Control & Instrumentation Design Engineer

Job Description

ALTEN UK is seeking a motivated Control & Instrumentation (C&I) - Design Engineer to join our growing team in Derby | Manchester | Warrington, supporting key projects within the Energy sector. This is an exciting opportunity for engineers looking to develop deep technical expertise across the full lifecycle of control and instrumentation systems.

As a Control & Instrumentation (C&I) Engineer, you will join our team to support the delivery of complex projects within the nuclear and safety-critical industries.

This role focuses on the detailed design and specification of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems, automation platforms, and primary plant control and monitoring interfaces. You will be responsible for transforming high-level safety, functional, and operational requirements into robust engineering designs suitable for implementation by software and hardware vendors.

Working closely with systems engineers, safety specialists, human factors teams, cybersecurity experts, and platform suppliers, you will play a key role in ensuring that solutions meet stringent safety, reliability, performance, and regulatory requirements.

Key Responsibilities:

• Analyse and decompose requirements from:
• Safety Requirement Specifications (SRS)
• Functional Requirement Specifications (FRS)
• HMI design requirements
• Alarm management philosophies
• Hardware, software, and network architectures
• Develop detailed requirements for:
• Data acquisition and processing
• Control logic and automated sequencing
• Communication interfaces and data routing
• Diagnostics, health monitoring, and redundancy functions
• Maintain end-to-end traceability between system requirements, detailed designs, and vendor deliverables
• Verify requirements for completeness, consistency, and compliance with applicable standards
• SCADA & Control System Design
• Produce detailed design documentation including:
• Functional block diagrams
• Logical architectures
• Signal routing and data flow specifications
• I/O allocation schedules
• Communication and networking requirements
• Alarm definitions and prioritisation schemes
• HMI display logic and data mapping
• Define system operating modes, fail-safe behaviours, redundancy concepts, and recovery strategies
• Develop high-quality engineering design packages for software and hardware development teams
• Produce technical specifications enabling vendors to:
• Develop application software
• Configure control system hardware
• Design compliant communication networks
• Review vendor technical submissions, design documentation, and engineering solutions
• Participate in technical reviews, hazard assessments, and design verification activities
• Support integration activities and ensure alignment between system architecture and operational requirements
• Provide technical expertise throughout the design lifecycle
• Support development of verification and validation strategies
• Contribute to Factory Acceptance Testing (FAT), integration testing, and system validation activities
• Ensure compliance with:
• Nuclear industry standards
• Functional safety requirements
• Cybersecurity requirements
• Internal engineering governance processes

Qualifications

Required Skills:

• Strong experience in Control & Instrumentation systems design, ideally within nuclear, energy, or other safety-critical industries (e.g. oil & gas)
• Experience in functional specification and system-level design
• Solid understanding of control systems and control theory
• Knowledge of system lifecycle activities including V&V, commissioning, and maintenance
• Familiarity with industry standards such as IEC 61508, IEC 61513, IEC 61226 (or equivalent)
• Experience applying systems engineering methodologies
• Experience with requirements management tools (e.g. IBM DOORS, Polarion)
• Understanding of Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) tools (Capella preferred)
• Strong problem-solving skills with a structured, logical approach

Required Qualifications:

• A Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Engineering, or equivalent military experience.
• Experience working with Control Systems
• Electrical Engineering experience

Desirable Skills:

• Experience working on large infrastructure projects with high level safety requirements.

Additional Information

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.