wider multidisciplinary design packages.
• Ensuring safety case requirements are substantiated through robust engineering design and documentation.
• Advising on design changes, defect resolution and quality management activities throughout project delivery.

This role is full time, 35 hours per week and provides hybrid working arrangements.

Essential experience of the Principal Mechanical Engineer

• Extensive experience in mechanical engineering within a marine, highly regulated or high-hazard environment.
• Experience supporting the design, verification or acceptance of complex engineering systems.
• Knowledge of substantiating high-integrity systems and demonstrating compliance against defined requirements.
• Experience working within regulated industries where safety and quality are critical.
• Understanding of engineering change management within a nuclear-regulated environment.

Qualifications for the Principal Mechanical Engineer

Essential:

• Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Desirable:

• Chartered Engineer status and registration with the Engineering Council.
• Nuclear Introductory Course qualification or equivalent nuclear industry knowledge.

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be a sole UK National who is able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC)) security clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Babcock employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. There is an annual Window to request this benefit. ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing.

Babcock

We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 29,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident, committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email careers@babcockinternational.com with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 23/10/2026

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