At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead aerospace product design and provide expert support throughout the project lifecycle.
- Company: Join a leading aerospace manufacturing business in Fareham with a collaborative engineering team.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, technical influence, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Opportunity for international travel and dynamic project involvement.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in aerospace engineering and become a key technical authority.
- Qualifications: Degree in Mechanical Engineering and significant aerospace experience required.
The predicted salary is between 49500 - 60500 £ per year.
Are you an experienced Principal Mechanical Engineer or Senior Mechanical Design Engineer with a strong background in aerospace engineering, FEA/CFD and pressure systems? Do you enjoy taking technical ownership of complex products, leading design activity and providing specialist engineering support across the full product lifecycle? We're supporting a leading aerospace manufacturing business in Fareham who are looking to recruit a Principal Mechanical Engineer Aerospace to join their Engineering team. This is a senior technical opportunity where you'll take responsibility for product design from initial interpretation of customer specifications through concept, manufacture and installation, while becoming a key technical authority for FEA and CFD within the business.
What's the role all about? As the Principal Mechanical Engineer, you'll take technical ownership of aerospace products and projects, ensuring designs meet customer specifications, performance requirements and engineering standards. You'll provide specialist expertise in fluid mechanics, pressure systems, FEA and CFD, conducting analysis to verify product integrity and performance. Alongside your technical responsibilities, you'll support the wider Engineering team, participate in design reviews, work directly with customers and provide technical guidance to Production and Quality. You'll also deputise for the Engineering Manager when required, making this an excellent opportunity for an experienced engineer looking for greater technical responsibility and influence.
Key responsibilities
- Take responsibility for product design from interpretation of customer requirements through to manufacture and installation
- Analyse products to ensure design integrity and performance specifications are achieved
- Establish and perform FEA and CFD analysis applicable to aerospace products
- Act as a technical focal point for FEA/CFD and provide guidance to other engineering users
- Conduct and participate in technical design reviews throughout the project lifecycle
- Perform Engineering Contract Reviews
- Act as an Aerospace Approval Signatory for applicable product categories
- Provide technical support to Production and Quality teams, including MRB decisions
- Provide technical support to Sales and Applications teams
- Work directly with customers to resolve technical requirements and engineering challenges
- Monitor and control project and unit costs against agreed budgets and profitability targets
- Liaise with Sales, Manufacturing, Quality, Purchasing, Estimating and subcontractors
- Deputise for the Engineering Manager when required
What you'll need
To succeed in this role, you'll bring:
- Degree in Mechanical Engineering
- Significant mechanical engineering experience within an aerospace environment
- Experience working with precision-machined aerospace components
- Strong understanding of fluid mechanics and pressure systems
- Proven experience carrying out FEA and CFD analysis
- Competence using Autodesk CFD
- Strong mathematical and analytical capability
- Project management experience
- Ability to produce clear and detailed technical reports
- Strong customer-facing and communication skills
- Full UK driving licence
Technical experience
Experience with the following would be particularly relevant:
- ANSYS FEA
- Autodesk CFD
- Autodesk Inventor
- 3D Solid Modelling
- Fluid mechanics
- Pressure systems
- Precision-machined components
- Mathcad / TK Solver
- Microsoft Project
- Design verification and analysis
Desirable
Technical Engineering Apprenticeship alongside degree-level qualifications
Filtration industry experience
Mathcad or TK Solver experience
Previous experience acting as a technical approval/signatory authority
About you
You're an experienced engineer who is comfortable taking technical ownership and being the person others turn to for complex engineering challenges. You'll be:
- Methodical and analytical
- Technically strong and hands-on
- Accurate and thorough
- A confident problem solver
- Self-motivated and accountable
- A strong communicator
- Comfortable working directly with customers
- Willing to travel internationally occasionally when required
Why join?
This is an excellent opportunity to step into a genuine Principal Engineer position where you'll have significant technical influence rather than simply managing individual design projects. You'll become a key technical authority within the Aerospace Engineering team, working across product design, simulation, customer requirements, manufacturing and quality while helping develop the business's FEA and CFD capability.
Interested? If you're an experienced Principal Mechanical Engineer, Principal Design Engineer, Senior Mechanical Design Engineer, FEA Engineer or Aerospace Mechanical Engineer looking for your next challenge, we'd love to hear from you. Apply today or contact Kingdom People for a confidential discussion.
Principal Engineer employer: Kingdom People
At Kingdom People, we pride ourselves on being an exceptional employer that fosters a collaborative and innovative work culture. As an Engineering Manager in our dynamic team, you will benefit from extensive professional development opportunities, competitive compensation, and the chance to make a significant impact on cutting-edge high-voltage electronics projects. Our commitment to employee growth and a supportive environment makes us a standout choice for those seeking meaningful and rewarding careers.
