Test Systems Group Leader

Job Description

Job Title: Test Systems Group Leader

Location: Rochester, Kent.

Salary: Up to £70,000 depending on experience and skills

What you’ll be doing:

• Developing purpose-fit processes for engineering excellence. Your insights will lead to streamlined operations, enhanced craftsmanship, and vendors, raising the bar in tool improvement
• Providing valuable input into our systems and software engineering strategies, you’ll help us optimize cost, schedule, and quality, ensuring that best practices are integrated seamlessly
• Inspiring both teams and the larger enterprise to embrace innovative paradigms, to bridge disciplines and influence a culture of excellence
• Nurturing and developing people, helping to develop the team and driving a workforce, enhancing skills and taking on new tasks
• Ensuring correct implementation and use of resources, including the recruitment of experienced engineers, undergraduate placement students and graduates
• Playing a key role in our estimating and development strategies to support our Technical Bid Review Process

Your skills and experiences:

• Managing large teams or teams of teams through test system lifecycles
• Demonstrable leadership skills, in order to drive growth
• Ability to engage and negotiate with stakeholders, being able to deliver information at all levels and influence decision making
• Technical engineering background with a relevant qualification or experience
• Ideally experience with Test Equipment in domains of Avionic Systems, Mission Systems, Safety Critical Control Systems, or Real-time Embedded/Display Systems will add valuable insight to our teams

Benefits:

As well as a competitive pension scheme, BAE Systems also offers employee share plans, an extensive range of flexible discounted health, wellbeing and lifestyle benefits, including a green car scheme, private health plans and shopping discounts – you may also be eligible for an annual incentive.

The Engineering team:

You will provide functional support to the engineering managers and engineering teams within Test Systems, having a vital role in continuous improvement, enhancing processes, inspiring teams and driving efficiency in one of the world’s leading defence, security and aerospace companies. You will play a key part in managing Test Systems teams enabling the development and supply of products across a diverse mix of commercial and military platforms; Head Up and Head Worn Displays, Safety Critical Pilot Control and Flight Control Systems. This will give you a direct influence on leading process innovation, propelling excellence, and leading teams, whilst driving a culture of creativity and collaboration.

Why BAE Systems?

This is a place where you’ll be able to make a real difference. You’ll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity of thought, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you’ll be empowered to fulfil your potential. We welcome people from all backgrounds and want to make sure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability or health condition (for example dyslexia, autism, an anxiety disorder etc.) that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.

Please be aware that many roles at BAE Systems are subject to both security and export control restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors such as your nationality, any nationalities you may have previously held, and your place of birth can restrict the roles you are eligible to perform within the organisation. All applicants must as a minimum achieve Baseline Personnel Security Standard. Many roles also require higher levels of National Security Vetting where applicants must typically have 5 to 10 years of continuous residency in the UK depending on the vetting level required for the role, to allow for meaningful security vetting checks.

Closing Date: 24th March 2026.

We reserve the right to close this vacancy early if we receive sufficient applications for the role. Therefore, if you are interested, please submit your application as early as possible.

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