Project Engineering Lead

Job Description:

Salary Range - £59,000 - £75,000

Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.

Your Impact

Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

This Project Engineering Lead (PEL) vacancy is within the Integrated Mission Solutions (IMS) sector of the Electronic Warfare LoB and will be assigned to the Mission Support Products Integrated Project Team (IPT). The PEL is responsible for the day-to-day engineering management of projects assigned to them, reporting into the Project Engineering Manager (PEM). The PEL works with the Project Engineering Manager and ensures they are kept informed of the engineering status (progress, spend, risks, metrics) and supports the IPT in internal and external engagements.

The PEL helps develop their Engineering Team providing mentoring, coaching and setting objectives and appraising them of their performance.

This engineering lead role will be split across contract delivery and business winning, providing engineering management, direction and leadership for several customers and end users.

This opportunity is based from the Luton office, and benefits from hybrid working.

What you’ll do as a Project Engineering Lead

· Lead the Engineering / Engineering Bid aspects of the Project, ensuring technical quality, schedule and budget management.

· Line management of cross-site, multi-disciplined engineering teams, ensuring that roles within the teams are clearly defined.

· Create a positive working relationship with customers and partners, to deliver project capability.

· Establish and maintain good lines of communication internally across the Engineering IPT, with the IPT lead, Project Manager, functional heads.

· Work closely with the Chief Engineer / Systems Design Authority ensuring they are fully informed on technical progress, technical risk and any mitigation strategies.

· Ensuring the design solution meets the end user requirement, is reliable, fully documented and works within its designated environment.

· Ensure the design solution is compatible with the business area route map.

· Control project configuration and change management to ensure design reuse is maximised.

· Support the management of Suppliers and project Make or Buy decisions.

· Travel within the UK, working alongside other teams within Leonardo, Customers, End Users and Industry Partners. There is also the potential for some overseas travel.

What You'll Bring;

· Experience in early engineering lifecycle phases.

· Experience in engineering bid delivering.

· Experience in engineering management and delivery of projects.

· Engineering or scientific Degree qualification (or equivalent).

· Excellent communication skills and be able to provide clear direction to team members.

· Ability to manage complex situations with sound judgement and the ability to balance conflicting challenges.

· Commercial and business awareness.

· Experience of working across the full life cycle.

It would be nice if you had experience of:

· The military domain.

· Agile Methodologies.

· DevOps based tools.

· Problem Definition, Requirements elicitation and defining software products.

· Development and certification of airborne equipment.

· New Product Introduction.

· Outsourcing complex engineering work packages.

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/security-and-vetting

Why join us?

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part time opportunities, please talk to us about what might be possible for this role.

For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website.

Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Be part of something bigger - apply now!

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Contract Type:

Hybrid Working: