Principal Maritime Consultant

Job Title: Principal Consultant Industry: Defence Engineering & Consultancy Location: Primarily home-based with regular travel as required, particularly to AACE's Bristol office and customer/project sites. Salary: Negotiable, based on experience Application Requirements: Please submit your CV and a covering letter detailing why you are a good fit for the role to; enquiries@aace.co.uk

AACE has an exciting opportunity for an experienced and motivated Principal Maritime Consultant with a strong background in Defence maritime safety and engineering to shape and deliver customer solutions and provide senior technical leadership. As a Principal Consultant, you will lead teams of experienced engineers and subject matter experts delivering a range of Defence projects and programmes. You will work directly with customers and stakeholders to understand their needs, define requirements and develop technically robust and commercially viable solutions. You will be responsible for turning ideas and requirements into practical delivery plans and lead their implementation and delivery to achieve successful outcomes. As a Small and Medium Enterprise (SME), no two days are the same. While maritime experience is an important foundation for the role, there may also be opportunities to apply your engineering and consultancy skills across other domains and business areas. Candidates will typically bring experience from the Royal Navy, DE&S / NAD Group, the defence industry or consultancy, together with a sound understanding of Marine Engineering, Weapon Engineering, Combat Systems, Platform Systems or wider maritime capability management. The successful candidate will combine domain, safety and engineering credibility to lead the delivery of projects across a range of surface and sub-surface projects and programmes and wider business activities. Key Skills and Experience Essential

• Demonstrable safety or engineering qualification and/or experience within the maritime domain.
• Royal Navy, DE&S / NAD Group, defence industry or consultancy safety engineering experience.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) with a relevant institute.
• Ability to obtain and maintain Security Check (SC) clearance.
• Detailed working knowledge and / or experience in the MOD safety processes such as Defence Maritime Regulation, DEFSTAN 00-056, JSP 430 and the Project Oriented Safety Management System (POSMS) / Unified SEMS.
• Experience in:
• Leading and coordinating multidisciplinary teams of engineers and subject matter experts through technical credibility, influence and professional judgement.
• Acting as a trusted technical adviser to customers, translating their challenges into viable solutions.
• Developing delivery approaches and leading the successful delivery of work to agreed time, cost and quality requirements.
• Communicating complex technical concepts clearly and confidently to customers, stakeholders and delivery teams at all levels.
• Applying strong organisational, analytical and problem-solving skills to manage risks, dependencies, resources and competing priorities across multiple assignments.
• Providing technical leadership, assurance, mentoring and coaching to colleagues, supporting the development of capability, professional standards and engineering excellence.
• Competence in Microsoft 365 applications and willingness to embrace new technologies and AI-enabled tools such as Microsoft Copilot. Desirable Candidates may be able to demonstrate their wider technical and consultancy competence through experience in one or more of the following areas:
• Working knowledge and / or experience in the MOD safety software such as eCassandra, BowTieXP and Fault Tree Plus
• Hazard identification and management including techniques such as Checklist, HAZOP and SWIFT.
• Systems engineering.
• Defence acquisition, equipment support or capability management.
• Engineering management.
• Design Authority or Technical Authority activities.
• Bid management, proposal development and solution design.
• Management of existing and new customer relationships and business development opportunities.
• Recruitment, mentoring and capability development. Why Join AACE? AACE is a Bristol-based, family-owned company and an established SME with valued employees working in close-knit teams:
• Competitive salary based on experience and qualifications.
• Flexible and hybrid working.
• 28 days annual leave plus public holidays.
• Company pension (2% employee contribution and 6% company contribution).
• Private healthcare, with the option to include a partner and children at subsidised rates.
• Discretionary bonus scheme based on individual performance.
• Support for Continuing Professional Development (CPD), including training, qualifications and peer-to-peer learning and development.