Principal Test Engineer

Principal Test Engineer – QinetiQ Farnborough As a Principal Test Engineer you will lead across a portfolio of wind tunnel test programmes at our 5‑metre wind tunnel facility at Farnborough. Your day‑to‑day responsibilities will include leading customer engagement, delivering safe and effective testing, supervising analysis and reporting, and approving technical deliverables. You will also lead facility calibration activities and capability development. Your Responsibilities Ensuring test productivity, data quality and test engineering outputs are delivered to the highest standards on time, quality and cost. Engaging with customers to define test service provision, test requirements and test definition documents. Distributing technical work across the test engineering team, ensuring activities comply with organisational policies, procedures and work instructions. Ensuring wind tunnel performance and calibration status are maintained and critical actions are monitored and prioritised with support of the leadership team. Proposing technical capability enhancements drawing on broader views of technology developments, customer needs, competitive environments and wind tunnel strategic direction. Managing test technical risks and the acceptance of systems upgrades into service whilst advising project teams throughout the applicable engineering governance processes. Mentoring and coaching others to mature overall technical capability whilst developing technical networks both internally and externally. Essential Experience Proven technical team leadership experience with evidence of achieving productive and progressive testing outcomes for customers. Extensive stakeholder management experience with the ability to report and influence at leadership and customer level. Deep professional experience in engineering test infrastructure and test delivery, underpinned by a relevant degree or equivalent professional development activity. Experience of Systems Engineering processes in a test engineering environment. Essential Qualifications Thorough understanding of both theoretical and practical engineering aspects of wind tunnels and aerodynamic testing. Detailed knowledge of test data analysis, data capture and test measurement techniques. The ability to analyse rigorously technical data and reflect deep technical insights from assimilated multi‑disciplinary inputs. We value difference and we do not have a fixed idea when it comes to background or education, provided you can show the required level of experience and willingness to learn then we would like to hear from you. This role is 37 hours per week based at Farnborough with shift patterns and on‑site working. Why Join QinetiQ? As we continue to grow into new markets around the world, there’s never been a more exciting time to join QinetiQ. The formula for success is our appetite for innovation and having the courage to take on a wide variety of complex challenges. As a QinetiQ employee, you’ll experience a unique working environment where teams from different backgrounds, disciplines and levels enjoy collaborating widely and openly as we undertake this exciting and rewarding journey. Our Benefits Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance. Generous holiday allowance, with the option to purchase additional days. Options to join Health Cash Plan, Private Medical Insurance and Dental Insurance. Employee discount portal: Personal Accident Insurance, Travel Insurance, Restaurants, Cinema Tickets and much more. We are proud to support the Armed Forces community by honouring the Armed Forces Covenant and maintaining our Gold Award standard in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme. Volunteering opportunities – helping charities and local community. Recruitment Process We want to make sure that our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible and we aspire to bring out the best in our candidates by creating an environment where everyone feels value, heard, and supported. If you have a disability or health condition that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments. Many roles in QinetiQ are subject to national security vetting being completed; applicants who already hold the appropriate level of vetting may be able to transfer it upon appointment. A number of roles are also subject to additional restrictions, which mean factors such as nationality or previous nationalities may affect the roles that you can be employed in. Please note that all applicants for this role must be eligible for SC clearance, as a minimum. #J-18808-Ljbffr