Chief Systems Engineer in Luton

Your Impact

Are you an experienced Systems Engineering leader, able to guide large teams? Are you passionate about Systems Engineering? Are you able to coach and develop the Systems Engineers of the future? The Chief Systems Engineer acts as the focal point for Systems Engineering Governance and ensures our Systems Engineering capability trends in a positive direction. The role will provide a clear point of contact on Systems Engineering capability for the Sector Head of Engineering Projects, Sector Chief Engineer and the Head of Systems Engineering.

What we build is exciting, interesting, challenging and complex. A diverse product portfolio of airborne RF sensing technologies, with each programme at a different stage in its development lifecycle. Given this complexity, it requires each programme to connect with the “Art of Systems Engineering” to ensure we are doing the right activities at the right time.

The focus of this role is to provide direction, guidance and expertise to ensure:

• Our systems engineering team define the problem completely
• Our teams reuse techniques and artefacts across the portfolio of projects
• Our teams manage complexity through architecting our systems well
• Our teams predict and mitigate emergent behaviours when operating at a system or system of systems level
• Our projects create and enact the correct verification and validation strategy

As a Chief Systems Engineer, you will influence each product, its technical direction and our customers’ satisfaction. We are looking for someone passionate about our products, with a systems-thinking approach and proven experience of forming and leading high performing teams. You will thrive in dynamic environments, with the ability to make decisions quickly under pressure and set a clear technical vision for the team. Given the nature of the work at this level we are able to offer custom working, however some on-site working is expected.

What you’ll do

As the Chief Systems Engineer, you will:

• Act as the point of contact for all things Systems Engineering to the Sector Chief Engineer, Head of Systems Engineering and Head of Engineering Projects
• Be a coach in the art of systems engineering
• Provide expertise and guidance to ensure our engineers define the problem completely
• Ensure programmes capture the views and needs of all our stakeholders, covering the full lifecycle and different stakeholder types, including bridging the gap between Engineering and Capability
• Ensure the right concepting, modelling and simulation techniques are used to identify and mitigate emergent properties
• Champion Design for Excellence (DfX) concepts for Systems Engineering
• Provide expertise and guidance on System Architecting and System Synthesis concepts
• Promote and provide guidance and expertise on “System of Systems Engineering”
• Act as the focal point for systems engineering governance, supporting Lifecycle Management (LCM) activities related to systems engineering such as bids, design reviews and audits
• Champion innovative approaches and modern techniques across the full lifecycle
• Hold quarterly threat and mitigation reviews across the sector
• Represent Leonardo within Systems Engineering bodies and groups of interest, such as INCOSE
• Identify trends across your sector, capturing and sharing lessons learned to improve the quality and efficiency of future work
• Provide the right metrics to capture improvements and opportunities
• Own and drive a sector 6 month improvement plan aligned with the needs of the LoB and Systems Engineering improvement plan
• Work with the Systems People & Capability Lead and project stakeholders to optimise the skills and capability profile across the sector
• Enable and optimise collaboration across engineering disciplines
• Deliver an agile approach to systems engineering, building a culture of experimentation and failing fast.
• Understand what lies beyond our black boxes, promoting how digital technologies can be used to improve our systems approach
• Champion Human Factors Integration approaches
• Collaborate with your peers in similar roles across the UK to promote a culture of continual learning and improvement, acting as a change agent for systems engineering
• Identify and develop your own Systems Engineering specialism, becoming a recognised expert across the EW LoB / Electronics division

Progression

This is a new senior leadership role within Systems Engineering, where we would expect you to progress into a Programme Chief Engineer, Head of Discipline, or Chief Technical Specialist role for Systems Engineering. In order to do this, you will explicitly identify and coach a small number of potential successors.

What you'll bring

Ideally, we are looking for a systems thinker, someone with:

• Experience in applying governance and guidance on Systems Engineering LCM process
• Experience in eliciting stakeholder expectations
• Experience in creating and defining architectures
• Experience in managing and collaborating with external stakeholders.
• Proven leadership and decision-making skills in a high complexity, dynamic environment at a senior level.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, proven ability to build trust and respect at different levels.
• Experience of integration, with an understanding of the resultant issues, cost and schedule implications, and potential mitigations.
• Tenacity and determination, with a desire to deliver outputs and results.

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV).

Salary Range: Chief Engineer 70,000 to 95,000

Company Benefits:

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity.
• Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to 500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options.

To find out about all of our Company benefits please visit: Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation.