Principal Support Engineer

Location: Hybrid role with some on-site expectations

We seek an engineer with recent high-integrity or safety-critical industry experience (defence, aerospace, or similar), or eligible for UK security clearance.

Overview

The Principal Support Engineer is a senior technical authority within the Support function. Working under the guidance of the Head of Support, you will shape system supportability at both the design and solution-architecture levels. You will lead analysis activities, provide guidance across engineering teams, and help ensure Ultra delivers cost-effective, reliable, and maintainable products to its customers.

Key Responsibilities

• Tailor the scope and scale of ILS activities to meet User, Customer and Ultra requirements, in collaboration with the ILS Project Lead.
• Influence and guide designers to improve reliability, maintainability, usability, and overall supportability.
• Lead the development of optimal support solutions aligned to customer needs and product roadmaps.
• Conduct life-cycle cost modelling, LORA, sparing analysis, FMECA, and other supportability/risk analyses.
• Define and validate support requirements, ensuring robust verification and assurance approaches.
• Produce supportability cases and lead analysis activities to provide progressive assurance of support solutions.
• Perform reliability modelling and advanced maintainability analysis to optimise support strategies.
• Assess human factors and the contribution of human error to system failures.
• Prepare or oversee production of technical documentation, including troubleshooting and O&M manuals.
• Support system hazard analysis and risk reduction measures.
• Lead obsolescence strategy development and implementation across assigned product lines.
• Drive improvements to Support processes, policies and engineering methodologies.

Experience & Skills Required

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in a relevant engineering discipline.
• Significant experience across a range of roles within complex engineering environments.
• Strong background in R&M engineering and ILS methodologies.
• Ability to provide technical leadership and review the work of domain specialists.
• Experience in developing support solutions at system or enterprise level.
• Strong communication and stakeholder-management skills.

Profile

This is a senior role suited to engineers with extensive supportability, ILS or R&M experience within complex systems environments. You will be comfortable leading, influencing design decisions, and delivering robust support engineering outcomes.