Principal Naval Architect

Location: Plymouth, Devon + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation: Competitive + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Lead the future of naval engineering and marine innovation. At Babcock we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as a Principal Naval Architect at our Devonport Royal Dockyard site.

The role:

• As a Principal Naval Architect, you’ll take a pivotal leadership role in shaping the performance, capability and future of marine assets that support the Royal Navy.
• Working within a highly skilled engineering environment, you will lead the delivery of technical solutions that keep vital defence infrastructure operating safely and effectively.
• Day-to-day, you’ll have an exciting opportunity to influence both current operations and future design, balancing hands-on engineering expertise with strategic leadership.
• You will contribute to the development of new marine assets while ensuring existing systems perform at their best, directly supporting national defence capability and critical maritime operations.

Key responsibilities:

• Leading and developing a multidisciplinary team of engineers and technicians.
• Delivering technical support to marine operational assets, ensuring performance, safety and reliability.
• Providing design input and technical direction for new and existing marine systems.
• Managing resources and planning engineering capability across operational and project activities.
• Ensuring compliance with engineering standards, regulatory requirements and safety frameworks.

This role is full time, 35 hours per week and provides hybrid working arrangements with a minimum of 3 days in the office/onsite.

Essential experience:

• Experience maintaining and supporting complex marine or naval assets.
• Proven ability to lead technical teams and deliver engineering outputs.
• Strong experience in a highly regulated industry such as defence, maritime or infrastructure.
• Experience managing resources and building long-term engineering capability.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills.

Qualifications:

• Degree in Naval Architecture or Marine or Mechanical Engineering, or a closely related discipline - Essential.

Security Clearance:

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role. Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held.

What we offer:

• Generous holiday allowance.
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance.
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+.
• Employee shopping savings portal.
• Payment of Professional Fees.
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave.
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Babcock employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement.
• Be Kind Day enables employees to take one working day’s paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity.

We are a disability confident committed employer. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We’re happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 17/06/2026