Lead Software Engineer in Farnborough, United Kingdom

L3Harris is dedicated to recruiting and developing high-performing talent who are passionate about what they do. Our employees are unified in a shared dedication to our customers’ mission and quest for professional growth. L3Harris provides an inclusive, engaging environment designed to empower employees and promote work-life success. Fundamental to our culture is an unwavering focus on values, dedication to our communities, and commitment to excellence in everything we do.

L3Harris is the Trusted Disruptor in defense tech. With customers’ mission-critical needs always in mind, our employees deliver end-to-end technology solutions connecting the space, air, land, sea and cyber domains in the interest of national security.

Job Title – Lead Software Engineer

Job Location – Farnborough, UK

About This Opportunity And L3Harris UK

Operating at 11 sites in the United Kingdom, L3Harris supports Britain's mission to secure and strengthen the country by delivering sovereign innovation across the space, air, land, sea and cyber domains.

L3Harris in Farnborough specialises in secure ground and airborne communication and network systems for the military, international forces and commercial customers. We engineer and maintain night vision goggles, radar systems and tactical radios. The L3Harris Falcon family of radios delivers network-centric communications for superior command and control, real-time voice, data, full-motion HD video and crossbanding for mission-critical communications in a single, integrated platform. Notably, we are the proud designer, supplier and maintainer of the 50,000 tactical radios in the Bowman tactical C4I system in service with the UK Armed Forces and are working to define and deliver the next generation system, Morpheus.

This opportunity is ideally suited to an experienced embedded software engineer with a strong foundation in digital signal processing and radio communications, capable of contributing across the full lifecycle of tactical communications systems—from early-stage research and waveform design through to deployment, sustainment, and capability enhancement of in-service products.

The successful candidate will demonstrate deep knowledge of real-time embedded software development in communications systems, including experience with DSP algorithms, waveform implementation, and Software Defined Radio (SDR) architectures. They will also possess a solid understanding of modern software engineering practices and be comfortable working at the intersection of software, hardware, and RF domains.

Working within a small, highly collaborative engineering team, the individual will engage with software, systems, and hardware engineers to develop robust, high-performance communications solutions. Once established in the role, they will operate with a high degree of autonomy while receiving strategic guidance from Engineering Management.

Strong written and verbal communication skills are essential, including the ability to clearly articulate complex concepts such as modulation schemes, signal processing pipelines, and radio system behaviour to both technical and non-technical stakeholders.

A few of our employee benefits are

• Half day finish on a Friday or 9/80 working schedule available
• 25 days holiday per year (plus bank holidays), increasing with long service and with the opportunity to buy/sell up to 5 days
• Private medical insurance with optional family cover
• Pension scheme of up to 8% employer contribution
• Life Assurance 4x salary (flexible up to 10x)
• Group income protection
• Flexible opt-in extras such as a health care cash plan, dental insurance, gym membership, critical illness cover, cycle to work scheme, travel insurance and electric car scheme
• Employee Family Assistance Program providing mental health and wellbeing support
• Professional membership reimbursement (discretionary)

What The Role Will Involve

The responsibilities of your role will include the following:

• Maintenance and enhancement of embedded software for existing tactical radio and communications systems, including feature development aligned to evolving operational requirements.
• Design and implementation of real-time embedded software for radio waveforms, including modulation/demodulation, filtering, synchronisation, and error correction techniques.
• Development and optimisation of DSP algorithms for performance-critical applications such as signal detection, channel estimation, and interference mitigation.
• Implementation of software within Software Defined Radio (SDR) platforms, including integration with RF front-end hardware.
• Design and development of application-level tools for modelling, simulation, analysis, and test of communication systems.
• Translation of high-level system requirements into detailed software architectures and signal processing designs.
• Production of high-quality technical documentation, including design specifications and algorithm descriptions.
• Maintenance and evolution of software development and test environments, including signal analysis and debugging tools.

What You’ll Bring

The role requires the following experience and skills:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Software Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Communications Engineering, or a related discipline
• Minimum of 7 to 10 years’ experience in a prior related role.
• Strong knowledge of digital signal processing (DSP) concepts and implementation (e.g., filtering, FFTs, modulation schemes, coding techniques)
• Proficiency in C/C++ for embedded systems, with additional experience in C# and/or Python for tooling, simulation, or analysis
• Experience with real-time embedded systems and performance-constrained environments
• Familiarity with modelling, simulation, and analysis tools (e.g., MATLAB/Simulink) for DSP and communications system design
• Experience with MBSE, UML, and system/software design tools (e.g., IBM Rhapsody, DOORS)
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to convey complex signal processing and radio system concepts clearly
• Strong organisational and problem-solving skills
• Proficiency with Microsoft Office and engineering tools (e.g., MS Project, SharePoint, Jira)

Important to know

Due to the nature of our work many our roles require a UK nationality and the ability to obtain a security clearance. Applicants who accept a conditional offer of employment must meet the requirement of right to work in the UK and must meet eligibility requirements for access to classified information and will be subject to government security checks.

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L3Harris Technologies is proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We are committed to maintaining a workplace that is free from unlawful discrimination and offers equal opportunities for all. Applications from individuals are encouraged regardless of age, disability, sex, gender reassignment, sexual orientation, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, and marriage and civil partnerships.