Principal Systems Engineer

Location: Rugeley, United Kingdom
Industry: Defence & Maritime 

Role Overview

We are seeking a Principal Systems Engineer to lead the definition, management, and assurance of requirements for complex, high-integrity systems. You will provide technical leadership across the systems engineering lifecycle, ensuring traceability, configuration control, and robust verification planning to meet stakeholder needs and compliance expectations.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead systems engineering activities across concept, development, integration, qualification, and support phases.
• Own requirements management for complex systems, ensuring clear, testable requirements and end-to-end traceability.
• Apply industry-leading requirements management tools and methodologies to drive consistency, governance, and audit readiness.
• Manage large data sets, ensuring data integrity, configuration control, and disciplined change management.
• Conduct analytical validation and optimisation of requirements, including identifying gaps, conflicts, and ambiguities.
• Support test definition, planning, and execution, including system and subsystem verification activities, integration, and qualification.
• Proactively initiate verbal and face-to-face stakeholder engagement to resolve technical issues, manage expectations, and align priorities.
• Promote effective collaboration across engineering disciplines, project teams, and external partners.

Essential Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in systems engineering, electrical engineering, or a related engineering field.
• Proven experience in systems engineering and requirements management of complex systems.
• Proficiency with industry-leading requirements management tools and methodologies.
• Experience in handling large data sets, integrity and configuration control.
• Strong analytical skills for validating and optimising requirements.
• Familiarity or experience in supporting test definitions, planning and execution, including verification, integration, and qualification.
• Proactive involvement in stakeholder engagement (verbal and face-to-face) to resolve technical issues and manage expectations.
• Excellent written and verbal communication and collaboration skills.
• Experience of working in environments handling sensitive information and demonstrating good security practices.
• High proficiency in data processing and data management IT systems/software including MS Office (MS Excel, MS Word), MS Outlook, and MS Teams.

Desirable

• Experience contributing to engineering governance, reviews, and technical assurance activities.
• Ability to mentor engineers and promote best practice across systems engineering processes.