Solution Architect - Land CEMA

Job Description:

Are you a Solutions Architect who loves contributing to the UKs Defence Industry and making impactful change? Leonardo has an exciting opportunity for someone with a background in Defence Communications or Cyber & Electromagnetic Activities (CEMA) to enhance the leadership and strategic direction of its work in Land CEMA) to support UK and international customers.

A hybrid role based at either Southampton, Basildon or Bristol.

Your impact

As Solutions Architect, you will take a highly influential role that will be intimately involved in delivering a business strategic objective. The Solution Architect will play a pivotal part in the delivery of our Land CEMA portfolio; shaping both enterprise and system-level solution designs. This role is key to ensuring resilient, modular, and scalable solutions for future customer needs and operating environments.

The Solution Architect’s role is as broad as it is diverse and challenging and is a pivotal role within Leonardo’s Land CEMA Integrated Capture Team.

Activities will range from SI Enterprise Architecture design, identification of technical solutions & architectures, technical leadership in bids and external studies, scope of and participation in PV and support to Capability Management for product portfolios. The Solution Architect will play a pivotal part in the delivery of our Land CEMA portfolio; shaping both enterprise and system-level solution designs. This role is key to ensuring resilient, modular, and scalable solutions for future customer needs and operating environments.

Operating at the intersection of strategy, engineering, and business development, the Solution Architect will collaborate with colleagues across disciplines to define clear solution definitions to strengthen our current reputation as a trusted partner in defence technology. The role also requires close engagement with customers, partners, and industry stakeholders to build enduring relationships.

The focus of this role is:

• Maintaining high awareness of all relevant developments around Land CEMA Architecture (Standards for Integrated C5
  
  ISR/EW Systems) (LCA (STICS))
• Architect and deliver CEMA capabilities across enterprise and system levels, ensuring interoperability, resilience, and customer value.
• Shape technical and commercial strategy by evaluating alternative approaches, balancing bespoke development with Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) integration.
• Lead technical input to bids and campaigns, producing architectures, requirements, and cost estimates that drive competitive advantage.
• Engage directly with customers and partners, translating operational needs into clear technical solutions and building trusted long-term relationships.
• Generate thought leadership through white papers, studies, and stakeholder engagement, influencing future defence programmes and market direction.
• Support recruitment and mentoring, building a pipeline of engineering talent and fostering innovation.
• Represent the organisation internationally, strengthening reputation and expanding market presence through B2B collaboration and strategic partnerships

What you’ll bring

You will have a proven background within CEMA or Defence Communication applications and working at Solutions Architect or similar level.

Required

• A degree (or equivalent experience) in a STEM subject and strong numerical, analytical and design skills, with the ability to apply these to real world problems.
• Significant experience developing communications, Electronic Warefare (EW) /CEMA and/or other vehicle mission systems-based architectures, products and systems, throughout the full lifecycle
• Experience of dealing with customers at a senior commercial and technical level
• Experience of estimating costs and technical risk for each solution approach
• Experience of full life cycle for product and system development – concept through to disposal
• Familiarity with open systems architectures such as Sensor Open Systems Architecture (SOSA), LCA, GVA, OpenVPX, Modular Open Radio Frequency (RF) Architecture (MORA), OpenCPI, VITA
• Experience of formal user requirements capture, traceability and compliance management methodology and tools
• Experienc…