Principal Digital Electronics Engineer

12 months

£84.55 per hour (inside IR35)

Hybrid working (Portsmouth)

About the Opportunity

We are seeking a Principal Digital Electronics Engineer to help deliver advanced electronic solutions across some of the most complex and high-profile defence and security programmes in the UK.

This is a technical leadership role where you will shape digital hardware architectures, influence system-level design decisions, and mentor engineers across the full product lifecycle - from concept through to production and in-service support.

What You'll Be Doing

Lead the architecture, design and development of complex digital electronic systems

Define and review FPGA, SoC, and high-speed digital designs

Oversee requirements capture, design documentation, and verification strategies

Provide technical authority and governance across multiple projects

Support system integration, validation, and qualification activities

Collaborate with systems, software, firmware, mechanical and safety teams

Engage with customers and suppliers at a technical level

Mentor and develop senior and junior engineers

Drive continuous improvement in engineering processes and standards

Your Skills & Experience

Essential:

Extensive experience in digital electronics design

Strong background in FPGA/ASIC development (VHDL/Verilog/SystemVerilog)

Experience with high-speed interfaces (e.g., PCIe, Ethernet, DDR, SERDES)

Proven ability to lead technical teams or large work packages

Experience with requirements management and verification methodologies

Understanding of signal integrity, timing analysis, and hardware debugging

Degree (or equivalent experience) in Electronic Engineering or related discipline

Desirable:

Experience in safety-critical or regulated industries

Knowledge of secure or resilient system design

Familiarity with DOORS, MATLAB, or similar tools

Chartered Engineer status (or working towards)