Electrical Controls Engineer

Elevation Recruitment Group are working with a leading engineering organisation operating within the Aerospace & Defence sector, who are looking to appoint an experienced Principal Electrical, Controls & Instrumentation Engineer.

This is a senior technical role, providing engineering leadership across complex, safety-critical projects from concept and design through to testing, commissioning and production readiness. You'll act as a technical authority for EC&I, supporting multidisciplinary engineering teams and ensuring robust, compliant and manufacturable solutions are delivered to the required standards.
Please note: Due to security requirements, this position is open to Sole UK Nationals only.

The Role

As Principal Electrical, Controls & Instrumentation Engineer, you will provide technical leadership across major engineering programmes, overseeing EC&I design activities and supporting the wider engineering team.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Providing technical leadership and line management to the EC&I team, coordinating workloads and supporting the development of engineers.
• Leading EC&I engineering activities across complex, multidisciplinary projects.
• Producing electrical specifications, scopes of work, calculations, drawings, schedules and technical documentation.
• Designing electrical wiring diagrams, P&IDs, harness schematics, connector tables and associated documentation.
• Supporting the development and release of Bills of Materials (BOMs).
• Ensuring compliance with functional safety, cyber security and hazardous-area requirements.
• Applying relevant MIL-STD, DEF-STAN, ISO, EMC/EMI and other defence electrical design standards.
• Ensuring electrical systems maintain the required EMC/EMI integrity, grounding, shielding, environmental sealing and survivability against shock and vibration.
• Working closely with mechanical, gearbox, drivetrain and other engineering disciplines to develop integrated solutions.
• Supporting cable routing through high-vibration, high-temperature and space-constrained environments.
• Liaising with suppliers and the supply chain to provide technical oversight of EC&I activities.
• Providing engineering support during manufacturing, assembly and build.
• Supporting prototype builds, integration testing, test rig design and commissioning activities.
• Investigating technical issues and carrying out root-cause and failure-mode analysis.
• Leading and participating in internal and external design reviews, including supporting client design acceptance.
• Managing design changes to existing products and ensuring appropriate documentation and configuration control.
• Producing engineering drawings and installation instructions.
• Providing technical input into project meetings, reports and customer presentations.
• Driving continuous improvement across EC&I engineering processes and delivery.
• Coaching and mentoring less experienced engineers and contributing to the development of engineering capability.

About You

The successful candidate is likely to have a strong EC&I engineering background, ideally gained within Aerospace & Defence, heavy engineering, industrial machinery, power transmission or rotating equipment environments.

You will ideally have:

• A Bachelor's or Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechatronics or a related engineering discipline.
• Significant experience in a senior EC&I / Electrical Engineering position, ideally 5–7+ years in a senior capacity.
• Proven experience producing electrical specifications, calculations, drawings and schedules.
• Strong knowledge of electrical design, controls, instrumentation, P&IDs and wiring diagrams.
• Experience with 3D CAD for electrical/layout design, such as Solid Edge Electrical, NX Electrical Routing or similar.
• Experience with PLC and/or DCS control systems.
• Knowledge of defence platforms, industrial machinery or other complex engineering systems.
• Understanding of EMC/EMI, grounding, shielding and cable protection principles.
• Experience working with test rigs and interfacing product hardware with test equipment.
• Familiarity with gearbox, drivetrain or power transmission integration would be advantageous.
• Knowledge of quality management systems and relevant industry standards, including AS9100 and ISO 9001.
• Experience with root-cause analysis and failure-mode analysis.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills, with the ability to manage multiple technical issues simultaneously.
• Experience leading design reviews and communicating technical information to customers and stakeholders.
• A proactive approach to continuous improvement.
• The ability to lead, coach and develop engineers within a multidisciplinary environment.
• Chartered Engineer status would be advantageous.

What's on Offer?

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced EC&I professional to take a high-profile technical leadership position working on complex Aerospace & Defence engineering programmes.

You'll have the opportunity to work on technically challenging projects, influence engineering standards and processes, and provide technical leadership across a multidisciplinary engineering environment.

Please note: Due to security requirements, this position is open to Sole UK Nationals only.

If you're an experienced Electrical, Controls & Instrumentation Engineer looking for a senior technical role within a complex engineering environment, we'd be keen to hear from you.