Chief Engineer - Motorsport Hardware & Power

The world around us is experiencing significant change, the greatest in generations. At McLaren Applied, we’re accelerating the response to that change. Our vision is that our people and technologies will pioneer a better future. Our mission is to achieve breakthroughs in performance. We’re at the cutting edge of innovation in industries including automotive transportation and motorsport. We create solutions that drive efficiency and cost-effectiveness. We want to help to reduce the carbon footprint and become more sustainable. Our focus is on electrification and telemetry, control and analytics.

To deliver efficient lightweight electric powertrain and vehicle development; motorsport solutions that make series more sustainable and efficient; reliable connectivity solutions for transportation and insightful analytics and monitoring of transport fleets. By applying our expertise, we deliver real benefits and pioneer a better future.

Job Summary

As Chief Engineer you will lead the strategic direction, execution, and innovation of our Hardware engineering functions. As the most senior engineering authority in the organisation, you’ll be responsible for overseeing multi-disciplinary teams, ensuring technical excellence across projects and programmes, and aligning engineering outputs with business objectives. This is a hands-on leadership role for an individual who thrives at the intersection of strategy, design, and innovation.

Key Responsibilities

• Set the technical vision and engineering roadmap for hardware and power systems, including control units, interface units and sensors.
• Act as technical representative for customer issue resolution alongside other chief engineer disciplines.
• Ensure technical solutions are deployed appropriately and efficiently across all customer programmes and interdependencies across product categories are managed.
• Own and maintain architecture for electronic hardware — Control units, Interface units and sensors.
• Oversee all stages of the product and system development lifecycle — design, development, validation, and deployment.
• Lead and mentor cross-functional engineering teams, fostering a culture of innovation, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Ensure compliance with technical and sporting regulations (e.g., FIA/IMSA) across control system design, software release, and calibration processes.
• Act as senior technical authority in design reviews, risk assessments, and architecture decisions.
• Provide leadership in root cause analysis, reliability improvement, and failure-mode mitigation for mission-critical hardware.
• Partner with Product, Programme and Engineering leadership to deliver high-performance, cost-effective solutions.
• Mentor engineering leads and cultivate a high-performance, problem-solving culture rooted in innovation and agility.

Qualifications

• Degree in Mechanical, Electrical, or Mechatronic Engineering (Master’s or PhD advantageous).
• Extensive (10+ years) engineering experience in motorsport, automotive, or aerospace hardware systems.
• Proven leadership in developing hybrid powertrains, high-voltage safety systems, energy storage and distribution, and embedded electronics.
• Expertise in component selection, HW thermal management, PCBA prototyping and manufacturing processes suitable for high performance environments.
• Experience with HW design and layout tools (e.g. Cadence Allegro and System Capture), failure analysis techniques, HW design and system validation processes.
• Familiarity with control integration, CAN/Ethernet communication protocols, embedded software (C-language) and motorsport-standard hardware platforms.
• Experience navigating homologation and motorsport governance requirements.

Preferred Skills

• Prior technical leadership within a professional motorsport programme (e.g. Formula One, Formula E and endurance racing).
• Trackside experience in system deployment, fault diagnosis, and calibration under live conditions.

What we can offer you

In return for everything you bring to the table, we can ensure an exciting, challenging role in a dynamic business surrounded by some of the best people in their respective fields. At McLaren Applied we firmly believe it’s the relationships and friendships we create while working that make us special. We’re also aware that the world is changing and we are part of that change. We all want and need different things from our work and home lives, so, if you have commitments outside of work, we’re open to talking through flexible working options that work for you and us.

• Annual leave (25 days + bank holidays, pro-rated for part time colleagues).
• Enhanced Company Maternity, Paternity and Adoption leave and pay.
• Flexible working policies, including Hybrid Working.
• Life assurance to the value of 4 times base salary.
• Opportunity to join the McLaren Applied Pension Plan.
• Company funded individual private healthcare with the opportunity to extend to partner or spouse and/or dependents at a discounted rate.
• Ride-to-work with Evans Cycles – take advantage of the Government’s Cycle-to-Work scheme which offers savings of up to 42% on the cost of a new bike, cycling accessories and components.
• Electric car scheme – opportunity to drive a brand-new car in a more affordable way through this salary sacrifice scheme. Employees are eligible to join the scheme after successful completion of their probationary period.

Who we are

McLaren Applied are a medium-sized tech firm spun out of McLaren Group. We’re looking for people who will thrive in a non-hierarchical, growth-orientated company, self-starters who are flexible and somewhat entrepreneurial in their approach. McLaren Applied are committed to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion (DEI) and promote DEI in all we do. McLaren Applied are also members of the UK Government Disability Confident Scheme.