Are you an experienced ex-REME Officer or Warrant Officer with a strong background in systems engineering, safety assurance, and security management? We have a unique opportunity for a seasoned Technical Authority to lead the technical direction of the JAMES application environment for our client based in Warminster, Wiltshire. This role offers flexible hybrid working, requiring three days onsite each week, and is initially contracted until June 2027, with potential for extension.
Role Overview
The JAMES Application Chief Engineer is responsible for ensuring the application's safety, security, and ongoing sustainment. You will lead the technical assurance, safety management, and secure operation of the system throughout its lifecycle, from deployment to decommissioning. Your role will be pivotal in addressing recent security vulnerabilities, including those uncovered during a Bug Bounty programme, prioritising remediation and residual risk management.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead definition and management of technical requirements, ensuring they address user needs, safety, security, and through-life considerations.
- Provide systems engineering leadership, applying systems thinking to integration with other subsystems and legacy platforms.
- Own technical assurance and ensure compliance with all relevant legislation, standards, and policies relating to safety and security.
- Lead safety activities, hazard identification, and risk assessments, ensuring risks are reduced to ALARP and properly documented.
- Manage technical risks, trade-offs, and design changes, facilitating trade-off analysis between performance, safety, security, and cost.
- Oversee verification, validation, and acceptance of system modifications to meet requirements.
- Coordinate with stakeholders and delivery teams, ensuring coherent system integration and resolving conflicts.
- Support service operation, configuration management, and lifecycle management, including decommissioning planning.
- Capture lessons learned and promote continual improvement of safety, security, and engineering practices.
Ideal Candidate Profile
- Proven leadership in complex systems engineering, with direct experience across full lifecycle management in a system-of-systems environment.
- Extensive safety case ownership and assurance, with the ability to demonstrate systems are safe to operate—accounting for degraded states and ALARP.
- Strong security and vulnerability management expertise, including experience in remediation of security vulnerabilities and structured responses to findings.
- Experience in risk management, trade-off analysis, and enabling high service resilience and data integrity.
- Good understanding of obsolescence management and lifecycle sustainment strategies.
- Competence in technical governance, change control, and impact assessment.
- Ability to provide strategic and evidence-based advice to senior stakeholders.
- Experience working within Defence or MOD environments is highly desirable.
What We Offer
This contract role provides a competitive day rate of up to £770 (ex VAT) within inside IR35 regulations, with a flexible hybrid working pattern. The position is ideal for professionals ready to take on a high-profile role that combines technical mastery with strategic oversight. If this role aligns with your experience and career aspirations, we would like to hear from you. Evodia Limited acts as an employment business on this vacancy, and are committed to supporting your application process with transparency and professionalism.
Take this opportunity to contribute to critical defence systems that make a real difference. We look forward to your application.