About this role
Head of Engineering
An exciting opportunity has arisen for an experienced Head of Engineering to lead a multidisciplinary engineering organisation within a highly regulated product development environment. The successful candidate will combine strategic leadership with practical engineering insight, helping to shape future products while developing engineering capability and driving continuous improvement across the business. The position is based in the Stevenage area, local to Bishops Stortford, Luton, Welwyn, Cambridge, Milton Keynes and surrounding areas.
The Role
Reporting to the Technical Director, the Head of Engineering will provide both strategic and operational leadership across the engineering function. You will be responsible for engineering performance, team development, technical governance, new product development, sustaining engineering, industrialisation, compliance, and resource management. This role requires someone who is equally comfortable defining long term engineering strategy and supporting teams through real world technical and delivery challenges.
Key Responsibilities
Engineering Leadership & Strategy
- Lead electronics, embedded software, mechanical engineering, and development engineering functions
- Translate product and technology strategy into clear engineering priorities and programmes
- Develop engineering capability and engineering excellence across the organisation
- Drive digital engineering and AI enabled engineering initiatives
- Establish engineering processes, governance, standards, and controls
People & Capability Development
- Support recruitment, succession planning, and capability development
- Develop technical leadership across engineering disciplines
- Create effective performance, development, and career pathways
New Product Development
- Lead engineering activities from concept through to production release
- Ensure products meet customer, regulatory, performance, quality, and cost requirements
- Chair design reviews and key technical decision points
- Drive Design for Manufacture, Design for Test, Design for Assembly, and Design for Cost principles
- Ensure robust verification and validation processes
- Support smooth transition from development into manufacturing
Industrialisation & Manufacturing Support
- Ensure products can be manufactured efficiently and repeatedly at production scale
- Work closely with contract manufacturers and external suppliers
- Improve yield, quality, delivery, and production performance
Compliance & Governance
- Ensure compliance with industry standards, regulatory requirements, and quality systems
Resource & Financial Management
- Manage engineering budgets, development tools, equipment, and external support
Ideal Candidate & Experience
- Significant leadership experience within a multidisciplinary engineering environment. Leading electronics, embedded software, mechanical engineering, systems engineering, testing, product development teams.
- The successful Head of Engineering will likely be a degree qualified Engineer in their own right, potentially Chartered or working towards
- Proven experience delivering electronics based products into medium or high volume manufacture.
- Experience managing products throughout the full lifecycle from concept through certification, industrialisation, and production.
- Background within regulated, safety critical, or high integrity industries, to manage product certification and regulatory approval
- Visible and credible engineering leader, with development and coaching skills
- Strong communicator across technical and non technical audiences
Why Apply?
- Senior leadership position with significant influence on business direction
- Opportunity to lead multidisciplinary engineering teams
- Direct impact on products that help protect lives and critical infrastructure
- Support from a global technology group and wider innovation network
