SDA Underwater Defensive Aids Suite - Lead Engineer

Job summary

The Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) is a part of the Ministry of Defence responsible for the procurement, in-service support, and disposal of the UK’s nuclear submarines. Our work is of unparalleled strategic importance nationally and internationally, ensuring the security of the UK’s continuous at-sea nuclear deterrent (CASD), and delivering some of the most technically complex programmes in defence. At least one of four nuclear-armed submarines, supported by smaller attack submarines, is on patrol at all times: 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

This position is advertised at 37 hours per week.

The primary delivery location for this position is Bristol Abbey Wood.

Please note, due to the level of security, this role is reserved for UK nationals only.

Job description

The Underwater Defensive Aids Suite (UDAS) team within the Combat Systems Delivery Team will deliver an updated submarine torpedo defence capability for the Royal Navy submarine Flotilla. The UDAS programme is transitioning from Assessment to the Demonstration phase in Q3 2026. This L3 Engineering post will be the UDAS Lead Engineer, delivering future submarine torpedo defence capabilities for Royal Navy Submarines. This post will report to the UDAS Programme Head.
Roles and responsibilities of the post include;

• The production, review and management of documentation required by the Guide for Engineering Activity & Review (GEAR) methodology.
• The preparation and delivery of UDAS GEAR reviews.
• Management of the delivery of all engineering aspects of the UDAS programme, including managing the acquisition safety aspects.
• Management of UDAS Safety and Environmental artefacts.
• Monitoring of sponsored systems / equipment Safety & Environmental artefacts.
• UDAS representation at the Combat Systems Delivery Team Portfolio Safety & Environmental Committee (SEC), including reporting on
  • Key headlines.
  • Key risks/issues & plan to address.
  • The status of Safety & Environmental artefacts.
• Provide expert advice and guidance in the technical aspects of UDAS, to solve complex technical problems and identify application risks.
• Responsible for ensuring the delivery of all Government Furnished Assets required to support the installation, operation and safety requirements of the UDAS programme.
• Interface with industry as the intelligent customer both in a scrutiny role and supporting the identification of application risks.
• Line Management and functional development of junior colleague(s).
• Engineering support to other cross-functional Professions within the UDAS team.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and working from home as part of a non-contractual hybrid working arrangement. All office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to site capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD workplace, will also count towards this level of office attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this and other flexible working arrangements may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

If you need to contact Defence Business Services (DBS) regarding this vacancy, please indicate that your vacancy is being handled by the SDA Recruitment Team. If you experience any technical difficulties with the CS Jobs system, please contact the Support Team via the Help link.

Person specification

Essential Criteria

• Member of a relevant Professional Engineering /Science Institute or equivalent body.
• Hold Professional Registration as an Incorporated Engineer (Ieng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng) (or equivalent relevant registration).
• Relevant Level 4 (or higher) qualification or equivalent experience.
• Experience of providing technical advice and leading the delivery of successful engineering outcomes.
• Wide ranging depth and breadth of technical experience in own specialism with a broad understanding of the interdependencies between your work and related systems.
• Safety & Environmental SQEP to Safety & Environmental Delegated (SED) level.

Candidates must demonstrate excellent written and verbal communication skills, strong cross-functional teamworking capabilities, and a collaborative approach to delivering outcomes.

Licences

Hold Professional Registration as an Incorporated Engineer (Ieng) or Chartered Engineer (CEng) (or equivalent relevant registration).

Qualifications

Level 4 Qualification in an applicable Engineering Field

Memberships

Member of a relevant Professional Engineering /Science Institute or equivalent body.

Behaviours

We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:

• Delivering at Pace
• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Changing and Improving
• Leadership

We only ask for evidence of these behaviours on your application form:

• Delivering at Pace
• Changing and Improving

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• EFCF1 - Improve Engineering Capability (Supervised Practitioner)
• EFCF3 - Technical Requirements, Evaluation & Acceptance (Practitioner)
• EFCF4 - Technical decision making (Practitioner)

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £47,600, Ministry of Defence contributes £13,789 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an employer contribution of 28.97%
• Discover My Benefits: Please follow the link to visit the Discover My Benefits site which showcases the benefits and discounts offered when working as a civilian for the MOD: https://discovermybenefits.mod.gov.uk/civilian/

Things you need to know

Artificial intelligence

Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

Selection process details

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.

At Sift, you will be assessed on your;

Personal Statement - This should be a maximum of 1000 words that sets out your motivation for applying and shows how your skills, experience, job history and qualifications meet the requirements for the role.

Behaviours:

• Delivering at Pace
• Changing and Improving

Technical:

• EFCF1 - Improve Engineering Capability (Supervised Practitioner)
• EFCF3 - Technical Requirements, Evaluation & Acceptance (Practitioner)
• EFCF4 - Technical decision making (Practitioner)

At Interview, you will be assessed on;

Personal Statement/ Experience - The panel will ask questions about your personal statement. Exploring your Past Experiences, Key Achievements or Qualifications.

Behaviours:

• Communicating and Influencing
• Making Effective Decisions
• Leadership

Technical:

• EFCF1 - Improve Engineering Capability (Supervised Practitioner)
• EFCF3 - Technical Requirements, Evaluation & Acceptance (Practitioner)
• EFCF4 - Technical decision making (Practitioner)

Please refer to the Civil Service Behaviours here and the Technical Skills Framework and Success Profile documents attached.

The sift will be completed within 10 working days of the vacancy closing date. Interviews will be held on a date to be confirmed. Interviews will be conducted over Microsoft Teams

This post does not offer any assistance with Relocation Allowances.

The post does NOT offer relocation expenses (move of home, excess fares or temporary transfer). Non-Standard move applicants will be eligible for the full package, subject to eligibility.

Requests to work flexibly and/or part time will be considered, taking into account business needs. Please note the salary will be pro-rata where part time hours are undertaken.

All employees joining Ministry of Defence who are new to the Civil Service will be subject to a 6-month probation period (unless otherwise advised) effective from the employment start date.

Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check

Please be advised that the Department is conducting a review of all pay related allowances which could impact on those allowances that the post currently being advertised attracts.

Where business needs allow, some roles may be suitable for a combination of office and working from home as part of a non-contractual hybrid working arrangement. All office-based employees will be expected to spend a minimum of 60% of their working time in office, subject to site capacity and any required workplace adjustments. Requirements to attend other locations for official business, or work in another MOD workplace, will also count towards this level of office attendance. Applicants can request further information regarding how this and other flexible working arrangements may work in their team from the Vacancy Holder (see advert for contact details). Defence Business Services cannot respond to any questions about working arrangements.

As a result of the changes to the UK immigration rules which came into effect on 1 January 2021, the Ministry of Defence will only offer sponsorship for a skilled worker visa under the points-based system, where a role has been deemed to be business critical. This role does not meet that category, and we will not sponsor a visa. It is therefore NOT open to applications from those who will require sponsorship under the points-based system.

Should you apply for this role and be found to require sponsorship, your application will be rejected, and any provisional offer of employment withdrawn.

Please note the Civil Service Nationality Rules will also need to be met. The Civil Service Nationality Rules operate independently and in addition to the UK Immigration Rules and must be met before an individual can take up employment in the Civil Service. The Civil Service Nationality Rules do not apply to UK, Irish and Commonwealth nationals, or to those who are eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme but do apply to all other nationalities- including EU/EEA nationals who are ineligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

This vacancy is part of the A Great Place to Work for Veterans initiative. Making the Civil Service a Great Place to Work for Veterans - GOV.UK

The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.

There may be occasions where it is not practicable or appropriate to interview all DCS candidates that meet the minimum criteria for the job. For example, in certain recruitment situations such as a high volume of applications, seasonal demand, or peak periods, the employer may wish to limit the overall number of interviews offered to both DCS and non-DCS applicants.

If you need to advise us that you need additional help or reasonable adjustments for the recruitment process, please contactDBSFPCP-SRMResourcingSDA@mod.gov.uk

SDA Reward Offer - Working for SDA - Submarine Delivery Agency - GOV.UK

The Ministry of Defence requires all candidates who are successful at interview to declare any outside interests. These declarations will be discussed with successful candidates following the interview process and before a formal offer of employment is made, as some outside interests may not be compatible with MOD civilian roles. This will not, in the majority of cases, prevent employment in MOD, but it is a measure that must be taken to ensure that appropriate mitigations can be put in place to manage any potential, perceived or actual conflicts of interest from the first day of employment.

The Ministry of Defence adopts a zero-tolerance approach to unacceptable behaviours, which includes bullying, harassment, sexual harassment, discrimination, and victimisation. You will not be eligible and will not be considered for this post if you have been dismissed from a role for such unacceptable behaviours within the last five years. This will also apply if you resign or otherwise leave a role but, because of an adverse decision, would have been dismissed for gross misconduct had you continued in that employment. Pre-employment checks will be carried out.

The Ministry of Defence is committed to providing a safe and healthy working environment for its staff which includes educating them on the benefits of not smoking, protecting them from the harmful effects of second-hand smoke and supporting those who want to give up smoking. Under the Smoke-Free Working Environment policy, Smoking and the use of all tobacco products (including combustible and chewing tobacco products) will not be permitted anywhere in the Defence working environment. The policy is Whole Force and includes all Defence personnel, contractors, visitors and other non-MOD personnel. All applicants seeking, considering, or accepting employment with the Ministry of Defence should be aware of this policy and that it is already in place at a number of Defence Establishments.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.

Security

Successful candidates must undergo a criminal record check.Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).

See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.

Nationality requirements

Open to UK nationals only.

Working for the Civil Service

The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.

We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.

Diversity and Inclusion

The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see theCivil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).

Apply and further information

This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.

Contact point for applicants

Job contact :

• Name : SDA Workforce Plans Team
• Email : SDA-HR-WorkforceResourcePlanning@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : DBSFPCP-SRMResourcingSDA@mod.gov.uk

Further information

Please refer to the further information document

Attachments

20250604-Engineering Competence Framework-O Opens in new window (pdf, 198kB)20240927_EN_ENG_E_Professional Engineer_PII_SDA Success Profiles_FINAL-O Opens in new window (pdf, 140kB)CS_Behaviours_2018-DES-branded-v6 Opens in new window (pdf, 10MB)Further Information - External Opens in new window (docx, 38kB)