Story

Life in Software Engineering

Our Software division plays a vital role in solving complex challenges and developing unique, innovative technology. We spoke to some of our Software professionals to find out more about life on the team.

A unique opportunity

Our team members were all attracted to MBDA for different reasons. For David, Department Head of Software Product Lines and Capability, it was the opportunity to do software engineering ‘properly’ and write software for unique systems. For Software Engineer Stephen, it was the training and development opportunities that drew him to our organisation.

“I think that the greatest attraction is the variety and complexity of interesting problems to tackle - that isn’t really applicable in any other business.”

-        Jack, Principal Software Engineer

Work to be proud of

With a huge range of unique projects to get involved in, the team had plenty of career highlights and proud moments to share.

“I would say that my career highlight would be the TestNode project that I have been leading for the last year. It is a project that I have been able to develop using cutting edge software technologies in order to solve business critical production and manufacturing problems.”

- Jack, Principal Software Engineer

For Marisa, a Software Engineering Graduate, the moment she was nominated for a People’s Choice Award was a particularly proud one, while for Stephe, it was getting his BSc and PhD, both done through MBDA.

David couldn’t pick just one example:

“Every project I have worked on in software has been different; different challenges, different teams. I class myself as lucky to have worked on some amazing products over the years; Rapier, Seawolf, Storm Shadow, Meteor, Fire Shadow, Sea Ceptor, Land Ceptor.”

A supportive culture

All our team members told us how friendly and supportive the culture is within Software, and at MBDA in general. They feel able to share their ideas, voice their opinions, and if they’re not sure about something, they can just ask.

For Marisa, joining as a graduate meant she struggled with imposter syndrome:

“By speaking to both my peers and Software Leads within the department, my confidence in my own skills vastly improved.”

The team also feel supported to grow and develop their skills, and their careers. As Stephen says,

“Apart from being able to get my BSc and PhD, I have been given freedom to find and pursue my own training, including attending academic conferences, many of them around Europe.”

A flexible approach

Something that everyone on the team agreed on was the importance of work-life balance. They talked about how MBDA’s attitude to flexible and hybrid working has helped them manage their work around their lives.

“MBDA’s flexible working arrangements were fantastic when dealing with the death of my father, and the birth of my daughters.”

-        Stephen, Software Engineer 

One of Stephen’s colleague agreed, saying: “I’ve always managed a good work-life balance at MBDA; the flexible working arrangements have always been helpful, and when busy the overtime was appreciated; especially when the children were young and we had childcare bills to pay!”

An exciting future

The team are excited about the future of Software at MBDA, particularly the adoption of new technologies like DevOps tooling, and the chance to be part of innovative new solutions like anti-drone defence and precision munitions.

“What always excites me about MBDA is the opportunity to work in a great team, tackling hard problems and challenges, building products that are highly specialised and unique.”

-        David, Department Head of Software Product Lines and Capability UK

Explore Software Opportunities with MBDA

Click here to discover the unique opportunities in Software and build a career like no other at MBDA. 

To find out more about our Software teams and view our Software Engineering video, click here. 

What you'll do matters.

Because defence matters.