Senior Systems Engineer (Forward Deployed)

Department: Tech Services

Location: South Coast, UK

Compensation: £60,000 - £75,000 / year

Description

We're building the next UK-headquartered engineering powerhouse.

At Rowden, we design and integrate advanced systems that sense, connect, and protect data in challenging environments where quick decisions are vital. Our solutions use intelligent automation to enhance speed and efficiency and are built to be reliable and straightforward for critical operations in remote or high-pressure settings.

Headquartered in Bristol (UK), we combine modern engineering methods with cutting-edge commercial technology to create adaptable, mission-critical systems. We focus on solving the tough challenges that others overlook, ensuring our customers can operate effectively in an ever-changing world.

As a Systems Engineer deployed on customer sites, you'll lead the delivery of user-driven digital capabilities at the edge. Working closely with end users, you'll shape requirements through hands-on discovery, translate operational needs into high-fidelity prototypes, and drive rapid development. You'll apply systems thinking and agile delivery practices to de-risk delivery, validate changes early, and continuously evolve products through user feedback and platform insights.

You'll work closely with engineers, product leaders, and enterprise stakeholders to ensure platform changes are coherent, testable, and aligned with the wider technology model. You'll also lead and mentor a small team of Product Owners and Integration Engineers - promoting a culture of user-focused design, rapid delivery, and continuous improvement.

This is a hands-on, customer-facing role with regular travel across the UK (mainly West Midlands and South Coast) and occasional international trips. We recognise the demands this places on individuals and will provide additional compensation accordingly. Candidates must hold or be eligible for SC clearance and should be willing to undergo DV clearance. If this sounds like the kind of challenge you're looking for, we'd love to hear from you.

More information about security clearance is available here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels

Key areas of responsibility

As Rowden's Systems Engineer, you will:

• Lead user-centric research and discovery to develop a deep understanding of requirements, translating them into actionable discovery tasks that de-risk and shape product roadmaps.


• Drive design and prototyping by applying system engineering best practices to turn conceptual user needs and workflows into high fidelity prototypes, validating changes efficiently prior to full scale development and production.


• Own product development, leading a team of cross-functional developers and engineers to rapidly integrate and enhance edge platforms, utilising Agile methodologies and a DevOps process.


• Monitor and analyse user/platform interactions to guide continuous improvement, incorporating feedback loops to drive iterative design.


• Ensure enterprise coherence by working closely with other product leaders and end user management functions to align platform interfaces and interdependencies with the enterprise technology model.


• Engage and influence stakeholders across all levels and domains - bridging boundaries where collaboration typically breaks down. Provide clear guidance to ensure product and portfolio strategies deliver maximum value and move at pace.


• Mentor and lead a team of product owners and capabilities integrators, providing guidance on design thinking, research and test methodologies, and agile workflows. Promote a culture of user-centric design, innovation, and continuous learning.

Key skills, experience and behaviours

We are looking for someone who is passionate about technology and who actively invests in their technical skills and abilities. You'll gain loads of experience in this role but before you do, you should have:

• Strong background in systems engineering and product management, ideally in complex or high-stakes environments.


• Experience conducting user research, applying systems thinking, and delivering rapid prototypes.


• Proven ability to lead agile, cross-functional teams through fast-paced delivery cycles.


• Comfortable switching between technical detail and strategic priorities to drive outcomes.


• Skilled at managing diverse stakeholders and translating effectively across domains.


• Experience working with edge platforms, C4ISR systems, or similarly complex technology stacks is a plus.


• Excellent communicator, confident decision-maker, and natural collaborator.


• Curious, adaptive, and committed to continuous improvement.


• Experience mentoring and developing team members.


• Prior experience working in or alongside the military or national security sector is desirable.

About you:

The ideal candidate will have a strong balance of technical skills and experience, and the behavioural competencies that we believe are key to success in the role are as follows:

• Extremely customer and user-focused with strong communication skills.


• Passionate about delivering value to front line users.


• Hands-on leader who mentors others and supports team growth.


• Thrive in fast-paced environments and comfortable making decisions in ambiguity.


• Proven critical analysis and problem-solving skills.


• Comfortable with autonomous working and working in cross functional teams.

Working at Rowden

We are committed to building a flexible, inclusive, and enabling company. Our aim is to create a diverse team of talented people with unique skills, experience, and backgrounds, so please apply and come as you are!

We also recognise the importance of flexible working and support this wherever we can. We typically operate a flexible, hybrid-working model, with an average 3 days in the office each week (dependent on the role). We welcome the opportunity to discuss flexibility, part-time working requirements and/or workplace adjustments with all our applicants.

Rowden is a Disability Confident Committed company, and we actively encourage people with disabilities and health conditions to apply for our roles. Please let us know your requirements early on so that we can make sure you have everything you need up front to help make the recruitment process and experience as easy as possible.

Finally, if you feel that you don't meet all the criteria included above but have transferable skills and relevant experience, we'd still love to hear from you!