The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is recruiting for three roles to be based at Navantia’s Cadiz shipyard in Spain as part of the programme to construct three Fleet Solid Support (FSS) vessels for the UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the civilian-led logistics and supply arm of the Royal Navy.
Advertised on the UK government’s civil service jobs website, the UK MoD is seeking three positions: a Constructive Engineering Lead, a Naval Architecture Lead, and a Marine Engineering Oversight Lead.
All told, the salaries for the three roles total between £149,700 and £162,600, with the seniormost role, that of the Constructive Engineering Lead, commanding a top salary of £64,200.
The roles, fixed for a period of two years, also come with a range of other benefits including an average employer pension contribution of 28.97%. All three roles will be under Defence Equipment & Support, itself part of the MoD.
Broadly similar in terms of job description, the positions are tasked with “ensuring that the aft sections of the FSS ships being constructed at the Navantia Puerto Real shipyard in Spain meet the highest standards of quality, design, and operational excellence”.
Among the listed responsibilities include the need to “own trade-offs” with other subsystem teams and specialists “over technical requirements and design compromises to maximise successfully system implementation and delivery”.
In October 2024 the FSS programme completed its Preliminary Design Review, marking the transition to detailed design work.
According to the job descriptions, the build strategy for the FSS is for the aft section of each ship, including machinery spaces, accommodation areas, and the bridge, to be built in Spain, with full assembling and commissioning in Belfast at Harland & Wolff.
Construction planned to begin at the end of 2025, broadly on track with the initial timelines, although the first of the three vessels is not expected to enter service until 2031.
The current fleet solid support vessel, RFA Fort Victoria, is due to be removed from service in 2028, although it could be extended if the vessel is found to be in good enough condition.
RFA Fort Victoria did not participate in the UK deployment of the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales this year, which instead has to rely on logistics support from European and US allies.
Since 2022, RFA Fort Victoria underwent refurbishment work valued in excess of £20m ($26.8m) intended to keep the vessel operational until the end of its service life. However, RFA Fort Victoria is presently ‘laid up’, a status that sees the crew and stories removed, with the vessel effectively being placed into reserve.
Timeline: the UK FSS programme
In January 2023 the UK MoD awarded a £1.6bn contract to Team Resolute, comprised of UK ship designers BMT, UK shipyard Harland & Wolff (Belfast and Appledore), with Navantia UK, an arm of Spanish shipbuilder Navantia, acting as prime.
However, since the award, Navantia moved to acquire Harland & Wolff, confirming the deal in January 2025.
Each of the FSS vessels will be assembled from 21 blocks, 14 of which comprise the mid and forward sections to be built by Harland & Wolff in the UK, while seven aft blocks will be built by Navantia in Cadiz before being transported to the UK for final outfitting and integration.
Under the terms of the deal the consortium would deliver three FSS ships to the RFA by 2032.
