Principal Electronics Design Engineer

Job summary:

In this role, you’ll own the full hardware development lifecycle—from requirements capture to circuit design, simulation, and product integration. You'll combine analogue and digital expertise with system-level thinking to create robust, certifiable solutions that operate in the harshest airborne environments.

Main responsibilities: 

• Act as Design Authority for an airborne electronics product.
• Design and simulate analogue and mixed-signal circuits, including filtering, amplification, and power regulation.
• Use LTSpice (or equivalent) to simulate and verify circuit performance across conditions.
• Develop digital systems with FPGAs, SoCs, and high-speed serial interfaces.
• Produce schematics using Altium Designer and support PCB layout integration.
• Work with cross-functional teams—RF, software, mechanical—to ensure cohesive system development.
• Support system integration, bench testing, and troubleshooting of new designs.
• Contribute to and lead design reviews, documentation, and configuration management.
• Engage with system engineering activities, converting requirements into verified design solutions.
• Contribute to DO-254 / DO-160 certification activities and documentation.

Qualifications:

• BEng or BSc in Electronic Engineering or similar, or related skills and experience

Knowledge and skills:

• BEng/BSc in Electronic Engineering (or related discipline).
• 8+ years practical design experience in aerospace, defence, or high-reliability embedded systems.
• Strong background in analogue and mixed-signal circuit design for airborne or harsh environments.
• Proven experience with LTSpice, PSpice, or equivalent simulation tools.
• Working knowledge of digital logic, FPGA-based systems, and VHDL (Altera or Xilinx environments).
• Competence in serial interfaces such as RS-422, RS-485, SPI, I2C, and MLVDS.
• Experience with multi-layer PCB design, component selection for aerospace, and high-reliability design principles.
• Experience with hardware integration, commissioning, and troubleshooting at both board and system level.
• Clear understanding of system engineering principles, traceability, and configuration management.

Highly desirable:

• Familiarity with DO-254, DO-160, or equivalent airborne certification standards is a strong advantage.
• Knowledge of STANAG 3910, MIL-STD-1553, or other avionics data bus standards.
• Experience working in certified aerospace environments or on flight hardware projects.

Security Clearance:

• You must be eligible for full security clearance.

What we can offer you:

• Flexible working practices – we work a 9-day fortnight, offer hybrid working, flexitime, and work a half day Friday
• 25 days holiday (plus bank holidays) with the option to buy up to 5 additional days
• Health cash plan – cash back for everyday health expenses
• Private healthcare
• Pension scheme with 6% employer contributions
• Life assurance – 4 x annual salary
• Reward and recognition platform
• Discount platform – retail, leisure, gym discounts and more
• Employee assistance programme with access to confidential counselling services
• Support for further training and education
• Continuous development and career progression opportunities
• Relocation assistance up to £8,000 if you relocate to take up a position with us

Equal Opportunity Employer/Protected Veterans/Individuals with Disabilities

The contractor will not discharge or in any other manner discriminate against employees or applicants because they have inquired about, discussed, or disclosed their own pay or the pay of another employee or applicant. However, employees who have access to the compensation information of other employees or applicants as a part of their essential job functions cannot disclose the pay of other employees or applicants to individuals who do not otherwise have access to compensation information, unless the disclosure is (a) in response to a formal complaint or charge, (b) in furtherance of an investigation, proceeding, hearing, or action, including an investigation conducted by the employer, or (c) consistent with the contractor’s legal duty to furnish information. 41 CFR 60-1.35(c)
 

Third-Party Recruiters

Please note, that per Spectrum Control Policy, we do not accept unsolicited resumes from third-party recruiters unless such recruiters are engaged to provide candidates for a specified opening and in alignment with our values and expectations. Any employment agency, person or entity that submits an unsolicited resume does so with the understanding that Spectrum Control will have the right to hire that applicant at its discretion without any fee owed to the submitting employment agency, person or entity. If you or your agency are interested in becoming an approved vendor please contact [email protected].