Head of Engineering

Employment Type: Permanent, Full-Time Reporting To: VP, Operational Excellence Seniority: Head of Function Experience: 10–15 years Role Overview: The Head of Engineering & Manufacturing Excellence will lead the development of the organisation’s long-term technical and manufacturing capability strategy across precision tooling, mould engineering and advanced manufacturing. This role is responsible for translating engineering capability into measurable business outcomes, including improved product quality, faster development cycles, stronger manufacturing reliability and sustainable cost improvements. The position will serve as the senior technical authority within the business and will work closely with engineering, operations, quality and commercial teams to strengthen innovation, technical standards and organisational capability. Responsibilities: - Develop and drive a multi-year technology roadmap covering tooling, moulding and precision manufacturing capabilities. - Assess new manufacturing technologies and determine their practical application within the business, including advanced materials, additive manufacturing, conformal cooling and smart process-control solutions. - Lead technical innovation and R&D initiatives that can create differentiated manufacturing capabilities, proprietary know-how or intellectual property. - Provide oversight across the engineering and tooling project portfolio, ensuring effective resource planning, risk management and disciplined project execution. - Ensure tooling and mechanical design programmes are delivered according to agreed quality, cost and timeline requirements. - Establish consistent engineering standards, simulation practices, validation processes and design methodologies across the organisation. - Take direct oversight of strategically important or technically complex programmes where delivery risks may affect major customers or business continuity. - Build structured technical competency frameworks, development pathways and mentoring programmes for engineering talent. - Coach senior engineers and engineering leaders to strengthen both technical expertise and leadership capability. - Create mechanisms to capture lessons learned, technical knowledge and best practices from completed projects and past failures. - Develop a strong internal technical community that encourages continuous learning and knowledge sharing. - Drive continuous improvement in manufacturing quality, precision and process stability. - Strengthen the use of metrology, statistical process control, root-cause analysis and other quality improvement methodologies. - Improve mould fabrication, testing and validation processes to achieve higher consistency and repeatability. - Partner with Operations and Quality teams to standardise best practices and reduce process variation. - Identify opportunities to shorten manufacturing cycle times while maintaining safety, quality and reliability standards. - Manage the COE operating budget and support capital expenditure planning. - Prepare business cases for technology investments, equipment upgrades, pilot programmes and strategic hiring. - Ensure technical investment decisions are supported by clear commercial and financial rationale. - Work with Commercial and Programme teams to align technical priorities with customer requirements and business growth plans. - Track productivity improvements, cost savings and margin impact generated by COE initiatives and present relevant updates to senior management when required. - Lead the evolution of the tooling and engineering function into a proactive, innovation-driven Centre of Excellence. - Drive adoption of new technologies, engineering practices and working methods across Engineering, Operations and Quality. - Build alignment among stakeholders across different functions and locations to support manufacturing and technical excellence initiatives. Requirements: - Degree in Mechanical Engineering or another relevant engineering discipline. - MBA or postgraduate business qualification would be advantageous. - Approximately 10–15 years of relevant industry experience. - Strong technical knowledge in areas such as plastic injection moulding, die casting, machining and tool fabrication. - Experience managing complex engineering or manufacturing programmes. - Strong stakeholder management skills, including experience dealing with key or high-profile customers. - Good commercial awareness with the ability to evaluate financial implications of technical and capital investment decisions.