Principal Test Engineer

Job Description:

Salary: £53, 260 to £71,400 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.

Leonardo is a world-leading high‑tech company and one of the key players in Aerospace, Defence and Security. The products developed at Basildon have widespread uses in industrial and civil applications as well as fulfilling many military requirements. 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.

As a Principal Test Engineer, you will support the design, development, and ongoing support of electro‑optical test equipment and test processes for Leonardo’s range of Precision Guidance products – from early development through to production. You will work as part of the test engineering team, contributing to the specification, design, integration, and verification of test solutions. This includes working on a variety of systems incorporating optical, thermal, electronic, and software components.

The role is hands‑on and requires a broad technical understanding. You’ll also provide support to production teams and contribute to resolving test‑related issues on existing systems.

• Interpretation of product test requirements to:
• Define a test strategy and plan
• Define a test system
• Generate work packages and estimate the cost to deliver said plan across multiple functions
• Generation, co‑ordination and execution of work packages, from bid through to project completion, to cost, quality and time, with appropriate level of procedural governance.
• Build, commissioning and verification of new test solutions.
• Development testing of product with an understanding of environmental stress screening and production lifespan.
• Preparation of technical documentation including user instructions.
• Support to test system related issues in production and investigation of root cause of detector faults returned from the field.

Essential HND or above, in system or electrical engineering

Experience of one or more of the following areas:

• Electrical test, , Electro‑optics.
• Understanding optoelectronic devices and systems, such as lasers and photodetectors, is highly desired in the field.
• Ability to assimilate and apply technical information to design tasks and to problem solving
• Ability to validate and qualify new mechanical designs under different environmental conditions
• Practical ‘hands on’ laboratory test, diagnostic and measurement experience, including electro‑optical instrumentation
• Demonstrate evidence of good organisation, planning and execution of work
• Attention to detail.
• Ability to work closely in a team with other engineering and science disciplines
• Good Communication and customer liaison skills.
• Careful Measurement and analytical skills.

Desirable Test Software Experience, LabVIEW, MATLAB or similar

Experience of soldering surface mount components

Experience of mechanical design

Experience of using industry standard ECAD tools

Understanding of how the operating environment influences the design

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…