Director of Software and Electronics Engineering

Location: Coventry, United Kingdom
Employment: Permanent, full-time
Working model: Primarily office-based, with reasonable flexibility
Reporting to: Chief Product Officer, currently the CEO acting
Travel: Approximately quarterly travel to India, with occasional travel to other company locations

The Director of Software and Electronics Engineering will lead the organisation responsible for power electronics, electronic systems, embedded firmware, cloud and server software, web applications, platform engineering, development infrastructure and automated testing.

The Director will turn product strategy into practical engineering plans, production-ready designs and dependable product releases. The role is accountable for engineering leadership, technical quality, delivery schedules, design reviews and the successful introduction of new products into manufacturing.

This is primarily a leadership and management role. The Director must have sufficient technical breadth to assess risks, challenge assumptions and make informed decisions, but is not expected routinely to act as the principal architect, electronics designer or software developer.

Lead Engineering Managers and senior technical leaders.

Establish clear accountability for delivery, technical quality, people management and risk.

Build an effective engineering organisation across the United Kingdom and India.

Develop the management structure, specialist leadership and technical capabilities required for growth.

Recruit, develop and retain strong engineering talent.

Reduce dependence on individual employees and improve succession planning.

Lead the development of power electronics, electronic hardware, embedded firmware, connectivity, cloud services, web applications and platforms infrastructure.

Ensure that electronics, firmware and software are developed as parts of one integrated product system.

Manage dependencies between electronic design, firmware, communications, software services, manufacturing and field support.

Ensure designs address performance, reliability, safety, cybersecurity, component availability, configuration control, manufacturability and testability.

Establish realistic engineering plans covering requirements, architecture, design, prototyping, verification, release and introduction to manufacturing.

Meet agreed product-development and new-product-introduction schedules.

Ensure that resources, dependencies, validation activities and manufacturing readiness are included in delivery plans.

Identify risks early and establish clear recovery plans.

Provide accurate and transparent reporting of progress, risks and forecast completion dates.

Coordinate hardware, firmware and software releases for major product launches.

Establish and continuously improve design and development processes that support efficient, high-quality product delivery.

Own a formal design-review process covering software, electronics and power electronics.

Design reviews will involve the relevant representatives from:

·         Product Management;

·         Programme Management;

·         Advanced Manufacturing;

·         Quality Assurance;

·         Systems, Mechanical and other engineering disciplines;

·         Supply Chain and Operations, where appropriate.

Reviews will take place at defined stages, including:

·         Requirements and Concept Review;

·         Architecture Review;

·         Detailed Design Review;

·         Prototype and Design Verification Review;

·         Production Readiness Review;

·         Final Release Review.

Each review must evaluate requirements, interfaces, technical risks, verification plans, component selection, manufacturability, testability, configuration control and release evidence.

Decisions, actions, owners and deadlines must be documented. Material actions must be closed before the product proceeds to the next approval stage. Unresolved product, schedule, quality or technical issues will be escalated to the Chief Product Officer.

Ensure products move efficiently from design through verification and into production.

Work closely with Advanced Manufacturing to establish design-for-manufacture and design-for-test requirements.

Confirm that manufacturing documentation, test equipment, production software, configuration baselines and engineering evidence are complete before production release.

Support prototype and production bring-up.

Manage engineering changes, component lifecycle risks and product obsolescence.

Use manufacturing and field feedback to improve future designs.

Ensure Engineering produces complete, tested and documented release candidates.

Build quality into the engineering process rather than relying on Quality Assurance to identify incomplete work.

Maintain appropriate requirements, testing, design-verification, documentation and configuration-control practices.

Provide traceable evidence for independent Quality Assurance review.

Apply controls appropriate to each product. Physical products require controlled design baselines and production readiness, while cloud services may use automated deployment and progressive release.

Maintain suitable security practices across hardware, firmware, software and development infrastructure.

Manage Engineering Managers and senior engineering leaders.

Set objectives and conduct regular performance reviews.

Develop future leaders and address capability gaps or sustained underperformance.

Allocate engineering resources according to agreed product and programme priorities.

Prevent conflicting priorities or informal reassignment of engineering resources.

Plan headcount, recruitment, tools, licences, cloud services, prototypes, training and specialist suppliers within agreed budgets.

The Director will work closely with the CTO of Engineering and the CTO of Software & Intelligence.

The CTOs provide technical strategy, policies, standards, engineering governance, specialist advice and technical coaching across their respective domains.

The Director remains accountable to the Chief Product Officer for the organisation, resourcing and delivery of the Software and Electronics Engineering function. Where CTO-led technical work requires engineering effort, the Director will ensure that it is appropriately planned, prioritised and resourced alongside direct product work.

The Director and CTOs will collaborate on significant technical decisions, capability development and cross-product engineering issues. Material disagreements on technical direction, standards, risk or priority will be escalated through the Chief Product Officer where required.

The Director will work closely with the Chief Product Officer, Product Management, Programme Management, Advanced Manufacturing, Quality Assurance, Operations, Supply Chain, Security, the CTO of Engineering, the CTO of Software & Intelligence and other engineering leaders.

Product Management defines customer needs, product priorities and requirements.

Programme Management owns the integrated programme plan and milestones.

Engineering owns the technical solution, development work, verification evidence and engineering readiness.

Quality Assurance provides independent review and confirms whether agreed assurance criteria have been met.

The CTOs provide technical direction and governance; the Director ensures that required engineering work is incorporated into plans and delivered.

The Director will also work closely with the Director of Electrical Machines as an equal partner in the development and application of coherent engineering processes across Product Engineering.

Within agreed company plans, budgets, technical policies and engineering standards, the Director will have authority to:

·         lead and organise the Software and Electronics Engineering function;

·         allocate engineering resources;

·         establish engineering and new-product-introduction practices;

·         approve routine technical and delivery decisions;

·         recruit within approved plans;

·         manage performance and recommend promotions;

·         establish teams and specialist leadership roles;

·         select appropriate engineering methods and development tools.

Long-term product direction, company technology strategy and material departures from established technical policies or standards require appropriate executive approval.

Success in the role will include:

·         Engineering Managers operating with clear authority and accountability;

·         UK and India teams functioning as one engineering organisation;

·         regular direct engagement with the India-based Electronics Engineering and Computer Science teams;

·         effective collaboration with Product Management in reviewing Market Requirements and Product Requirements;

·         power electronics, electronics, firmware and software teams delivering integrated products to agreed schedules;

·         formal cross-functional design reviews operating consistently;

·         improved schedule forecasting, risk visibility and on-time delivery;

·         faster and more dependable introduction of new products into Manufacturing, Customer Support and Quality Assurance;

·         products reaching Quality Assurance complete, documented and ready for independent review;

·         appropriate reliability and MTBF goals being established with Product Management;

·         a scalable organisation with clear leadership, responsibilities and career development;

·         reduced dependence on executive intervention in routine engineering decisions.

The successful candidate will have:

·         significant engineering and engineering-leadership experience, with a record of dependable delivery;

·         experience managing Engineering Managers or senior technical leaders;

·         a record of scaling or restructuring a multi-team engineering organisation;

·         leadership experience covering physical products, electronics and software;

·         practical knowledge of power electronics, PCB development, hardware and firmware integration, prototyping, verification, EMC and EMI, manufacturing release and configuration control;

·         strong technical judgement and the ability to assess evidence, challenge assumptions and involve specialists when required;

·         experience leading geographically distributed teams;

·         the willingness and ability to travel regularly to India.

Experience with connected devices, embedded-to-cloud products, motor control, propulsion systems, telemetry, cloud platforms, automated testing, aerospace, defence, automotive, robotics or industrial systems would be valuable.