Principal System Design Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 21, 2026. First seen by Alion on Aug 20, 2026. MBDA UK scores B on the Alion truth index.
As a Principal Systems Design Engineer in the System Design Missiles function you will be responsible for delivering systems engineering artefacts to major programmes developing the latest Complex Weapons capabilities for the UK and allied Armed Forces in response to advanced threats across Air, Land and Sea domains.
Salary: Between £53,000-£57,500 depending on experience
Dynamic (hybrid) working: 2-3 days per week on-site due to workload classification (may vary depending on specific project needs)
Security Clearance: British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship
Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.
What we can offer you:
- Company bonus: Up to £2,500 (based on company performance and will vary year to year)
- Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
- Overtime: opportunity for paid overtime
- Flexi Leave: Up to 15 additional days
- Flexible working: We welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements
- Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave -enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments
- Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more…
- Healthcare Cash Plan: The Healthcare Cash Plan benefit provides the option to claim cash back on everyday healthcare expenses such as optical, dental, health and wellbeing and more.
The opportunity:
The System Design Missiles function has a number of vacancies for Principal System Design Engineers across multiple missile systems across different lifecycles, presenting an exciting opportunity to contribute to the defence of our and our allies’ nations.
You could be using your systems engineering expertise to take responsibility for specific parts of the project, such as:
- Requirement definition
- Systems architecture definition and generation of the corresponding models
- Scoping and executing the plan for certifying the product
There will be opportunities to support the development of more junior engineers as well as continuing to grow your own expertise, all while knowing you are making a difference defending our freedom.
What we're looking for from you:
- Systems engineering experience at multiple phases of the lifecycle, such as requirements, system architecture, verification and certification.
- Understanding of the Systems engineering processes for system performance and the functional chain domain would be beneficial.
- Experience of Systems engineering toolsets, such as DOORS/DOORS NG/Rhapsody
- Possess excellent analytical and problem-solving skills and the capability to write clear, concise engineering documentation.
- Good verbal communication, listening and time management skills.
- Ability to lead and manage work packages in assigned areas.
- A desire to develop and grow your systems engineering skills, and to improve the systems engineering methods used within the team.
- Ability to engage with subject matter experts and grow your knowledge of new technical areas.
- Ability to initiate/undertake and drive trade studies and system development activities.
- An effective team player with strong interpersonal and influencing skills, essential to working as part of a multi-disciplinary team and in building cohesion in the relationships between the systems team and various interfacing teams.
- An ability to respond quickly when programme priorities change.
Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given
MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.
We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more…
We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.
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