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MBDA • Stevenage | Bristol | United Kingdom

Principal System Design Engineer

Employment type:  Full time
Salary:  £53,000 – £57,500 per annum
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Job Description

As a Principal Systems Design Engineer in the System Design Missiles function you will be responsible for delivering systems engineering artefacts to major programmes developing the latest Complex Weapons capabilities for the UK and allied Armed Forces in response to advanced threats across Air, Land and Sea domains.

Salary: Between £53,000-£57,500 depending on experience

Dynamic (hybrid) working: 2-3 days per week on-site due to workload classification (may vary depending on specific project needs)

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.

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:

The System Design Missiles function has a number of vacancies for Principal System Design Engineers across multiple missile systems across different lifecycles, presenting an exciting opportunity to contribute to the defence of our and our allies’ nations.

You could be using your systems engineering expertise to take responsibility for specific parts of the project, such as:

  • Requirement definition
  • Systems architecture definition and generation of the corresponding models
  • Scoping and executing the plan for certifying the product

There will be opportunities to support the development of more junior engineers as well as continuing to grow your own expertise, all while knowing you are making a difference defending our freedom.

What we're looking for from you:

  • Systems engineering experience at multiple phases of the lifecycle, such as requirements, system architecture, verification and certification.
  • Understanding of the Systems engineering processes for system performance and the functional chain domain would be beneficial.
  • Experience of Systems engineering toolsets, such as DOORS/DOORS NG/Rhapsody
  • Possess excellent analytical and problem-solving skills and the capability to write clear, concise engineering documentation.
  • Good verbal communication, listening and time management skills.
  • Ability to lead and manage work packages in assigned areas.
  • A desire to develop and grow your systems engineering skills, and to improve the systems engineering methods used within the team.
  • Ability to engage with subject matter experts and grow your knowledge of new technical areas.
  • Ability to initiate/undertake and drive trade studies and system development activities.
  • An effective team player with strong interpersonal and influencing skills, essential to working as part of a multi-disciplinary team and in building cohesion in the relationships between the systems team and various interfacing teams.
  • An ability to respond quickly when programme priorities change.

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.

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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
Flex spring

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Company employees:

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Gender diversity (m:f):

74:26

Hiring in countries

United Kingdom

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