Flexa
Discover companiesFind a jobResourcesSign in/up
For employers
< Back to search
MBDA

Principal Systems Design Engineer - Future Products

Salary:  Up to £57,500 per annum
Location:  Bristol | Stevenage | Bolton | United Kingdom
Location flexibility:  1 office day / week, 2 office days / week, 3 office days / week – 2-3 days at home (some exceptions), 4 office days / week
View company profile
Apply
Hey there, we’re really sorry but this job is not available in your region. Please take a look at our other roles, and check back again soon as we’re adding new roles all the time!

Job Description

Define the next generation missile systems; we are looking for forward-thinking Systems Design Principal Engineers, to develop and transform ambitious concepts into the technical blueprints of tomorrow’s missile products.

Salary: up to £57,500 depending on experience

Dynamic (hybrid) working: 3-to-5 days per week on-site, depending on workload classification

Security Clearance: British Citizen or a Dual-UK national with British citizenship

Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team. A minimum of SC clearance is also required for the roles.

What we can offer you:

  • Company bonus: Up to £2,500 (based on company performance and will vary year to year)
  • Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
  • Overtime: opportunity for paid overtime
  • Flexi Leave: Up to 15 additional days
  • Flexible working: We welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements
  • Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave -enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments
  • Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more…
  • Healthcare Cash Plan: The Healthcare Cash Plan benefit provides the option to claim cash back on everyday healthcare expenses such as optical, dental, health and wellbeing and more

The Opportunity:

Apply

Other jobs you might like

MBDA

Principal System Design Engineer

£53,000 – £57,500 per annum

Stevenage | Bristol

MBDA

Senior Systems Engineer (System Architecting)

£50,000 per annum

Bristol | Stevenage | United Kingdom

MBDA

Senior System Design Engineer

£41,000 – £46,500 per annum

Stevenage | Bristol

Working at MBDA

1 office day / week 2 office days / week 3 office days / week – 2-3 days at home (some exceptions) 4 office days / week

A little flex time – high flexibility for most roles

Company benefits

25 days annual leave + bank holidays
Adoption leave – up to 26 weeks
Annual bonus – all employee bonuses paid in Feb/March
Annual pay rises – performance (+ inflation) increases each year
Bike parking – secure parking at all sites
Buddy scheme – buddies when onboarding
Buy or sell annual leave – buy up to 5 extra days
Carer’s leave
Cinema discounts
Coffee discounts – discounted on site cafes and canteens
Collaboration spaces
Company shutdown periods – Christmas closures and bank holidays
Compassionate leave
Cycle to work scheme
Dental coverage – salary sacrifice options
Electric Car Salary Sacrifice – MyCarScheme - including electric vehicles
Electric vehicle charging unit loan – electric charging points at all UK sites
Employee assistance programme
Employee discounts
Enhanced maternity leave – up to 26 weeks
Enhanced paternity leave – available after 26 weeks service
Enhanced pension match/contribution
Enhanced sick pay – increases with length of service
Faith rooms
Family health insurance – salary sacrifice options
Fertility treatment leave
Gym membership – Discounted gym on site in Stevenage, or discounts for local gyms across UK
Health insurance – salary sacrifice options
In house training – In house L&D team
L&D budget
Language lessons
Learning platform – access to multiple learning resources
Meditation space
Menopause support
Mental health first aiders
Mentoring – available to all employees. Includes women in leadership options
Modern office
Neonatal leave – up to 12 weeks
On-site barista
On-site catering
On-site gym
On-site shower
On-site wellness room – reflection rooms available to employees
Open to compressed hours
Open to job sharing
Open to part time work for some roles
Open to part-time employees
Optional unpaid leave
Personal development budgets – up to £150 towards non-work training courses
Pregnancy loss leave
Pregnancy support
Private booths
Professional subscriptions – full membership funding available
Referral bonus – up to £3,000 for a successful referral
Reservist leave – up to 3 weeks off for training (2 weeks on full pay)
Restaurant discounts – discount/cashback employee platform
Salary sacrifice
Secure on-site parking
Share options
Shared parental leave – up to 26 weeks
Teambuilding days
Technology Loan – salary sacrifice options available
Time off in-lieu
Travel loan – season ticket loans for public transport
Volunteer days – up to 2 days a year for team-based volunteering
Wellbeing allowance
Will writing

Awards & Accreditations

Best Work-Life Balance

Top 5 - Best Work-Life Balance

Flexa awards 2026
Apply
Flex spring

Join the mailing list

Get the latest insights and expert guidance on job hunting, career progression, and creating thriving workplaces.

Enter your email
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • FAQs
  • Info for employers
  • Join Flexa
  • Legal
  • Live feed
  • Resources
  • Sign in/up
  • The Flexa awards
Flexa

Shape the Future of Missile Systems


As a Future Products, Principal Systems Design Engineer, you will join a technical function dedicated to defining the next generation of missiles/effectors and integrated weapon system capabilities. This role is positioned at the critical intersection of early-phase design and strategic growth, where you will transform high-level concepts into viable technical scopes that ensure long-term success in major national and international programs.

Rather than following a pre-defined path, you will help create the roadmap. You will operate in a high-visibility capacity, providing essential engineering expertise into the Future Business areas (such as Deep Strike, Hypersonics, Tactical Strike, Air Domain, Air Defence, Battlefield and Future Combat Air Systems) to ensure that new opportunities are technically grounded and competitively positioned.

Why this role is compelling:
This position offers the opportunity to lead the technical narrative during the most creative phase of the product lifecycle. You will have the autonomy to explore new functionality and apply cutting-edge Systems Engineering techniques to solve complex problems before they are fully defined. You will act as a key technical integrator, bridging the gap between ambitious customer needs and deliverable engineering plans

What you will be doing:
Your focus will be on the logical and functional evolution of the system. You will lead activities across the system design spectrum, with examples of your focus areas including:

  • Concept Development & Funnelling: Leading the conceptualization process, managing the evaluation of various options, and driving the rigorous "funnelling" process toward technical down-selection.
  • Functional Architecture & Performance: Defining the functional behaviour and system-level performance requirements, ensuring the logical architecture supports the overarching mission goals.
  • Missile System Capability: Defining the specific capabilities of the missile system to ensure it meets operational needs, focusing on the missile system design.
  • Technical Delivery & Planning: Owning the technical milestones for task groups and collaborating with Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) to translate high-level goals into detailed, deliverable plans of work.
  • Requirements Orchestration: Leading the early capture of customer needs and translating them into structured specifications (such as CPS, SRS, and TRS) using industry-standard approaches & tools.
  • Strategic Collaboration: Engaging with stakeholders at all levels to align technical strategy with business objectives

If you are a Systems Engineering professional who enjoys the challenge of early-phase design and possesses the drive to steer the technical direction of future missile systems, this is an exceptional opportunity to make a lasting impact

What we're looking for from you:

  • Extensive experience in Systems Engineering, especially desirable if within early-phase conceptual work.
  • Experience with developing and applying requirements, ideally including familiarity with approaches and tools to capture and translate customer needs into specifications.
  • Ability to engage at a technical level across multiple disciplines (Physical Architecture, Aerodynamics, Propulsion, Guidance Control & Navigation, etc)
  • Comfortable with occasional engaging into Sales and Business Development & Strategy to understand wider objectives and direction
  • Comfortable working with ambiguity and in uncertainty
  • Delivery-focused with positive and enthusiastic outlook
  • Highly Desirable: experience in technical project management and competitive bidding.
  • Highly Desirable: Team and Technical Leadership skills
  • Desirable: Proven ability to develop Functional Architectures and system-level performance requirements.
  • Desirable: Awareness of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE).

Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given

MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more…

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.

Follow us on LinkedIn (MBDA), X (@MBDA_UK), Instagram (MBDA_UK) and Glassdoor or visit our MBDA Careers website for more information.

MBDA

Principal Systems Engineer

£53,000 per annum

Stevenage, UK

MBDA

Lead Mechanical Design Engineer

£55,000 per annum

Bristol, UK

Company employees:

7000

Gender diversity (m:f):

74:26

Hiring in countries

Spain

United Kingdom

Office Locations