Human Factors & Ergonomics Engineer - Control Systems

Overview

Expleo is a trusted partner for end-to-end, integrated engineering, quality services and management consulting for digital transformation.  We help businesses harness unrelenting technological change to successfully deliver innovations that will help them gain a competitive advantage and improve the everyday lives of people around the globe.

An exciting opportunity has arisen for a Human Factors & Ergonomics Engineer to support the integration of human-centred design principles across complex control systems and safety-critical engineering programmes.

This role focuses on ensuring that systems are safe, usable, and aligned with the needs of operators, maintainers, and end users throughout the system lifecycle. Working within multidisciplinary engineering teams, the successful candidate will contribute to Human Factors Integration (HFI) activities, helping to embed usability, workload management, and human performance considerations into system requirements, design, verification, and validation activities.

The role offers the opportunity to support the development of complex systems within highly regulated environments, collaborating with systems, software, safety, and operational stakeholders to deliver practical and effective solutions.

Responsibilities

Human Factors Integration

• Support the delivery of Human Factors activities across live engineering programmes.
• Contribute to Human Factors Integration (HFI) strategies and management plans.
• Ensure usability and human performance considerations are embedded throughout the system lifecycle.
• Promote human-centred design principles across multidisciplinary teams.

Requirements & System Design Support

• Contribute to requirements capture and analysis with a focus on:
• Human performance
• Workload management
• Usability
• Operator interaction
• Support the translation of user and operational needs into engineering requirements.
• Work closely with systems, software, and safety engineers to influence design decisions.
• Contribute to interface and control system assessments from a Human Factors perspective.

User Engagement & Usability Assessment

• Support usability studies, operator workshops, and user engagement activities.
• Gather and analyse feedback from operators, maintainers, and other stakeholders.
• Participate in design reviews and facilitate discussions to ensure operational needs are understood and addressed.
• Communicate Human Factors considerations clearly and pragmatically to technical and non-technical audiences.

Verification, Validation & Safety Support

• Contribute to Human Factors verification and validation activities.
• Support testing activities to ensure systems meet usability and performance requirements.
• Assist in identifying potential human error risks and contribute to mitigation strategies.
• Support safety assurance activities where Human Factors evidence is required.

Documentation & Reporting

• Produce Human Factors documentation including:
• Assessments
• Reports
• Analyses
• Supporting evidence and recommendations
• Ensure Human Factors outputs are aligned with project standards and engineering processes.
• Support traceability between user requirements, design solutions, and verification activities.

Stakeholder Engagement

• Participate in workshops, technical reviews, and stakeholder meetings.
• Collaborate with clients, end users, operational teams, and engineering disciplines to understand system usage and operational contexts.
• Support effective communication of Human Factors principles across project teams.

Qualifications

• A degree in Ergonomics, Human Factors, Psychology, or a related discipline.
• Registered member of the CIEHF, working towards, or interested in, professional accreditation (Chartership)

Essential skills

• Good understanding of Human Factors and ergonomics principles and their application to complex systems.
• Knowledge of Human Factors Integration (HFI) methodologies.
• Understanding of the systems engineering lifecycle, including:
  • Requirements capture.
  • System design.
  • Verification.
  • Validation.
• Ability to work effectively within multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong analytical and structured problem-solving skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Ability to present Human Factors concepts clearly to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
• Strong stakeholder engagement and facilitation skills.
• Ability to adapt to changing project priorities and environments.
• Knowledge of Human Reliability Analysis (HRA) techniques.
• Familiarity with safety assurance processes and safety case development.
• Understanding of relevant Human Factors standards and guidance.
• Working towards Chartered Ergonomist status or other professional accreditation.
• Awareness of control room design, HMI principles, and human-machine interaction.
• Familiarity with systems engineering tools and requirements management processes.

Experience

• Experience supporting Human Factors activities within engineering or complex system environments.
• Experience working within railway systems or other operational control environments.
• Experience conducting usability testing and task analysis activities.
• Experience supporting operational trials and end-user evaluations.
• Experience contributing to requirements definition and user-centred design activities.
• Exposure to usability assessments, operator engagement, or user research activities.
• Experience supporting verification and validation activities.
• Experience working alongside systems, software, or safety engineering teams.
• Exposure to safety-critical or highly regulated industries is advantageous, including:
  • Rail.
  • Aerospace.
  • Defence.
  • Automotive.
  • Energy.
  • Industrial control systems.
• Experience considering:
  • Human performance.
  • Usability.
  • Operator workload.
  • Human error reduction.
• Experience preparing technical reports and supporting documentation.

Benefits

• Collaborative working environment – we stand shoulder to shoulder with our clients and our peers through good times and challenges  
• We empower all passionate technology loving professionals by allowing them to expand their skills and take part in inspiring projects   
• Expleo Academy - enables you to acquire and develop the right skills by delivering a suite of accredited training courses  
• Competitive company benefits
• Always working as one team, our people are not afraid to think big and challenge the status quo 

• As a Disability Confident Committed Employer we have committed to:
  • Ensure our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible
  • Communicating and promoting vacancies
  • Offering an interview to disabled people who meet the minimum criteria for the job
  • Anticipating and providing reasonable adjustments as required
  • Supporting any existing employee who acquires a disability or long term health condition, enabling them to stay in work at least one activity that will make a difference for disabled people

“We are an equal opportunities employer and welcome applications from all suitably qualified persons regardless of their race, sex, disability, religion/belief, sexual orientation or age”. 

We treat everyone fairly and equitably across the organisation, including providing any additional support and adjustments needed for everyone to thrive