Head of Safety - Mission Systems

Job Description:

Your Impact

We are recruiting for a Head of Safety - Mission Systems to lead the delivery of safe, secure and highly reliable products across our Mission Systems portfolio, within the Integrated Sensing and Protection (ISP) Line of Business. As the Head of Safety - Mission Systems, you will drive product safety and provide independent assurance throughout the product lifecycle, achieving delegated board signatory for Product Integrity Certificates, supporting Certificates of Design (CoD) and Declarations of Design and Performance (DDPs).

Heading a team of specialist engineers, you will be responsible for delivering product safety excellence across a complex portfolio, enabling innovation while ensuring compliance, certification and product integrity. You will be accountable to the Sector Head of Engineering Projects, working closely with the Integrated Project Teams (IPTs) within the Sector, to satisfy the regulatory requirements of land systems, including Mission Critical and Safety Involved systems, the associated support and factory test equipment; often with demanding Product Security requirements.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Support Integrated Project Teams (IPTs) to:
  • Identify the Basis of Certification.
  • Support the development of conceptual designs with executable development and certification plans, selecting the Acceptable Means of Compliance (AMC) appropriate to the criticality of the product and the Basis of Certification.
  • Assure that the internal and external governance, legal and regulatory obligations are met, through the independent assessment of Product Safety and Product Environmental Impact Management risks and the contribution from Product Security risks at Design Reviews and audits.
• Provide independent Safety Management Specialist input to adjacent sectors within the lines of business.
• Provide independent assessment through Product Design Reviews and Software and Firmware gate reviews.
• Participate in Product Safety Panels as a subject matter expert in the management and resolution of Product Safety and Product Environmental incidents.
• Ensure that the data associated with Sector Product Safety incidents in the company corrective action management system is correct and up to date.
• Provide the focus for the provision of independent specialist guidance and information on best practices, standards and legislation within the Sector.
• Participate in internal and external standards working groups and with academic partners covering Development Standards and Acceptable Means of Compliance using various established and emerging standards, such as: BS EN 61508, BS EN 62368, BS EN 61010, ARP 4754B and ARP 4761A.

What You’ll Bring:

Essential:

• Experience analysing complex systems from a Product Safety and Product Environmental Impact Management perspective (as well as analysing the impact of contributions from a Product Security perspective) with the ability to scope and deliver high quality outputs to time and cost against developed programmes of work.
• Demonstrable experience using a range of safety tools and techniques, to provide specialist advice and guidance on complex projects within an Electronics or Avionics discipline (e.g. Hazard Log Management; Hazard Identification; Functional Failure Analysis, Fault Tree Analysis, Risk Assessment and ALARP justifications.)
• Experience of one or more of the following:
  • Accepted certification of a software product to BS EN 61508 part 3 SIL 2.
  • Accepted certification of a firmware product to BS EN 61508 part 2 SIL 2.
  • Functional decomposition and assignment to item level of SILs under the auspices of BS EN 61508 part 1.

• Ideally experience working within the defence industry, or equivalent experience from an adjacent highly regulated sector.
• Experience of working with a variety of internal and external stakeholders to achieve Product safety and/or Product security certification in a regulated environment.
• Capability to identify and direct improvements to complex technical and business processes, judging the balance between the cost and impact of change and its resulting benefits.
• The ability to understand complex engineering processes and the interdependence of the process components.

Non-Essential:

• Chartered Engineer status.
• Relevant engineering or science-based honours degree.
• Working knowledge of one or more of the following:
  • Current generation SRAM FPGAs and Firmware Design Methods, Tools and Languages.
  • Current generation Model Driven Engineering with auto-coding and applicable software standards for airborne or adjacent hi-reliability sectors.
  • Functional domain architectures for partitioning complex systems implementing multiple mutually non-interfering functions.
  • Experience with any of the following tools: Microsoft Office Tools, SAP, Siemens Teamcenter, Cameo System Modeller, or IBM DOORS.

This is not an exhaustive list, and we are keen to hear from you even if you might not have experience in all the above. The most important skill is a good attitude and willingness to learn.

Security Clearance

This role is subject to pre-employment screening in line with the UK Government’s Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS). An additional range of Personnel Security Controls referred to as National Security Vetting (NSV) may apply, this could include meeting the eligibility requirements for The Security Check (SC) or Developed Vetting (DV). For more information and guidance please visit: https://careers.uk.leonardo.com/gb/en/security-and-vetting

Why join us

At Leonardo, our people are at the heart of everything we do. We offer a comprehensive, company-funded benefits package that supports your wellbeing, career development, and work–life balance. Whether you're looking to grow professionally, care for your health, or plan for the future, we’re here to help you thrive.

• Time to Recharge: Enjoy generous leave with the opportunity to accrue up to 12 additional flexi-days each year.
• Secure your Future: Benefit from our award-winning pension scheme with up to 15% employer contribution.
• Your Wellbeing Matters: Free access to mental health support, financial advice, and employee-led networks championing inclusion and diversity (Enable, Pride, Equalise, Armed Forces, Carers, Wellbeing and Ethnicity).
• Rewarding Performance: All employees at management level and below are eligible for our bonus scheme.
• Never Stop Learning: Free access to 4,000+ online courses via Coursera and LinkedIn Learning.
• Refer a friend: Receive a financial reward through our referral programme.
• Tailored Perks: Spend up to £500 annually on flexible benefits including private healthcare, dental, family cover, tech & lifestyle discounts, gym memberships and more.
• Flexible working: Flexible hours with hybrid working options. For part time opportunities, please talk to us about what might be possible for this role.

For a full list of our company benefits please visit our website.

Leonardo UK operates a grade-based salary framework with broad bands. The salary range shown reflects the approved grade band for this role, or a narrower hiring range published within that band, and is benchmarked against the external market. Exceptions above the standard range are managed through governance controls to protect internal equity.

Leonardo is a global leader in Aerospace, Defence, and Security. Headquartered in Italy, we employ over 53,000 people worldwide including 8,500 across 9 sites in the UK. Our employees are not just part of a team—they are key contributors to shaping innovation, advancing technology, and enhancing global safety.

At Leonardo we are committed to building an inclusive, accessible, and welcoming workplace. We believe that a diverse workforce sparks creativity, drives innovation, and leads to better outcomes for our people and our customers. If you have any accessibility requirements to support you during the recruitment process, just let us know.

Be part of something bigger - apply now!

Primary Location:

GB - Basildon

Additional Locations:

GB - Bristol - Coldharbour Lane, GB - Southampton

Contract Type:

Permanent

Hybrid Working:

Hybrid