Principal Supportability Engineer (Level 6)

Location: Bristol (predominantly onsite, approximately 90% of the time)
Duration: 6 months (Inside IR35)

Rate: £87.50 per hour Umbrella

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

An opportunity for an experienced Principal Supportability Engineer to support a major defence aerospace programme. The role focuses on developing and optimising support solutions throughout the system life cycle, ensuring operational readiness, resilience, and long-term supportability within a military air environment.

Key Responsibilities

• Conduct supportability and Integrated Logistics Support (ILS) analysis to influence system design and in-service support strategies.
• Develop and maintain support solutions that meet operational and frontline user requirements.
• Analyse supportability evidence to identify opportunities to improve resilience, agility, and preparedness.
• Contribute to support assurance activities, including documentation, maintenance planning, and obsolescence management.
• Work collaboratively with customer organisations, government stakeholders, and industry partners.
• Ensure support solutions align with recognised defence standards and best practices.

Essential Experience

• Strong background in ILS, supportability engineering, or related engineering disciplines within the defence sector.
• Experience developing and managing support solutions for complex engineering systems.
• Good understanding of Support Solution Development Tools (SSDT).
• Working knowledge of DEF STAN 00-600 and the S3000L/S-Series standards.
• Experience working with multiple stakeholders across engineering, support, and customer organisations.

Desirable Experience

• Experience within the military aviation environment, particularly combat air platforms.
• Knowledge of support optimisation, service assurance, and obsolescence management processes.