Principal Safety Engineer

Principal Safety Engineer

Location: Plymouth, Devon + Hybrid Working Arrangements

Compensation: £61,474 - £68,754 + Benefits

Role Type: Full time / Permanent

Shape the Future of Defence Safety

At Babcock we're working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as a Principal Safety Engineer at our Devonport site.

The role

As a Senior Safety Engineer, you'll have a role that's out of the ordinary. You'll be helping to ensure the Royal Navy can operate safely by supporting the safety of nuclear and radiological facilities at one of the largest naval bases in Western Europe.

Day-to-day, you'll:

• Providing expert guidance on nuclear and radiological safety matters
• Supporting safety case development for the 9 Dock Design and Safety Engineering team
• Developing deep understanding of submarine systems and reactor plant performance
• Advising on safety analysis underpinning Devonport Royal Dockyard Limited (DRDL) safety cases
• Contributing to the long term transformation of Devonport Dockyard

This role is full time, 35 hours per week and provides hybrid working arrangements with 2 days in the office/onsite and 3 days working from home.

Essential experience of the Principal Safety Engineer

• Proven experience in safety engineering or design
• Strong leadership capabilities
• Strategic thinking and ability to set design intent
• Knowledge of submarine systems (advantageous)
• Experience within the nuclear sector (advantageous)

Qualifications for the Principal Safety Engineer

• Degree in Engineering or Science discipline
• Chartered Engineer status

Security Clearance

The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK ().

What we offer

• Generous holiday allowance
• Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
• Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
• Employee share scheme
• Employee shopping savings portal
• Payment of Professional Fees
• Reservists in the armed forces receive 10 days special paid leave
• Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows the majority of employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement
• 'Be Kind Day' enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
• Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing

Babcock

We're Babcock - a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 26,000 people working together to make a difference.

Here, you'll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we're building a future that lasts - not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work life balance.

We call that lifetime engineering.

Join us and see how far we can go, together.

We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email with the subject header 'Reasonable adjustments requirement'. We're committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone's free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working - please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.

Closing date: 12/03/2026