Junior Engineer in Portsmouth

At Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), we supply and maintain vital equipment and services for the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force. Together, we deliver a vast range of essential defence programmes and strive for what's next. DE&S has recently been integrated into the National Armaments Director Group (NAD Group). The NAD Group brings together key Ministry of Defence (MOD) organisations to unite expertise across science, technology, procurement, infrastructure, and support to provide integrated capabilities faster and more efficiently for our armed forces and our allies.

This is an exciting new opportunity to enable better ways of working and empower greater collaboration across Defence. We offer 25+ days’ holiday, flexible and hybrid working, enhanced parental leave schemes, shopping discounts, and an exceptional employer pension contribution of 28.97%, to help make work for you. For security reasons this role is open to sole UK nationals only. A ‘sole UK national’ refers to an individual who holds citizenship solely in the UK, without dual citizenship or nationality from another country. We’re unable to offer visa sponsorship. This role requires you to have lived in the UK for the last 5 years and obtain Security Check (SC) security clearance. Clearance must be obtained without any caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role you’ve been recruited for. If it isn’t obtained or is obtained but with caveats that prevent you from carrying out the role, any conditional offer made to you will be withdrawn. Obtaining SC security clearance can be a lengthy process, and we reserve the right to withdraw any conditional offer made if the necessary security clearance isn’t obtained within 12 months.

You will have the chance to work onboard vessels whilst in port supporting the integration and delivery of secure military communications exchanging tactical data between platforms known as Tactical Data Links (TDLs). The SACC team supports the in-service TDLs and is delivering a project to upgrade the TDL capability on several maritime platforms. We will support you in learning about the equipment through training and courses whilst giving you the chance to adopt a hands‑on approach. You will be required to support engineering related activities of the Tactical Data Link Projects, which includes both upgrade and in‑service support tasks. You will be working on the Type 45 Destroyers, Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carrier and Type 23 Frigates. In your role as a Junior Engineer, you will contribute to delivery of an enhanced operational capability to the Royal Navy, enabling them to interoperate with North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) and other coalition partners.

Please note, this role requires full-time Monday to Friday therefore we cannot accept part-time hours due to operational defect rectification critical to the live operations of the platform and safety reasons. We champion flexible ways of working. Regular in-person attendance is required to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourself with the site, the team, and your role. There will also be regular travel to other UK Naval bases required for this role. Occasional travel abroad may also be required for training, or in support of international collaboration.

Responsibilities

• Risk – Acts upon identified risk (such as safety, environment, support, financial) and applies the principles of risk escalation and risk transfer.
• Design – Assist where feasible, to influence the design of a sub-system, component or process that meets the customer requirement within realistic constraints of time, cost, and performance.
• V&V – Participate and scrutinise the system test, verification, validation, and evaluation process.
• Support – Manage the support and modification to an operational sub-system.
• Technical Discipline – Provide technical leadership and expert guidance to clients and other stakeholders to enhance the capability and effectiveness of the deliverable.

Qualifications & Experience

• Lead criterion – Experience of providing technical advice and delivery of successful engineering outcomes.
• Hold a minimum of a Level 4 qualification (HNC or higher) within a relevant discipline, or have the equivalent experience.
• Demonstrate technical experience in your discipline or specialist area in a variety of contexts, such as communications, electronics or systems engineering.
• Technical competences and behaviours to be assessed at interview:
• Core Behaviour 1: Communicating and Influencing – CSBC 3
• Core Behaviour 2: Changing and Improving – CSBC 3
• Technical Competence 1: ECF_01 Suitable Systems and Systems Thinking – Supervised Practitioner
• Technical Competence 2: ECF_03 Supportable Technical Solutions – Supervised Practitioner

Benefits

• 25 days’ annual leave +1 day a year up to 30 days, 8 bank holidays and a day off for the King’s birthday
• Flexible and hybrid working options
• Market-leading average employer pension contribution of 28.97%
• Annual performance-based bonus and recognition awards
• Access to specialist training and funded qualifications

Equal Opportunity

Disability Confident: As a Disability Confident Leader we want to ensure you receive any reasonable adjustments that you need throughout the recruitment process. If you do require any reasonable adjustments, please let us know on your online application under the section ‘Please indicate and give details of any reasonable adjustments you may require during the recruitment process.’

Conflicts of Interest

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

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