Product System Design Authority Lead

Roke, Roke Manor, Romsey, Hampshire, United Kingdom

Posted Friday 30 January 2026 at 01:00

Great ideas come from different minds. That’s why we bring together engineers, scientists, analysts, and creatives from every background — and give them the trust, tools, and freedom to make a difference. What connects us is the mission: solving meaningful problems and building capability that protects what matters most.

And as the challenges evolve, so do we — working on the technologies that will shape tomorrow, not just today.

Roke offers specialist knowledge in sensors, communications, cyber, and AI and ML. We change the way organisations think and act — through dynamic insights from the analysis of multiple layers of data. We take care of the innovative, technical stuff that keeps everyone safe – that’s our mission, passion, and motivation.

Joining a team united by purpose and ambition, you’ll be at the heart of an exciting growth journey: having doubled in size over the last 4 years. We push technical boundaries, together. We re‑invest in product innovation, and we empower our people to make a difference.

The Product System Design Authority Lead is the technical authority responsible for ensuring full Solution Compliance across Line of Business (LoB) Products. Acting as the primary technical leader reporting to the Deputy Head of Engineering (DHoE), this role safeguards the integrity, suitability, and coherence of the solution architecture throughout the lifecycle. The Design Authority serves as the lead technical interface with the customer and may also act as the Principal Systems Engineer where required.

This position provides strategic technical leadership across multidisciplinary engineering teams and ensures that all design, verification, validation, and qualification activities meet customer needs, product policy, regulatory requirements, and organisational standards.

• Analyse customer needs and requirements, assessing solution architecture and technical design trade-offs.
• Ensure solution compliance with customer requirements, Product Policy as well as applicable legislation, rules, and regulations.
• Act as the primary technical authority for the product, ensuring design integrity and lifecycle coherence.
• Lead systems engineering activities, including requirements capture, modelling, system design, and IV&V.
• Maintain a strong understanding of the development lifecycle and lifecycle products.

• Lead design reviews, verification, validation, and qualification activities.
• Ensure all engineering deliverables meet required standards.
• Approve technical specifications and source selection for outsourced subsystems, considering Make/Buy policy, export controls, and offset requirements.
• Ensure production, maintenance, and service considerations are embedded in the solution design.

• Review technical risks and opportunities, ensuring robust mitigation plans throughout the Product lifecycle.
• Ensure the suitable Engineering Environment aligns with company policy and supports cost, schedule, and risk objectives.
• Ensure product safety, security, environmental, and HSE requirements are fully addressed, with appropriate certification activities completed.

• Act as the lead technical interface with internal and external customers.
• Lead engineering reviews and decision milestones, escalating issues appropriately within the organisation.
• Organise technical meetings and peer reviews with the Engineering Delivery Manager and other experts.
• Maintain awareness of emerging technologies and industry developments.

• Ensure optimal trade-offs between customer requirements, product policy, cost, schedule, and risk.
• Provide clear, evidence-based technical leadership to guide teams through complex engineering challenges.

• Strong ability to draw clear conclusions from complex numerical and analytical data.
• Ability to apply physical principles (electrical, thermal, mechanical,…