Job Vacancy Principal Mechanical Engineer

Job title: Principal Mechanical Engineer

Location: Portsmouth Naval Base - We offer a range of hybrid and flexible working arrangements - please speak to your recruiter about the options for this particular role.

Salary: Up to £60,000 (dependent on skills and experience)

What you'll be doing:

• Lead and conduct early lifecycle engineering activities, including technical investigations, root cause analysis and feasibility studies. Apply engineering theory/technical knowledge to support findings and recommendations
• Define equipment/system technical requirements and acceptance routes. Apply and manage requirements to drive the development of design solutions for marine mechanical equipment and systems
• Undertake design substantiation via calculation for marine mechanical systems and equipment. This shall include mechanical simulation/analysis in the areas of structures, fluids and heat transfer, incorporating appropriate optimisation and verification/validation (acceptance) routines
• Manage technical risk, safety, requirements compliance and design maturity to align with design review gate requirements. Present to engineering design review panels
• Produce design/analysis/technical reports, system/equipment specifications, scopes of work and undertake assessment of supplier responses
• Liaise with MOD establishments, test facilities, sub-contractors, suppliers and customers as required to satisfy the needs of a project

Your skills and experiences:

• Be qualified to degree level, or equivalent, in mechanical engineering or similar STEM subject
• Ideally professionally registered (CEng) through a relevant professional engineering institution such as the IET, IMechE, IMarEST etc or defined plan to get there. Proactive continuation of professional development
• Have experience in application of marine/mechanical engineering in complex industrial/military applications
• Competent in assessing mechanical solutions from first principles in support of recognised toolsets
• Awareness of project management principles with an ability to consider time, scheduling, cost, and quality factors
• Have an awareness of Systems Engineering and the benefits it brings to complex engineering projects
• Experienced in applying defence and marine standards, including DefStan, classification society rules, ISO, and relevant regulatory frameworks (MCA, IMO)

Closing Date: 11 September 2025.