Principal Systems Engineer / Technical Authority

Overview

Expleo is seeking an experienced Principal Systems Engineer / Technical Authority to support the growth of Expleo's Naval Mission System capability. The successful candidate will provide systems engineering support across various mission systems, with responsibility for developing and maintaining system architectures and the core systems engineering artefacts required to support integration, installation, verification and acceptance.

The role will include generation and management of mission system architectures, System Definition Documents, requirements acceptance databases and Interface Control Documents / interface data. The individual will also support configuration management, engineering change control and product lifecycle management, using tools such as IBM DOORS, Windchill and Microsoft Visio, or equivalent project toolsets.

The initial project is remote working with occasional onsite meetings and workshops at any Expleo office (Preston, Derby and / or Bristol).

Responsibilities

• Generate, develop and maintain mission system architectures, including logical, functional, physical and interface views as required by the project.
• Develop and maintain System Definition Documents (SDDs) that clearly define system scope, functions, constituent subsystems, external interfaces, constraints and key design characteristics.
• Establish, populate and manage requirements acceptance databases, ensuring requirements, acceptance criteria, ownership, status and supporting evidence are accurately maintained.
• Maintain requirements traceability from source requirements through system and subsystem allocation to verification, validation and acceptance evidence.
• Develop, review and manage Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and associated interface data, ensuring electrical, data, communications, mechanical and software interfaces are clearly defined and controlled.
• Coordinate interface definition and resolution across suppliers, installation teams and stakeholders, identifying gaps, conflicts and dependencies requiring technical resolution.
• Support configuration management and engineering change management, including impact assessment, baseline control and change implementation.
• Use IBM DOORS, Windchill, Microsoft Visio and other project systems engineering / product lifecycle management tools to maintain controlled technical information and design traceability.
• Support Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) activities by ensuring engineering artefacts, product structures, configuration items and controlled data remain aligned throughout the project lifecycle.
• Participate in design reviews, acceptance working groups, configuration reviews and engineering governance meetings, providing system-level technical input and recommendations.
• They may have to assess the system-level impact of proposed design changes, supplier updates and technical queries, ensuring implications for requirements, interfaces, architecture and acceptance are understood and managed.
• Review and reconcile supplier and subsystem engineering information to ensure consistency with the overall mission system architecture and approved technical baseline.
• Provide systems engineering leadership and technical guidance to the wider engineering team, supporting high-quality, consistent and configuration-controlled project outputs.

Qualifications

Essential:

• Degree, HNC/HND or equivalent qualification in Systems Engineering, Electrical, Electronic, Software, Marine, Mechanical Engineering or another relevant engineering discipline.
• Demonstrable senior-level systems engineering experience on complex integrated engineering programmes.

Desirable:

• Chartered Engineer (CEng), Incorporated Engineer (IEng) or working towards professional registration.
• INCOSE ASEP/CSEP certification, or equivalent formal systems engineering training / accreditation.
• Member of an appropriate professional engineering institution such as INCOSE, IET, IMechE, RINA or equivalent.
• Current UK Security Check (SC) clearance, or eligibility to obtain clearance if required by the project.

Essential skills

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Strong systems thinking and the ability to understand complex interactions, dependencies and design implications at system level.
• High attention to detail and a disciplined approach to requirements, interfaces, configuration and technical data.
• Strong engineering judgement and confidence making evidence-based recommendations within a controlled design environment.
• Ability to take ownership of complex systems engineering work packages and drive them to an agreed level of maturity.
• Excellent analytical and problem-solving capability, including the ability to identify inconsistencies and resolve ambiguous technical information.
• Strong interpersonal and stakeholder engagement skills, with the ability to coordinate effectively across suppliers and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Ability to challenge technical information constructively while maintaining collaborative working relationships.
• A delivery-focused mindset with the ability to maintain quality, traceability and configuration discipline across a fast-moving engineering programme.

Experience

Required Experience

The successful candidate will demonstrate:

• Significant systems engineering experience within complex defence, marine, aerospace or other multidisciplinary engineering programmes.
• Demonstrable experience generating and maintaining system architectures for complex integrated systems.
• Strong experience of requirements management, requirements traceability and management of requirements acceptance / compliance databases, preferably using IBM DOORS.
• Practical experience developing, reviewing and managing Interface Control Documents (ICDs) and structured interface data.
• Experience generating and maintaining System Definition Documents or equivalent system-level design documentation.
• Strong working knowledge of configuration management, baseline management and engineering change control within a controlled engineering environment.
• Experience using Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) systems, preferably Windchill, to manage product data, configuration items and controlled engineering information.
• Experience supporting systems engineering activities across the lifecycle, including design, integration, verification, validation and acceptance.
• Excellent technical communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to coordinate complex information across multidisciplinary engineering teams and suppliers.

Desirable Experience

Ideally candidates will possess experience in one or more of the following:

• Royal Navy, Royal Fleet Auxiliary or other naval platform programmes.
• Mission system integration involving command and control, communications, navigation, radar, sonar, sensors, data networks or other complex electronic systems.
• Engineering programmes progressing from design baseline through installation, integration, trials and acceptance.
• Hands-on use of IBM DOORS, Windchill and Microsoft Visio within a configuration-controlled engineering programme.
• Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE), SysML or architecture modelling using tools such as Cameo, Enterprise Architect or equivalent.
• Requirements verification, validation and acceptance planning, including management of objective evidence and acceptance status.
• Review and reconciliation of supplier technical data, design artefacts and subsystem engineering outputs against a system-level baseline.
• Management of technical queries, deviations, concessions, waivers or engineering change requests.
• Design Authority, Technical Authority or systems integration organisations.
• Configuration audits, baseline reviews, design maturity reviews or technical governance activities.
• Defence engineering environments involving formal assurance, safety, security and configuration control requirements.

Key Technical Knowledge

The successful candidate should have practical knowledge of:

• Systems architecture development, including functional, logical, physical and interface architecture views.
• Requirements capture, decomposition, allocation, traceability, verification and acceptance management.
• IBM DOORS or equivalent requirements management tools and structured requirements databases.
• Interface definition and control, including ICDs, interface registers, interface data and interface change management.
• System Definition Documents and other system-level technical baseline documentation.
• Configuration management principles, configuration baselines, status accounting and engineering change control.
• Product Lifecycle Management principles and tools, including Windchill or equivalent PLM environments.
• Microsoft Visio or equivalent tools for development and maintenance of system architecture and interface diagrams.
• Systems engineering lifecycle processes, including V-model development, integration, verification, validation and acceptance.
• System-level change impact assessment and management of dependencies across requirements, interfaces, architecture and acceptance.
• Technical data management, document control and maintenance of authoritative engineering information.
• Design reviews, architecture governance, interface management and configuration review processes.