Senior Systems Engineer in Essex

At Leonardo, we’re offering a fantastic opportunity for a Senior Systems Engineer to play a pivotal role in shaping the future of Through‑Life Services for the UK’s next‑generation combat aircraft. Step into a position where your System engineering expertise and collaborative mindset will directly influence the future of UK defence capability. As part of a dynamic and highly integrated team, you’ll contribute to the development of innovative Through‑Life Service solutions, working at the forefront of a cutting‑edge combat air programme. You’ll collaborate closely with engineering specialists, international industry partners and wider stakeholders to influence early support design decisions, shape advanced support concepts, and deliver sustainable, high‑value solutions that will underpin front‑line operations for decades to come. If you thrive on complex challenges, value deep collaboration and want your work to have tangible operational impact, this is where you can truly make a difference.

What You’ll Do

• Identify and engage a complete set of stakeholders for the Through‑Life Services (TLS) element of the programme, and support the development of an effective stakeholder engagement and communication strategy.
• Elicit, analyse and mature stakeholder needs—prioritising, balancing and trading off interests and influence to define optimal capability solutions.
• Contribute to the creation of concepts and architectures for the Through‑Life Support solution, collaborating closely with product design teams and functional SMEs (e.g., supportability, obsolescence, data).
• Conduct system functional analysis, modelling and architecture development/refinement as required.
• Ensure effective application of appropriate tools and techniques for problem definition within the team.
• Support the definition and establishment of Use Cases to inform Functional Analysis and help derive the logical architecture of the solution.
• Work closely with internal and external stakeholders to ensure alignment between the TLS architecture and wider programme elements.
• Identify and elevate emerging issues, contribute to risk assessment activities, and help shape mitigation strategies and opportunity exploitation.
• Coordinate multi‑stakeholder inputs and deliver clear, high‑quality reports and presentations for customers and industry partners.
• Build and maintain strong relationships across and beyond the line of business, actively promoting best practice adoption.

What You’ll Bring

• Experience capturing and analysing stakeholder needs to guide the development of service solutions suitable for future operational environments.
• Experience applying Model‑Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) approaches to develop service and product system architectures in response to stakeholder requirements.
• Experience generating Use Cases and conducting Functional Analysis to support requirements refinement and validation.
• Experience managing requirements and maintaining traceability throughout the engineering lifecycle.
• A solid understanding of the engineering lifecycle and how early technical decisions impact later development and support phases.
• The ability to balance competing needs and constraints using structured methods such as trade studies.
• Strong interpersonal and collaboration skills, with the ability to influence, communicate effectively and adapt to changing programme demands.
• The ability to work confidently with internal and external stakeholders across diverse organisations, disciplines, backgrounds and levels of seniority.
• A commitment to maintaining engineering best practice, including seeking insight from academia, industry benchmarks and wider external sources.
• The ability to explore and articulate the problem space objectively, without bias toward predetermined solutions.
• An appreciation of how systems integrate into a broader capability enterprise—such as system‑of‑systems relationships and dependencies on personnel, training and infrastructure.
• A self‑motivated mindset with strong problem‑solving skills and the drive to take complex issues through to resolution.

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).

Why Join Us

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 (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• 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.