Principal Electronics Engineer

Security Clearance: Must be eligible for UK SC Clearance

A rapidly growing engineering and technology business within the Defence sector is seeking a Principal (Lead) Electronics Design Engineer to join its expanding product development team.

This is a hands-on leadership role offering the opportunity to take ownership of electronic design activities across a portfolio of cutting-edge unmanned and autonomous systems. You'll provide technical direction, mentor a growing team of engineers, and play a key role in delivering innovative products from concept through to production.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead electronic design and development activities across multiple programmes.
• Manage, coach and mentor a team of electronics engineers.
• Own the technical delivery of electronic systems, PCB designs and subsystem development.
• Support architecture definition, component selection, testing, integration and production readiness.
• Work closely with mechanical, systems and embedded software teams to deliver robust products.
• Drive engineering best practice, quality standards and technical governance across projects.
• Support troubleshooting, fault finding and design improvements throughout the product lifecycle.

Required Experience

• Strong background in electronic engineering, circuit design and PCB development.
• Experience leading engineering teams within a product development environment.
• Knowledge of embedded systems and microcontrollers such as STM32 or similar.
• Experience with power electronics, battery management, communications interfaces and sensor integration.
• Understanding of RF systems, datalinks and communication protocols including CAN, UART, I2C and PWM.
• Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong stakeholder management, communication and technical leadership skills.

Desirable Experience

• Defence, aerospace, UAV/UAS, robotics or other highly regulated industries.
• Chartered Engineer status or working towards chartership.
• Experience designing products for harsh operating environments.
• Familiarity with environmental and military standards.
• Experience within fast-paced R&D, technology start-up or innovation-led environments.

What's on Offer?

• Direct influence over product development and technical strategy.
• Opportunity to work on advanced defence and autonomous technologies.
• Exposure to the full product lifecycle from concept through to deployment.
• Significant scope for personal growth and career progression.
• A collaborative and highly innovative engineering environment where ideas can quickly become reality.