Senior Engineer

About the role:

Reporting into the Lead Systems Engineer, this Senior Engineer role sits within the Group Electrics & Controls – Excavator team and plays a key part in delivering electrical and electronic engineering across the business. You will join a highly focused and passionate systems engineering team responsible for ensuring all new JCB excavator product programmes meet their required technical deliverables within agreed timings. The role combines strong technical depth, hands-on experience, and the ability to work effectively with diverse, cross-functional teams to deliver product excellence.

Located at the manufacturing site, the role offers the opportunity to work directly with physical machines, allowing you to ensure that design-level requirements are correctly translated into real-world machine operation and functionality. You will be responsible for the design, development, and deployment of new electrical and electronic systems into the excavator product range, supporting both system definition and integration from concept through to delivery.

What does this role involve day to day?

Working as part of the systems engineering team, you will support the definition, interpretation, and development of customer level and system level requirements, ensuring they are delivered through robust architecture and design solutions. On a day to day basis, you will:

• Translate the voice of the customer into clear, concise, and testable functional requirements
• Design and evaluate system architectures across multiple products, driving commonality, reuse, and rationalisation
• Select appropriate hardware platforms that meet environmental, performance, and cost targets
• Develop software and system architectures to deliver agreed technical solutions
• Coordinate third party suppliers, including the creation of requirements and corresponding software architectures
• Ensure robust ECU communications using industry best practice protocols such as SAE J1939 and Ethernet
• Read and interpret electronic schematics and wiring diagrams
• Ensure design for manufacture is considered, including software deployment and parameter configuration
• Monitor system health and diagnostics using onboard and over the air technologies
• Apply recognised development methodologies such as the V Model and structured software development processes
• Consider functional safety and cyber security impacts throughout system and software design
• Prepare and execute validation and verification test plans
• Support risk and cause and effect analysis activities including FMEA, 8D, and Ishikawa techniques
• Drive component reuse and maintain accurate technical documentation and records

You will also support system level and vehicle level integration activities to ensure solutions power up, communicate, operate, and shut down as intended.

This will be suited to you if...

This role will suit you if you are an experienced systems or software engineer with a strong technical foundation and a hands on, delivery focused mindset. You will be well suited if you have:

• A sound base knowledge of electronic and software development, including low level firmware through to application layer integration
• Experience translating requirements into structured, testable functional specifications
• Familiarity with CAN based communication protocols such as CANOpen and J1939
• Experience with validation and verification activities, including black box testing and system integration testing
• Awareness of functional safety and cyber security implications on system and software design
• Experience using electronic lab equipment such as oscilloscopes, spectrum analysers, signal generators, and power supplies
• An understanding of design verification processes and structured development techniques
• Experience delivering electronic systems from concept through to production

Ideally, you will also bring experience within Tier 1 or OEM environments, a qualification in electronics or software engineering (or equivalent experience), and exposure to project delivery, quality systems, and functional safety or cyber standards such as ISO 13849 and ISO 21434.

You will be self motivated, analytical, and collaborative, with strong communication and technical writing skills. You’ll enjoy working with a wide range of teams, be resilient in a fast paced environment, committed to continuous improvement, and willing to travel internationally as required.

What's in it for you?

This is your chance to join a company that values expertise not only in rewards but also in real employee care. At JCB you don’t just get a competitive salary, 33 days’ holiday and access to our company pension—you can also use our onsite gym, in-house doctor and dentist. We have an ULEV car scheme available for our employees too. Then there’s the JCB Rewards Hub, which gives you discounts with high street retailers. Feel like biking to work? There’s our Cycle to Work Scheme.

We value diversity and welcome applications from candidates from all backgrounds. We’re committed to ensuring our recruitment process is fair and inclusive. If you face any accessibility challenges with your online application and require additional support, you have the option of speaking to a member of our Recruitment Team who can support you to complete an application in an alternative format.