Systems Engineer (Bids) in Brighton

Job Location – Brighton, UK. Our Brighton business is moving to a new location in 2027. The new site is expected to be located in either Shoreham, Burgess Hill or Horsham and will be within a 15-minute drive of our current site.

About this opportunity and L3Harris UK: Operating at 11 sites in the United Kingdom, L3Harris supports Britain's mission to secure and strengthen the country by delivering sovereign innovation across the space, air, land, sea and cyber domains. L3Harris in Brighton are part of our Release Systems & Antennas division operating in the Aerospace domain. For over 70 years, L3Harris has designed and developed industry-leading carriage and release systems for fighter, rotary-wing and unmanned platforms and we design, manufacture and test a large portion of our release systems portfolio in our Brighton facility which offers 48,500 square feet of manufacturing space. Our mission-critical release systems equipment is on most major airborne fighter platforms worldwide, including the F-35, along with other aircraft like the Gripen and Typhoon.

We are looking for a Systems Bid Engineer to support the development of winning aerospace and defence bids. Whilst reporting into the Head of Systems Engineering, you will also work alongside the Bid Manager to shape technically robust, compliant, and commercially credible solutions, while maintaining strong systems engineering discipline. This role sits within the Systems Engineering function, ensuring alignment with engineering standards and best practice. The successful candidate will work within a multi-disciplinary engineering team, collaborating with mechanical, electrical, and test engineers to deliver robust and compliant aerospace systems. We welcome candidates with strong systems engineering experience who are looking to develop into bids and proposals. A willingness to learn and operate in this space is essential.

A few of our employee benefits are:

• Hybrid working where possible, three days onsite per week upon completion of probationary period (3 months).
• Half day finish on a Friday.
• 25 days holiday per year (plus bank holidays), increasing with long service and with the opportunity to buy/sell up to 5 days.
• Private medical insurance with optional family cover.
• Pension scheme of up to 8% employer contribution.
• Life Assurance 4x salary (flexible up to 10x).
• Group income protection.
• Flexible opt-in extras such as a health care cash plan, dental insurance, gym membership, critical illness cover, cycle to work scheme, travel insurance and electric car scheme.
• Employee Family Assistance Program providing mental health and wellbeing support.
• Professional membership reimbursement (discretionary).

What the role will involve: The responsibilities of your role will include the following:

• Develop and articulate technical solutions in response to customer requirements.
• Produce clear, structured proposal content (architectures, CONOPS, compliance).
• Apply systems engineering principles to shape feasible, deliverable designs.
• Lead the preparation and presentation of Technical Baseline Reviews (TBRs).
• Coordinate and drive Basis of Estimates (BOEs) across engineering teams.
• Ensure BOEs are robust, justified, and aligned to the technical solution, through to sign-off.
• Identify technical risks, assumptions, and dependencies within bids.
• Collaborate across engineering, commercial, finance, and programme teams.
• Support bid reviews and governance activities.
• Engage directly with customers, including travel to customer sites, to build strong relationships and develop a clear understanding of their needs and requirements.
• Act as the engineering focal point in customer interactions, supporting contract review activities and coordinating timely, high-quality engineering responses to enquiries and orders.

Collaboration: Work closely with design, mechanical, electrical, and software engineering teams. Support engagement with customers, suppliers, and internal stakeholders.

What you’ll bring: The role requires the following experience and skills:

• Essential: Strong systems engineering background (requirements, architecture, integration). Ability to develop clear technical documentation and proposals. Confident communicator, able to present to stakeholders and review boards. Strong analytical thinking and problem-solving skills. Comfortable working in fast-paced, deadline-driven environments. Experience managing technical documentation and requirements. Ability to work within multi-disciplinary engineering teams.
• Desirable: Experience in bids, proposals, or pre-contract engineering. Exposure to TBRs and/or cost estimation (BOEs). Aerospace and/or defence sector experience. Familiarity with standards such as ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288. Aerospace or defence programme experience.

Qualifications: Degree in Systems Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related discipline with 3+ years of experience working within the Aerospace/Defence industry in the System Safety domain. In lieu of a degree, minimum of 6 years of prior related experience.

Important to know: Applicants who accept a conditional offer of employment must meet the requirement of right to work in the UK and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information and will be subject to government security checks.