Job Description: Salary Range: £53,269 - £71,400. Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.
Your Impact
Are you ready to take on complex technical challenges at the forefront of cyber and platform engineering? At Leonardo, our Principal Platform Engineers are hands‑on experts who shape the design, integration, and delivery of secure platforms that keep our customers’ missions running. Your work at Leonardo UK will see you take the lead in solving customer problems in an agile, innovative and team‑centric manner. The role may involve a blended hybrid working model, with a mixture of working from home and on‑site at one of our offices to ensure close collaboration with the wider team and our customers.
What you will do as a Principal Platform Engineer
- Act as the technical authority on one of our platform engineering domains (e.g. virtualisation), providing specialist domain expertise to projects and programmes.
- Lead the design and implementation of secure platforms across on‑premise environments.
- Capture, analyse and interpret complex customer requirements to drive system design and architecture.
- Develop high‑ and low‑level designs, ensuring alignment with secure‑by‑design principles.
- Take ownership of technical delivery within work packages, including planning, estimation and progress reporting.
- Mentor, coach and develop junior and senior engineers, raising technical capability across the community.
- Provide input to technology strategies, feasibility studies and innovation projects.
- Engage with internal and external stakeholders, presenting technical solutions and justifying design decisions.
What you’ll bring
- Extensive technical expertise across multiple platform domains, with a track record of delivering secure solutions.
- The ability to balance hands‑on engineering with technical leadership and mentorship.
- A problem‑solving mindset, able to innovate and recommend the best approach for complex challenges.
Core areas (must have)
- Windows and Linux operating systems
- Virtualisation platforms (VMware, Hyper‑V)
- VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) stack (vSphere, vSAN, NSX‑T, Aria Suite)
- Design, build and operation of software‑defined datacentre platforms
- Network virtualisation and micro‑segmentation concepts (NSX, platform‑integrated)
- Networking concepts (TCP/IP, DNS, DHCP, firewalls)
- Automation and scripting (PowerShell, Bash, Python, Ansible, Terraform)
- Knowledge of cyber security controls and accreditation requirements
- Experience across the systems engineering lifecycle
- Integration of compute, storage and network layers into a unified platform
- Delivery within secure / enterprise / defence environments
Desirable
- VCAP certification
- Expertise with cloud platforms (AWS) and Infrastructure as Code
- Experience integrating enterprise services (Active Directory, PKI, monitoring, SIEM)
- Hands‑on use of DevSecOps tools and CI/CD pipelines
- VxRail and hyper‑converged infrastructure
- Automation of VCF lifecycle (patching, upgrades, deployment)
- Integration with enterprise identity and security services (AD, PKI, PAM)
- Containerisation platforms (Kubernetes, Docker)
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) will apply. This role requires Developed Vetting (DV) clearance prior to starting.
Location
This role will be based at one of our UK sites – Yeovil.
Why join us
We offer a comprehensive, company‑funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development and work‑life balance. Highlights include generous leave, a pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution, free access to mental health support, financial advice, employee‑led networks, and 4,000+ online courses. Tailored perks allow up to £500 annually on flexible benefits such as private healthcare, lifestyle discounts and gym memberships. We provide flexible hours with hybrid working options.
As a global leader in aerospace, defence and security, Leonardo employs over 53,000 people worldwide, including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. We are committed to building an inclusive, accessible and welcoming workplace that thrives on diversity and innovation.
Be part of something bigger – apply now! #LI-CYBER
Primary Location: GB – Yeovil – Lysander Rd. Contract Type: Permanent. Hybrid Working: Onsite.
