Principal Electrical Design Engineer

Principal Electrical Design Engineer

Oxford Instruments

Bristol, United Kingdom

Are you an experienced Electrical Design Engineer ready to shape the future of engineering delivery? This is a rare opportunity to step into a Principal-level role where your technical expertise, leadership, and vision will directly influence how electrical engineering is delivered across the business.

As our Principal Electrical Design Engineer, you will play a pivotal role in driving innovation, improving standards, and leading the transition to smarter, more efficient ways of working. Beyond design, you’ll be a technical authority and mentor—raising capability across the team and ensuring our solutions are world‑class, compliant, and right first time.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Lead the design, development, and implementation of electrical control systems for complex machinery, ensuring compliance with EN60204‑33, EN13849, UL, CSA, and CE marking requirements
• Act as a recognised technical leader and subject‑matter expert within the organisation
• Champion engineering excellence by ensuring all designs meet internal standards and relevant international regulations
• Provide high‑quality technical input for manuals and supporting documentation
• Promote and embed professional engineering standards across the department
• Collaborate closely with multi‑disciplinary teams to ensure specifications are clear, complete, and optimised
• Translate technical requirements into structured, modular, and scalable designs
• Support supplier engagement, including subcontractor liaison and site visits when required
• Drive the development of design tools, automation, and smarter workflows
• Lead continuous improvement initiatives to enhance departmental processes
• Support the Electrical Engineering Manager in the day‑to‑day running and strategic development of the department

What You’ll Bring

Qualifications

• Degree in Electrical Engineering or a related discipline (postgraduate qualification desirable)

Technical & Professional Skills

• Proven experience designing machine control systems
• Strong understanding of relevant EN and international standards
• Proficiency in AutoCAD Electrical and strong computer literacy (MS Excel, Word, Outlook)
• Excellent analytical and problem‑solving skills
• Experience in improving processes and developing engineering methodologies
• Natural leadership capability with the confidence to guide and mentor others

Personal Attributes

• A collaborative team player who actively contributes to shared goals
• Passionate about knowledge‑sharing and developing others
• Takes ownership of work and continually seeks improvement
• Energetic, driven, and comfortable delivering challenging technical solutions to tight deadlines
• Commercially aware, understanding the cost and business impact of engineering decisions
• A systems thinker who balances detail with the bigger picture
• Clear, confident communicator at all levels