Head of Engineering

Head of Engineering (Systems and Projects) Location: Cambridge 3 or 4 days a week on site Duration: 6 months Rate: £71.62 ph PAYE + Holiday pay or £97.49 ph Umbrella Inside IR35 The Head of Engineering (Systems and Projects) will report into the DepIoyable Infrastructure Business Line Director and be accountable for Systems Engineering across the business and for the engineering project/ product delivery within their business line. They will define and implement an engineering strategy and operational plan, develop and implement robust processes and governance from requirements capture and analysis, through design and development and into production ensuring its execution through a clear and communicated plan, in support of the overall business line. Support business growth through world leading engineering that sees us continue to grow our people and the portfolio of programmes, products and services to our customers. Key Responsibilities Of Head Of Engineering Will Include • Supporting business growth through world leading engineering that sees us continue to grow our people and the portfolio of programmes, products and services to our customers. • Developing and leading the transformation of the Systems Engineering function. • Leading efforts to establish and promote best-in-class systems engineering practices throughout the organisation. • Leading the implementation of processes and governance that will support the programme delivery timelines for design and development activities, including the use of gate reviews and independent assurance to ensure maturity of design into production. • Developing and implementing strategic plans to embed effective systems engineering practices into the fabric of our organisation. • Driving initiatives for continuous improvement, leveraging systems thinking to optimise processes and workflows. • Accountability for the engineering schedule, and budget in line with the overall project and product schedules and allocated cost budgets. • Providing strong and inspirational leadership to the Engineering teams as they deliver against the portfolio projects, and establishing clear lines of communications, whilst ensuring cross functional teams are integrated into the engineering programme as required. • Developing and implementing a robust change control process that covers change identification, impact assessment (cost, schedule, technical compliancy etc), and implementation whilst considering cross-functional impacts into engineering and production and support. • Ensuring planning activity is embedded as a discipline within the engineering teams, covering resource allocation and cross-functional collaboration to drive efficiency. • Being the interface with the customer on all engineering matters within the business line, keeping abreast of engineering advancements and new technology as a means to engagement and building out future opportunities. • Leading the progressive development of our product offering, ensuring it anticipates and meets current and future customer requirements to drive a differentiated and competitive market solution. • Driving a commercial approach to engineering within the business line to ensure costs are managed, and cost down initiatives are implemented to drive long term financial growth. • Ensuring the bid inputs for engineering take account of lessons learned, and actual costs for previous projects, and support the ‘go to market’ strategy. • Developing and delivering the business line Engineering strategy, meeting existing business requirements and future growth/ development. Technical Competencies: • Full product and system engineering lifecycle experience along with solid understanding of a breadth of engineering disciplines including mechanical and electrical engineering design and development • Proven track record of successfully leading teams, developing technical capability and driving effective systems engineering practices (inc. knowledge of ISO15288). • An understanding of financial management and wider management principles and techniques • The ability to understand complex problems • Insights into new engineering technologies Key Skillset • Proven ability of working at a Head of or equivalent level within a matrix organisation • Proven experience of building and leading high performing teams in a product manufacturing and systems engineering environment • Proven track record of increasing quality, customer-focus and revenue growth through effective leadership of an engineering function • Led strategic decision-making and system governance for an engineering portfolio • Analytical and detail orientated used to working with data to influence business decisions • Knowledge of new and innovative Engineering process and digital technology • Knowledge of defining and implementing an Engineering strategy • Knowledge of partnering with a range of internal and external stakeholders and clients