Principal Safety Engineer

General Dynamics Mission Systems engineers a diverse portfolio of high technology solutions, products and services that enable customers to successfully execute missions across all domains of operation. With a global team of more than 13,000 top professionals, we partner with the best in industry to expand the bounds of innovation in the defence and scientific arenas. In the UK, we are leading the way in avionics and communication systems.

Given the nature of our work and who we are, we value trust, honesty, alignment and transparency.

General Dynamics Mission Systems engineers a diverse portfolio of high technology solutions, products and services that enable customers to successfully execute missions across all domains of operation. With a global team of more than 13,000 top professionals, we partner with the best in industry to expand the bounds of innovation in the defence and scientific arenas. In the UK, we are leading the way in avionics and communication systems.

Given the nature of our work and who we are, we value trust, honesty, alignment and transparency.

General Dynamics Mission Systems UK is looking for an experienced Principal Safety Engineer to lead and deliver safety engineering activities across complex defence programmes, product development initiatives, and customer-funded projects.

This is a senior technical leadership role, responsible for ensuring the effective application of safety engineering principles across military land, maritime and air domains. You will manage Safety Management Programmes, develop robust Safety Cases, and provide expert guidance to programmes and stakeholders, ensuring compliance with regulatory, customer and company requirements.

You will bring extensive experience in safety-critical environments, a strategic mindset, and the ability to influence both programme delivery and the continued growth of the organisation's safety capability.

You will be an experienced Safety Engineering professional with a proven track record of leading safety engineering activities within large-scale, complex or safety-critical systems. You will be comfortable operating at a strategic level while remaining technically hands‑on, providing expert guidance and leadership across multiple projects and programmes.

• Demonstrable experience in Safety Engineering for product based large-scale systems.
• Proven ability to lead and develop a Safety Engineering capability.
• Strong experience developing and managing:
  • System and Product Safety Case Plans and Reports.
  • Safety Cases and Safety & Environmental Cases.
  • Software Safety programmes.
• Strong working knowledge of:
  • Fault Tree Analysis (FTA)
  • Event Tree Analysis (ETA)
  • HAZOP Studies
  • Common Cause Analysis (CCA)
  • Occupational Health Hazard Assessment (OHHA/OSHA)
  • COSHH and Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS)
  • Environmental Management principles
  • Safety Integrity Levels (SILs)
  • Modular Safety Cases and Goal Structuring Notation (GSN)
• Knowledge of relevant standards and frameworks including:
  • Def Stan 00-051, 00-055 and 00-056
  • IEC 61508
  • DSA
    02.DLSR.LSSR
  • DO-254
  • DO-178B/C
• Strong understanding of current and emerging safety and environmental legislation.
• Excellent communication, stakeholder management and relationship‑building skills.
• Strong analytical, organisational and decision‑making abilities.
• A systems‑thinking approach with the ability to innovate and solve complex problems.
• Commitment to continuous learning and professional development.
• Experience working with or familiarity with AI/ML models is preferred.

Salary for this position is £59,000 to £85,000, depending on experience plus our excellent flexible benefits package.

We offer hybrid working - for this role we expect a minimum of 2 days per week on site, averaged over a month period.

We pride ourselves in being a great place to work with a shared sense of purpose, offering impressive benefits:

• A compressed nine‑day fortnight and compressed hours - which means every other Friday off.
• A personalized career development plan, alongside regular progress reviews - supporting and valuing your progression within the Company.
• A flexible working…