Senior Software Engineer

Job Description:

Salary Range:

Engineer £38000 - £50000

Senior Engineer £45000 - £60000

Principal Engineer £54000 - £70000

Where this vacancy is being recruited across more than one grade, the successful candidate will be appointed to a specific assessed grade, and the applicable salary range will be that associated with the grade of appointment.

Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.

Your impact

Are you an experienced Software Engineer who is interested in developing software for the Eurofighter Typhoon Fighter Jet in a specialised team?

Typhoon remains the primary front line defence aircraft for the UK, Germany, Italy & Spain. As a result of significant customer demand for future technology enhancements, Leonardo are looking for Software Engineers to help us continue our invaluable contribution to the Typhoon programme.

You will be working in a small team on a niche, specialised area of the Radar Software that impacts the entire system. This is a role in a complex, technical context where you will be getting to grips with the low-level detail and inner workings of a system to solve problems and deliver your solutions to a mature project with established requirements. You will be working closely with a range of engineering disciplines, including systems, integration and test, and reporting to internal stakeholders.

For this role you will:

• Be involved in the development of the full Software Lifecycle.
• Program using Ada, C++ and Python programming languages. Ada is widely used in the Defence and Aerospace industry.
• Be working onsite in the well-established software community in our Edinburgh office.
• Be responsible for creating high quality and robust code, for fully documenting and recording your work products, keeping them under configuration management and providing plans and reports on progress to your supervisor.
• Deliver technical reports and documents, as well as generate and present technical presentations to project stakeholders.
• Follow a project plan and identify key elements within the project plan.
• Report clear and concise progress to the software team lead and Project and Engineering management.
• Work alongside and closely with the Software & Systems team, as well as the wider integration teams. You will investigate and resolve real integration problems on a complex system.
• Be able to understand complex, technical requirements and use that information to design, implement and test agreed code changes.
• Problem-solving using debugging tools.

What we need from you:

• Good quality industry experience and the ability to work autonomously.
• Experience with the full Software Development Lifecycle.
• Willingness and desire to work within a small multi-disciplined Integrated Project Team.
• Working knowledge of source control/configuration tools, such as Git or Bitbucket.

Demonstrable experience in the following areas will help you stand out:

• Demonstrable and preferably recent industry experience with using Ada, C++ or another relevant programming language (for example, experience with Java will be very useful for getting to grips with Ada quicker).
• Experience or interest in getting involved in Software Design and Architecture.
• Working and delivering software using agile techniques and tooling such as Jira/Confluence.
• The ability to trace, diagnose and resolve potential software issues. Familiarity with a debugger.
• Experience using static analysis and code coverage tooling.
• Knowledge of best practices for incremental development.
• Experience with developing software for embedded systems.
• Past or current experience in heavily regulated industries such as Defence, Aerospace, Automotive, Medical, Oil and Gas.
• Experience writing and defining tests for software updates against requirements.
• A STEM background with demonstratable interest in Physics, Mathematics or an engineering discipline. Familiarity with Radar and Tracking principles.

Security Clearance

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

Why join us

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work-life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible Working: Flexible hours are available, however, due to the nature of this work, full time on-site working will be required. For part time opportunities, please talk to us

For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website.

Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team-they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Be part of something bigger - apply now!

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