A British test and measurement company founded in 1936, with a Crawley head office and a Paignton site that makes testing equipment for satellite navigation and positioning.
Spirent is a British company that makes equipment and software for testing communication and navigation systems. Its Paignton site in Devon is home to its positioning business, which makes simulators that let engineers test satellite navigation receivers (GNSS, such as GPS) in a lab instead of in the field. In December 2022 it announced SimORBIT, which it described as the first high-accuracy orbital modelling software for low Earth orbit satellite simulation, built with the Swiss company SpacePNT. The tool helps developers test positioning, navigation and timing systems for new satellite networks. The wider company tests networks, wireless devices and cloud services.
The company's roots go back to 1936, when Jack Bowthorpe founded Goodliffe Electric Supplies. It was renamed Bowthorpe in 1949 and became Spirent in 2000, a name derived from inspired innovation. The Paignton business arrived when it bought Global Simulation Systems in 1997. In its December 2022 release, Spirent said it aims to provide realistic and valuable test environments for new space applications and that the new tool reflects its commitment to customers in that area. Adam Price, its vice president of positioning, navigation and timing simulation, said that until now, testing for low Earth orbit applications had been limited by the lack of an integrated solution.
Spirent's corporate headquarters is in Crawley, West Sussex, with its operational headquarters in San Jose, California. In January 2018 it opened new research laboratories at Paignton, which increased lab space there by more than 50%. Professor David Southwood, then chair of the UK Space Agency's steering committee, formally opened them. The labs develop test systems for autonomous vehicles and for positioning that combines satellite signals with Wi-Fi, radar, lidar and vision, and they help make GNSS receivers more resistant to interference. Wikipedia gave about 1,500 employees in 2025, across all countries. Spirent was taken over by Keysight in a deal completed in October 2025 and is no longer listed in London, so check whether the Spirent name and UK sites continue under new ownership.
The sources we read say little about culture. The 2018 Paignton opening included the company's human resources director, Caroline Lee, and said the larger labs would let Spirent recruit more people over time, which suggests engineering teams that grow with the work. We have no first-hand material on working style, so we have not described one.
The roles at a test and measurement company include software developers, RF and hardware engineers, test engineers, researchers who study how signals behave, product managers and support engineers who help customers. Physics, electronics, computer science and maths are typical starting points, and positioning is an area where space, cars and mobile networks meet. Check the Spirent and Keysight websites for current UK vacancies.
Website: www.spirent.com
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