Job Title: Principal Aerospace Engineer (or Senior Aerospace Engineer)

Location: Belfast

Reporting to: Head of Engineering / Engineering Manager

The successful candidate will bring a strong aerospace engineering pedigree, a deep understanding of qualification, certification, testing, and life-critical systems, and the ability to lead both innovation and reliability efforts.

Key Responsibilities

As a (Principal / Senior) Aerospace Engineer, your scope will include:

Technical / Engineering Leadership

• Lead design, development, and certification / qualification of aerospace survival equipment (lifejackets, life rafts, etc.).
• Define and execute test / qualification campaigns consistent with aviation standards (e.g. TSO, RTCA, DO-254/DO-178 where applicable, environmental tests, structural / pressure / fatigue / thermal / impact / survivability).
• Lead failure mode & effects analyses (FMEA), reliability analyses, risk assessments.
• Mentor, coach, review work of more junior engineers (mechanical, materials, systems).
• Interface with cross-functional teams: manufacturing, quality, certification/regulatory, supply chain.
• Drive engineering process improvements (standardisation, design reviews, verification, documentation).
• Liaise with configuration control team - change management, drawing review, bill of materials (BOM) integrity.
• Lead supplier / vendor engineering for critical components (e.g. inflatable fabrics, seals, valves, pressure vessels).
• Investigate field returns / incidents, root cause analysis, design corrective actions.
• Support certification and regulatory submissions (civil / military aviation authorities).
• Stay current on relevant regulatory standards, technologies, materials, and industry trends in aerospace survival systems.

Project Management & Strategy

• Define project schedules, deliverables, resource planning, risk mitigation.
• Act as technical lead on major projects — tracking milestones, budgets, deliverables, and stakeholder expectations.
• Collaborate with senior leadership on strategic roadmap for aerospace product lines at the Belfast site.
• Represent Survitec in external technical forums, regulatory bodies, customer engagements, and design reviews.

Quality, Safety & Compliance

• Ensure designs comply with applicable safety, environmental, reliability and quality standards.
• Lead design reviews, hazard analyses, safety assessments.
• Coordinate with Quality Assurance / Quality Control to ensure processes, tests, audits align.
• Ensure documentation is rigorous, auditable, traceable (for certification).

People / Team Responsibilities (for a Principal-level)

• Provide technical leadership and vision in the aerospace sub-domain.
• Mentor stakeholders, coach less experienced engineers, facilitate knowledge transfer.
• Participate in recruitment, internal training, engineering culture building.

Required Qualifications & Experience

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or equivalent. Master’s or higher desirable.
• Significant (8+ years, or more, for Principal) experience in aerospace engineering, particularly in safety / life-critical systems.
• Hands-on experience with aerospace qualification, certification, regulatory compliance (TSO, FAR, EASA, DO-254/DO-178, etc.).
• Experience in defining and executing test programs (environmental, mechanical, reliability).
• Solid knowledge of design for manufacturing, tolerancing, producibility, materials (composites, elastomers, fabrics, sealing, gas / inflation systems).
• Proven track record of leading projects end-to-end, cross-functional coordination, meeting milestone, budget, schedule targets.
• Proficiency in CAD & drawing tools (e.g. SolidWorks and technical documentation.)
• Excellent problem-solving skills and analytic capability.
• Strong communication skills (written and verbal), able to interface with regulatory bodies, customers, suppliers.
• Experience in root cause investigation, corrective actions, reliability improvement.
• Knowledge of quality management systems (e.g. ISO 9001, AS9100) and configuration management.

Desirable / Advantageous

• Prior experience in survival / life-saving equipment, safety systems, marine / aeronautics survival gear.
• Experience with inflatables, flexible materials, pressurization, gas systems.
• Experience in defence or military aviation environments.
• Familiarity with certification documentation processes.
• Experience with product sustenance / obsolescence management.
• Experience leading or growing a team.
• Exposure to related domains (marine survival, sea immersion, ejector seats, personal protection) is a bonus.



Key Competencies & Behaviours

• Safety first mindset — lives depend on what we build.
• Technical rigor, attention to detail, discipline in documentation and traceability.
• Innovative, curious, proactive in staying ahead of technology.
• Collaborative mindset, cross-functional orientation.
• Leadership presence (especially for Principal).
• Resilience under pressure; ability to manage complexity and ambiguity.
• Strong ethics, integrity, commitment to quality.