Systems Engineer - Defence

ALTENis a global engineering and technology consultancy operating across over 35 countries worldwide. We partner with industry leaders across sectors including Aeronautics, Aerospace, Defence, Naval, Automotive, Energy, Rail, IT and many more to deliver innovative engineering solutions that drive technological advancement & support sustainable transformation.

Our teams of passionate and agile engineers work on cutting-edge projects that shape the future of technology and sustainability. At ALTEN, we empower talented engineers to innovate, solve complex challenges, and deliver impactful solutions that build tomorrow’s world—today.

Join us and start building tomorrow’s world today!

Work at the forefront of advancedopto‑electronic and sensor systems supporting some of the UK’s most criticalmaritime and avionics defence platforms. Join ALTEN Ltd as aSystems Engineer, where you’ll play a key role in delivering next‑generation sensing capabilities that enhance situational awareness and operational resilience.

You’ll contribute across the fullsystems engineering lifecycle, from requirements capture and architecture through to integration, verification and delivery — working on complex, real‑time systems.

Location: Glasgow
On‑site: Hybrid 3/4 Days per week (Glasgow or Edinburgh) 
Seniority: 5+ Years of Relevant Experience
Security Clearance: Candidates must be willing and eligible to obtain SC clearance.

Key Responsibilities

• Deliversystems engineering activities across the full V‑model lifecycle, including requirements, design, integration, verification and validation
• Capture, manage and maintain system requirements withinDOORS, ensuring full traceability to design and test
• Support and leadsystem integration activities across embedded software and sensor subsystems
• Define system architectures, interfaces and functional behaviour
• Contribute tointegration and system‑level test strategy, including planning and execution
• Participate in design reviews, technical governance andrisk‑based decision making
• Collaborate with multidisciplinary teams acrosssoftware, hardware and systems engineering
• Supportthrough‑life engineering, including defect management, upgrades and configuration control

Required Skills

• Strong experience insystems engineering within defence, aerospace or safety‑critical environments
• Proven experience working on theleft‑hand side of the V‑model (requirements, design, architecture)
• Hands‑on experience withrequirements engineering (elicitation, decomposition, traceability)
• Experience usingDOORS or similar requirements management tools
• Strong understanding ofsystem interfaces, boundaries and integration challenges
• Experience supportingintegration, verification and validation of complex systems

Soft Skills & Collaboration

• Strong analytical and problem‑solving mindset
• Confident communicator withinmultidisciplinary engineering teams
• Proactive, self‑starting approach to delivering engineering solutions
• Comfortable working in structured,process‑driven environments

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, orrelevant technical military background with equivalent experience.

Desirable Skills

• Experience withopto‑electronic, optical or sensor‑based systems
• Knowledge ofsystems modelling techniques (e.g. MBSE, SysML)
• Experience decomposing complex systems intosub‑system architectures
• Knowledge ofreal‑time embedded systems
• Experience contributing totest procedure development and verification activities
• Background in maritime or defence programmes

Why join us? 

We bring together entrepreneurial, tech-driven people to deliver innovative solutions for leading companies.

At ALTEN, you’ll work on exciting projects, supported by ongoing learning, mentoring, and clear career development tailored to your goals.

Join a passionate team and help build tomorrow, today.

In short you get: 

• A personalised career path and a rewarding management style 
• A huge diversity of engineering projects and industries
• Private Medical Insurance
• Cycle & Tech Scheme 
• Employee assistance programme
• Life insurance & Pension Scheme
• Social atmosphere, regular gatherings & team buildings
• Flexible way of working (role dependent)

We are proud to support the Armed Forces Covenant & actively encourage applications from members of the Armed Forces community, including veterans, reservists, service leavers, and military spouses/partners. We recognise the value of military skills and experience and are committed to ensuring that no applicant is unfairly disadvantaged during our recruitment and selection processes. 

ALTEN is committed to fostering a diverse and inclusive workplace and values the strength that comes from a global mix of backgrounds and perspectives. We welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates, regardless of background or protected characteristics under the Equality Act 2010. If you require any reasonable adjustments during the recruitment process, please let us know. 

This role may require you to have or be willing to go through Security Clearance. As part of the onboarding process candidates will be asked to complete a Baseline Personnel Security Standard; details of the evidence required to apply may be found on the government website Gov.UK. If you are unable to meet this and any associated criteria, then your employment may be delayed, or rejected . Details of this will be discussed with you at interview.