Principal Systems Engineer

12 Month FTC.

About Indra Group UK & Ireland

Indra is a leading global technology and consulting company, and a trusted technological partner for the core business operations of its clients worldwide. It stands at the forefront of key sectors including Transport, Defence, Air Traffic Management and Space, alongside advanced Information Technology services delivered through Minsait, and cutting-edge capabilities in Sovereign AI, Cybersecurity, and Cyberdefence via IndraMind.

The company’s business model is built around a comprehensive portfolio of proprietary products, combining strong innovation with a high-value focus for customers.

With more than 2,500 projects implemented across 50 countries and over 100 cities, Indra is a global benchmark in innovative transportation and mobility solutions. It is recognised as one of the world’s top three companies in public transportation management systems. Indra’s technology supports the daily journeys of over 78 million people, helping to reduce more than 10 million tonnes of CO₂ emissions annually, and helping save nearly 3,000 lives through improved traffic management and road safety.

Indra Group is paving the way to a more secure and better-connected future through innovative solutions, trusted relationships and the very best talent. Sustainability sits at the heart of its strategy and culture, driving efforts to address current and future social and environmental challenges.

In the 2024 financial year, Indra achieved revenues of €5.5 billion, over 60,000 professionals, maintained a local presence in 46 countries, and operated across more than 140 countries worldwide.

About the Project

Transport for London (TfL) has awarded Indra a long-term contract to operate, develop, enhance and expand ticketing and access control systems across London’s transport network through to 2034, with extension options to 2039.

This programme covers the maintenance, operation and evolution of a large-scale, complex ecosystem, including turnstiles, validators, ticket machines, sales terminals, back-office systems, payment gateways, IT infrastructure and cybersecurity that supports over 8.6 million daily journeys.

Therefore, Indra will become TfL’s strategic technology partner to guarantee the operation and evolution of the world’s largest and most sophisticated ticketing system. Following a transition period of approximately two years, Indra will serve as the sole provider across the network that includes more than 8,500 buses, nearly 400 Underground stations, around 300 rail stations (Overground, DLR, Elizabeth Line and suburban services), 4,000 Oyster Card outlets, seven customer service centres, and 24 river boat boarding points.

Drawing on over 30 years of experience in urban public transport solutions, Indra will manage and evolve all aspects of the system. The project also envisages, in partnership with TfL, the implementation of new technologies to develop the system, make it more efficient and automate key processes; in short, to jointly create the next generation of the ticketing system for London.

About the Role

As Indra continues to deliver complex transport, mobility and systems integration programmes, we are seeking a highly experienced Principal Systems Engineer to provide technical leadership across the full systems engineering lifecycle.

The Principal Systems Engineer is the senior technical authority within the Systems Engineering function, responsible for defining solution architectures, leading multidisciplinary engineering activities, assuring technical compliance, and driving the successful integration of complex systems. The role provides technical leadership across multiple projects and acts as the primary engineering interface with TfL.

Working closely with Project Managers, Technical Delivery Managers, Solution Architects, Software and Hardware Engineering teams, Test Engineers and Service teams, the Principal Systems Engineer ensures that engineering solutions meet TfL requirements, contractual obligations and business objectives while balancing technical excellence, cost, schedule and delivery risk.

Key Duties Include -

• Provide technical leadership across multiple complex systems integration and technology projects.
• Ensure Technical Authority principles are followed, ensuring technical consistency and engineering governance throughout the project lifecycle.
• Lead requirements engineering activities, including requirements capture, analysis, decomposition, traceability and management.
• Define and approve system architectures, solution designs, interface specifications and engineering strategies.
• Lead multidisciplinary engineering teams throughout analysis, design, integration, verification, validation and deployment activities.
• Establish the overall systems engineering approach for projects, ensuring compliance with ISO/IEC/IEEE systems engineering standards and engineering best practice.
• Lead system integration planning and resolve complex technical issues involving multiple systems, interfaces and stakeholders.
• Chair technical design reviews, architecture reviews and engineering governance boards.
• Provide technical oversight of software, hardware, infrastructure and cybersecurity solutions to ensure compliance with TfL and contractual requirements.
• Lead technical investigations, engineering trade studies and technology evaluations to support solution selection and project decision-making.
• Support project planning, estimation, technical risk management and engineering resource planning.
• Provide technical leadership during workshops, design reviews and bid activities.
• Support business development by preparing technical proposals, Statements of Work, solution concepts and engineering estimates.
• Review and approve key engineering deliverables, including architectures, functional specifications, interface documents, integration strategies and verification plans.
• Mentor, coach and technically develop Systems Engineers.
• Promote engineering excellence, continuous improvement and adoption of modern systems engineering methodologies and tools.
• Maintain awareness of emerging technologies, standards and industry best practice applicable to transport, mobility and systems integration.
• Ensure compliance with company policies, engineering governance, quality standards, information security requirements and health, safety and environmental procedures.
• Undertake additional technical leadership responsibilities as reasonably required.

Requirements

Qualifications

• Degree in Systems Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Computer Science or a related engineering discipline, or equivalent professional experience.
• Extensive experience as a Systems Engineer on large-scale systems integration programmes.

Experience

• Significant experience delivering complex software systems.
• Extensive experience in requirements engineering and systems architecture.
• Experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Experience producing and reviewing technical architectures and solution documentation.
• Strong understanding of systems integration, interfaces, APIs and distributed architectures.
• Experience with verification, validation, integration and acceptance activities.
• Experience managing technical risk and engineering governance.
• Experience working directly with customers, suppliers and technical stakeholders.
• Experience contributing to bids, technical proposals and engineering estimates.

Technical Knowledge

• Systems Engineering principles (ISO/IEC/IEEE 15288).
• Requirements engineering (ISO/IEC/IEEE 29148).
• Architecture frameworks and modelling techniques.
• UML, SysML and Enterprise Architect or equivalent.
• IBM DOORS or equivalent requirements management tools.
• REST APIs, HTTP/S, JSON, XML and systems integration technologies.
• Software Development Lifecycles (Waterfall, Agile and Hybrid).
• Configuration Management and Change Management principles.
• Verification, Validation and Test Engineering methodologies. TestRail and JIRA.
• ITIL and Service Management concepts.

Desirable Requirements

• Experience in Transport, Rail, Automated Fare Collection or Intelligent Transport Systems.
• Experience working within multi-supplier environments.
• Experience acting as Technical Design Authority or Lead Systems Engineer.
• Knowledge of PCI DSS, Cyber Security and secure systems integration.
• INCOSE ASEP/CSEP or equivalent certification.
• TOGAF, ITIL or relevant postgraduate qualification.

Skills and Personal Attributes

• Outstanding technical leadership and systems thinking capability.
• Strong analytical and structured problem-solving skills.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.
• Ability to influence customers, suppliers and multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Excellent presentation and technical writing skills.
• Commercial awareness with the ability to balance technical excellence against cost, schedule and delivery constraints.
• Self-motivated, proactive and capable of working independently on highly complex technical challenges.
• Strong mentoring and coaching capability.
• Excellent planning and organisational skills.
• Adaptable, innovative and committed to continuous professional development.

Benefits

• Holidays: 25 days per annum + 8 days bank holidays (options to buy/sell days
• Pension – 4% employee and 4% employer
• Private medical insurance (including dental & optical)
• Life assurance
• Income protection
• Employee assistance programs
• Flexible/remote working options
• Charitable initiatives
• Social events (formal & informal)
• Learning and development programs
• Innovative & collaborative work environment