Job Description

Purpose of the Role

You build and run the electrical organisation and deliver its work. Electrical is the domain whose workload grows fastest after preliminary design: the wiring interconnection system alone becomes one of the largest engineering and manufacturing data sets on the aircraft, and it is entirely dependent on every other domain having settled its installations.

Through Phase 1 the domain is deliberately lean, with a single broad Principal, and you will be hands-on across load analysis, architecture and installation. Your first year is about hiring ahead of the wiring workload rather than behind it.

You are paired with the Chief Engineer - Electrical. The Chief Engineer decides what is technically acceptable; you decide how it is delivered.

Role Boundaries

You hold delivery and line authority, not technical authority. You own the plan, the team, the cost and supplier delivery performance. You do not approve the electrical architecture, you do not own the load budget and you do not sign gate artefacts. Where delivery pressure and technical acceptability collide, escalate to the Chief Engineer - Platform and the Head of Engineering jointly.

Key Responsibilities

• Build the domain: recruit the Principals and Senior specialists, phased to the growth of the wiring and installation workload, and develop them.
• Own the domain delivery plan and its integration into the programme schedule, with explicit dependency on the installation maturity of every other domain.
• Own the electrical data and toolchain readiness: harness design and routing tooling, wiring data management and the interface into PLM, since electrical data volume will outgrow ad-hoc methods quickly.
• Stand up electrical test capability: power quality and load bank testing, bonding and grounding measurement, and contribution to the iron-bird.
• Act as a hands-on lead through Phase 1 across load analysis, architecture and installation.
• Manage supplier delivery for electrical equipment and harness manufacture, including staged long-lead commitments and recovery when a supplier under-performs.
• Own the domain cost and the recurring cost consequences of wiring and installation choices.
• Deliver domain commitments on time: conversion specification to Battery, power provision to Avionics and Mission Systems, installation and routing data to Structures and Industrialisation, and charging interface data to Sovereign C2.
• Own safe execution for high-voltage and energised-system work in test and build areas.
• Report delivery status honestly, and escalate slippage while it can still be recovered.

Required Experience: Must Have

• 12+ years in aircraft electrical systems, of which at least five on airborne programmes with real installation and wiring delivery.
• Delivered an aircraft electrical system or major electrical work package through to hardware and test, accountable for plan and schedule.
• Line management of a technical team including recruiting into it.
• Managed electrical wiring interconnection system delivery at scale, including the data volume, tooling and configuration control it demands.
• Hands-on credibility in load analysis, electrical architecture or installation, exercised recently.
• Supplier delivery management for equipment or harness manufacture.
• Planning, estimating and cost ownership for an electrical development and installation programme.
• Comfort operating in a paired model where technical authority sits with someone else.

Required Experience: Preferred

• Electric or hybrid-electric aircraft, or any programme where electrical power was flight-critical primary.
• Greenfield or early-stage programme experience.
• Harness design and manufacturing interface, including in-country harness supply development.
• Building engineering capability in a new country or region.
• Interface with production ramp and installation on the line.