DragonFire Weapon System Integration Lead

About the job

Stevenage

MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.

Salary: Up to £53,000 depending on experience

What we can offer you:

• Company bonus of up to £2,500 (based on company performance and will vary year to year)
• Pension of maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
• Annual salary review
• Paid overtime
• Up to 15 days flexi leave
• 25 days annual leave (plus holiday purchase)
• Our enhanced parental leave offers up to 26 weeks for adoption and shared parental leave. Enhancements are available for neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments.
• Possible relocation available
• Fantastic site facilities, including subsidised meals, free car parking and more
• Excellent career progression and development opportunities

Hybrid working pattern: Where possible, we will seek to accommodate a blended approach to on-site and remote working.

The opportunity:

DragonFire has been and continues to be a boundary pushing weapon system development programme that has significant industry and customer engagement. Thus far the programme has been aimed at developing the UKs first LDEW concept demonstrator, achieving significant success recently with several highly publicised trials activities.

Following on from these successes MBDA is looking for dynamic and motivated candidates to continue to develop DragonFire into a world class, deployable, LDEW air defence system. Our ambitious plans involve parallel and interleaved streams of pioneering technology experimentation and rapid weapon system development, providing opportunities across the key weapon system domains of Systems Engineering, Physical Design, Platform Integration and Trials & Testing.

An opportunity has arisen to join the Integration and Systems Validation (ISV) team supporting the DragonFire project. The ISV team has successfully delivered three demonstration trials of this technology. Now there is an opportunity to join the team to support on-going demonstration, platform integration and qualification trials.

The specific role is to manage the pre-trial DragonFire Assembly, Integration and Test (AIT) phase for the next major firing trial campaign. This will require the ability to work with a multi-company team to integrate subsystem and software upgrades into the current DragonFire equipment and conduct the associated pre-trial proving work.

You will be responsible for:

• Developing a pioneering LDEW integration and proving facility at MBDA Thurleigh.
• Working with the weapon system design team to develop a coherent assembly, integration and test (AIT) programme.
• Owning and coordinating the AIT working group, including management of both internal and external key partners.
• Managing the day to day operations within the facility working alongside the rest of the DragonFire team and partner organisations.
• [Potential] Define, design and build support equipment such as lab test equipment and jigs.

Following the successful integration phase you will also be given the opportunity to directly support the weapon system deployment to trials and apply your newly developed expertise at future high power laser engagement and firing trials.

What we're looking for from you:

An enthusiastic engineer with the following characteristics:

• Experience of planning and conducting both physical and functional test activities.
• Good appreciation of different organisations' work cultures.
• Experience of managing the health and safety aspects of practical activities.
• The MBDA AIT facility is located at MBDA Thurleigh and will require you to travel to this location on a regular basis.
• [Desirable] Experience of working with laser equipment.
• [Desirable] Mechanical and/or electrical design skills.
• [Desirable] Computer scripting skills e.g. Python.

What to expect:

The role will require both off site practical work and "office-type" planning work in varying proportions over the lifetime of the project.

Additional AIT activities may need to be conducted at other UK based locations such as Farnborough and Edinburgh. These will typically require multiple overnight stays.

A Major Weapon System Trial is planned to be held at the MOD Benbecula Range over a period of approximately 6-8 weeks. Due to the remote location regular return travel is challenging and team members must be willing to remain in the Hebrides for multiple weeks at a time (noting that efforts will be made to ensure a healthy work-life balance is maintained across the team).

Our Business:

We respect new perspectives and experiences, and we value our collaborative ways of working. We are committed to growing and supporting diversity in our workforce and ensuring everyone has an equal opportunity to reach their potential.

We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process. We also welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements.

Follow us on LinkedIn (MBDA), Twitter (@MBDAcareers), Instagram (lifeatMBDA_UK) and Glassdoor or visit our MBDA Careers website for more information.

Please Note: MBDA UK Limited requires all employees to achieve the required medical and national security clearance for their role. Further restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may also apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team!

Due to the nature of our business, this particular vacancy requires the applicant as a minimum to be a British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship and capable of achieving the clearance levels mentioned above!

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