Principal Mechanical Engineer

Principal Mechanical Engineer

Callen-Lenz

Salisbury, United Kingdom

About the Role

As a Principal Mechanical Engineer, you will report to a Team Leader and work within a multi-disciplined project team. You will lead teams of multidisciplinary engineers to deliver solutions to complex design and integration problems to meet project requirements. You will take ownership of internal capability development and continuous improvement activities within the department.

Lead a multidisciplinary engineering team to undertake challenging air vehicle design, integration and test activities throughout the engineering lifecycle in one or more of the following:

• Structural design and/or mechanical system design;
• Composite design and analysis;
• System/payload integration and test;
• Propulsion integration covering electric/ICE/small gas turbine;
• Loom design and integration (including routing & clipping);
• Design For Manufacture and production support activities.

Responsibilities

• Communicate effectively with colleagues, customers and suppliers, efficiently planning/allocating tasks to team members, identifying/resolving complex issues:
  • Mentor junior staff ensuring an appropriate level of technical direction and guidance is provided commensurate with their experience;
  • Own the capture and derivation of requirements, developing overall solutions that meet internal and external customer needs within required timescales;
  • Prepare material for, and lead/Chair, internal and customer facing design reviews as required, coordinating and collating multidisciplinary inputs;
  • Maintain Configuration Management of project-level design data and written documentation to satisfy internal and external requirements;
  • Review and approve engineering artefacts including design data and technical documentation, providing feedback for improvement as required, working to required standards e.g. BS:8888 and good GD&T principles;
  • Support supply chain with identification and technical management of suppliers, including devising packages of work for outsourcing;
  • Support manufacturing and build teams with engineering queries through close liaison and approving of updates to design data;
  • Plan and execute item, sub-system, and air vehicle-level test activities, resolving issues and producing formal test reports;
  • Guide team members in the production of design concepts that remove or minimise hazards, identifying and incorporating industry good practice;
  • Champion improvements in our company culture in areas such as Health and Safety, Quality, Continuous Improvement;
  • Lead project resourcing discussions and planning based on own team members workload and development needs;
  • Work with Team Leader/Engineering Manager to define recruitment needs, supporting candidate review, interview and onboarding activities.
• Health & Safety:
  • Demonstrate in daily activities a commitment to health and safety in the workplace by always ensuring tasks are performed in the safest possible manner;
  • Report all hazards and incidents that the individual is party to, or observes, in the correct manner;
  • When required or directed, participate in any health and safety training;
  • Perform other related duties as required.

About You

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree, with Honours, in an Engineering or Science subject.

Skills and competencies

Ownership of projects, adept at working with customers, partners and suppliers, taking a holistic view of issues, appreciating complexity.

As a Subject Matter Expert or in a more generalist capacity, can lead and mentor others.

• Essential:
  • Excellent communicator, able collaborate and influence effectively at all levels;
  • Provision of effective technical leadership of cross-functional engineering teams;
  • Self-starting with demonstrable project-level organisational and planning skills;
  • Ability to provide on-the-job mentoring of team members;
  • Demonstrable problem-solving ability, working with others to tight timescales;
  • Demonstrable experience of working within an engineering life cycle(s);
  • Substantial experience of using SolidWorks or a comparable CAD package;
  • Demonstrable application of design for manufacture principles;
  • Experience of developing and enhancing customers/supplier relationships;
  • Excellent technical writing and compelling presentation skills;
  • Experience of checking and approving technical reports and design data;
  • Routine application of first-order calculations to support design decisions;
  • Experience of applying Configuration Management in an engineering environment.
• Desirable:
  • Structural design, analysis and test, including composite materials;
  • Design, integration and test of electro-mechanical systems, including powerplants;
  • Electrical and avionics systems integration experience;
  • Experience of 3D printing, CNC milling and composite manufacture;
  • Experience of tool/jig design for composite moulds (or similar);
  • Experience of full design cycle for volume production;
  • Knowledge and application of civil/military aerospace standards;
  • Systems Engineering experience, preferably within an aerospace context.

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