Principal Electrical Engineer

About the role

Our client, a leading UK defence engineering company, is looking for a Principal Electrical Engineer to lead electronics design within a growing team of 15 engineers. You will work on cutting‑edge defence technology, shaping engineering standards and collaborating with senior management and key customers.

Key responsibilities

• Provide subject‑matter expertise and lead technology development within R&D activities.
• Deliver technical leadership across multidisciplinary projects.
• Take a line‑management support role for a smaller sub‑team, overseeing training, development and resource planning.

Required profile

• Strong IET‑accredited degree with around 10 years of relevant experience.
• Significant experience leading or supervising projects or people.
• Solid theoretical and practical understanding of electronics design.
• Ability to carry out analysis‑based work (circuit emulation, performance, power budgets).
• Full awareness of the project lifecycle, from bids to ongoing customer support.

Required skills

• Circuit design and PCB technology.
• EMC compliance to military standards.
• Power management, servo control and processor interfacing.
• Communications and signal transmission.
• Altium, Cadence, OrCAD.
• JIRA, Confluence, MS Project.
• Failure Mode Effects Analysis (FMEA) and Lightning Direct/Indirect Effects analysis.

What we offer

• 37.5‑hour week with lunchtime finishes on Fridays.
• Hybrid/flexible working.
• 28 days annual leave plus Christmas closure.
• Group pension (matched up to 5%), income protection and life assurance.
• Health cash plan, EAP, EV salary‑sacrifice scheme and shares incentive plan.
• Free onsite parking and strong L&D support.