Chief Engineer

Chief Engineer – Guildford, England, UK

Security Clearance: Eligibility to gain UK SC Security Clearance

Travel Required: Occasional UK and international travel

Location: Guildford OR Newcastle (60% of working week must be office based)

Employment Type: Full time, Permanent

Job Overview: Lead the full lifecycle of geospatial software products and cloud‑native solutions, driving organisational capability and leading the design and evolution of our geospatial software products and services portfolio for the MOD ISTARI and Commercial sectors.

• Support a wide range of products from bid stage to the selection, proposal and final approval of key technologies with the client.
• Capture customer and portfolio requirements, generate corresponding solutions and produce technical specifications.
• Consider appropriate engineering approaches and select the relevant ones to meet program maturity milestones.
• Accountable for the technical work breakdown structure development schedule and technical risk management plan.
• Continuously monitor progress, ensure timely resolution of technical issues, and lead engineering change management.

• Experience in Intelligence Surveillance and Reconnaissance space domain activity.
• Experience of System Engineering practices and delivery throughout the product life cycle.
• Passionate about people management for delivery and development.
• Demonstrable practical application of delivery in quality, time and cost principles.
• Interest in researching and sharing alternative approaches with the team.
• A solid understanding of software development, including cloud and on‑premise infrastructure required to design, deploy and operate scalable solutions.

• Financial Reward: Competitive salary, annual profit share, contributory pension, share options, car leasing scheme, free onsite parking, season ticket loan, tax‑free technology scheme, discounted shopping and more.
• Work / Life Balance: 37‑hour week, flexible working around core hours, Friday afternoons off, hybrid work up to 2 additional days per month as TOIL.
• Personal Development: Personalised development plan, Airbus Leadership University, unlimited access to 10,000 e‑learning courses, internal mobility including international opportunities.
• Health & Wellbeing: Wellbeing benefits (24/7 online GP/mental health support), Employee Assistance Programme, discounted family health/dental insurance, eye tests, cycle‑to‑work scheme, onsite canteen and coffee shop, lunchtime pilates.
• Family & Caregiving: Life assurance, enhanced pay for parental leave (23 weeks at 100% pay), adoption/shared parental/caregiving leave.
• Inclusive Environment: Wellbeing room, multi‑faith room, Employee Representative Groups (Gender, LGBTQ, International, Generational, Disability, Social & Cultural Diversity, Neurodiversity).

Airbus is committed to achieving workforce diversity and creating an inclusive working environment. We welcome all applications irrespective of social and cultural background, age, gender, disability, sexual orientation or religious belief. Airbus is and always has been committed to equal opportunities for all. We will never ask for any type of monetary exchange in the frame of a recruitment process.

We support you to work connect and collaborate more easily and flexibly. We foster flexible working arrangements to stimulate innovative thinking. For accessibility support during the selection process, please let us know your needs. As a Disability Confident Employer, Airbus UK will offer an interview to any applicant who considers themselves to have a disability or long‑term condition and meets the minimum criteria.