Job title: Principal/Lead Mechanical Engineer Location: Rochester (Hybrid working, flexible as business needs) Salary: Competitive Grade: 9 What you’ll be doing: The main duty of this role is to provide expert Mechanical Engineering support for the design and development of new innovative designs through to fault finding, diagnostics and salvage of existing products. As a Principal Mechanical Engineer, you will have the ability to lead innovation and provide technical direction to other Engineers/Technicians to develop ideas into a detailed scheme supported by calculations and reports to demonstrate compliance with requirements, which will include support to risk reduction and qualification testing as required. The expectation of a Principal Mechanical Engineer is to provide a high quality service to customers, on time and within budget with minimum management oversight, and be able to present the design detail directly to our high profile customers. Role Responsibilities:  Using product knowledge and advanced engineering understanding, generate design concepts and solutions from first principals to meet project and customer requirements, this will be supported by sketches, hand calculations and associated data packs.  Prepare and present concise Mechanical Development Plans, Design Scheme Data Packs and other engineering detail for internal review and in a customer forum.  Taking a Design Authority role in checking and approving datasets (drawings/MBD) to ensure they correct to required standards, that they reflect design intent correctly, and that they adequately define parts for manufacture and inspection.  Take ownership of the design risk, and identify, define and manage work packages to de-risk areas of the product design early on in the lifecycle.  Be competent in the validation and verification of requirements using appropriate tools (e.g. DOORS) and managing these through the engineering life cycle.  Work collaboratively across all engineering disciplines, liaising with technical specialists as required.  Manage the work of senior and junior mechanical engineers and technicians and take technical responsibility for the design solutions and technical data packs produced, and where required, track the completed work against time and cost budgets.  Complete Design Authority level checks on the work of other mechanical engineers, which will include designs, design data, hand calculations and technical reports.  Understand and provide governance on the adherence of Engineers and Technicians to departmental and company policies and procedures.  Support the Team Leads, Projects, and Mechanical Functional Managers, in preparing estimates for future design activities.  It may be required to travel and represent the company, providing presentations, carrying out product installation surveys etc., away from the Rochester home base. Your skills and experiences: Essential:  Degree qualified in Mechanical Engineering, or related discipline, or an equivalent combination of other qualifications and experience.  Meet the requirements of UK-SPEC at the Chartered Engineer Level.  Comprehensive experience of the full product design lifecycle, from concept through to production, within an engineering environment.  Experience in preparing technical datasets (drawings/MBD) and design review datasets.  Competence in the use of CAD tools to prepare design models. Desirable:  Experience related to areas including avionic systems, optical displays, mechatronics, electronics packaging, anthropometrics, design with composites, additive layer manufacture and test and measurement equipment, will be of value in this role.  A capability to use specialist dynamic, structural and thermal analysis tools is an advantage including validation of the output of these tools.  Experience in leading a mechanical, or cross-discipline, design team.  Existing, or previous, SC level clearance.  Proficiency in the CREO CAD system, and experience using TeamCenter, DOORs and JIRA, would all be advantageous. Benefits: You’ll receive benefits including a competitive pension scheme, enhanced annual leave allowance and a Company contributed Share Incentive Plan. You’ll also have access to additional benefits such as flexible working, an employee assistance programme, Cycle2work and employee discounts – you may also be eligible for an annual incentive. Why BAE Systems? This is a place where you’ll be able to make a real difference. You’ll be part of an inclusive culture that values diversity, rewards integrity, and merit, and where you’ll be empowered to fulfil your potential. We welcome candidates from all backgrounds and particularly from sections of the community who are currently underrepresented within our industry, including women, ethnic minorities, people with disabilities and LGBTQ+ individuals. We also want to make sure that our recruitment processes are as inclusive as possible. If you have a disability or health condition (for example dyslexia, autism, an anxiety disorder etc.) that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments.” Please be aware that many roles working for BAE Systems will be subject to both security and export control restrictions. These restrictions mean that factors including your nationality, any previous nationalities you have held, and your place of birth may limit those roles you can perform for the organisation