At a Glance
- Tasks: Lead and manage complex engineering projects in a fast-paced, innovative environment.
- Company: Join a pioneering team focused on autonomous solutions in the Arctic.
- Benefits: Competitive salary, dynamic work culture, and opportunities for professional growth.
- Other info: Thriving start-up atmosphere with a focus on collaboration and innovation.
- Why this job: Make a real impact in a unique field with cutting-edge technology.
- Qualifications: Bachelor's degree in engineering or relevant experience in project management.
The predicted salary is between 59400 - 72600 £ per year.
The Arctic is a place of extremes: unforgiving, untamed, and undergoing rapid change. A literal defrosting reveals a multi-trillion-dollar opportunity spanning energy, defence, logistics, research, and infrastructure. ARD was founded on a paradox. The Arctic is both the next great economic frontier and one of the most hostile environments on Earth. Rich in resources and strategically vital, yet bone-chillingly cold, dark for months, and fundamentally inhospitable to humans. This paradox - an explosion of activity in a place that resists human presence - is why we exist. Our solution is autonomy. We build systems that operate reliably and intelligently in the Arctic, so that humans don't always have to.
Our engineering team is expanding rapidly, and we're looking for a Technical Project Manager to sit at the heart of it, driving delivery across our engineering portfolio. This is a hands-on role for someone who thrives on ambiguity, moves fast, and can bring order to multiple complex, multi-disciplinary hardware projects without slowing them down. You'll be responsible for planning, tracking, and de-risking delivery across products at varying stages of maturity - from early-TRL prototypes through to fielded, mission-ready systems - and from field-ready energy systems to autonomous surface and sub-surface platforms.
What You'll Do
- Own project planning and delivery tracking across concurrent engineering projects and work streams (firmware, electronics, mechanical, testing), translating product strategy and portfolio priorities into executable projects with clear milestones, owners, and outcomes.
- Convert ambitious commercial and operational deadlines into realistic, resourced delivery plans - holding the line on both ambition and delivery discipline.
- Maintain visibility across work streams, dependencies, risks, decisions, and resourcing gaps, managing technical risk and dependency mapping across products at different Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and adjusting project rigour and testing requirements accordingly.
- Take ownership of BOMs for any existing and future products, manage key supplier relationships and keep track of all materials deliveries.
- Understand the architecture, dependencies, and technical challenges of hardware design and development. Support engineering teams in resolving technical issues.
- Ensure compliance with industry standards and government regulations, such as MIL-STD, UK DEFSTAN, and STANAG testing and qualification requirements across the product lifecycle.
- Act as the connective tissue across engineering, procurement, business development, security, product, commercial, and customers - driving cross-functional alignment and ensuring technical progress, customer commitments, and delivery constraints are understood on all sides.
- Identify and resolve blockers fast, elevate early and clearly, and provide concise, decision-ready updates on consequential tradeoffs.
- Build and refine the project management tooling, processes, and reporting cadence as ARD scales - you'll be creating much of this from scratch.
- Identify missing handoffs and unwritten work, converting them into accountable plans, and facilitate requirements and scope definition with product, customer, and technical owners.
- Lead pilots, implementations, migrations, rollouts, adoption, and operational handoffs.
What You'll Bring
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Computer, Aerospace, Mechanical Engineering, or adjacent discipline - or - experience working in a technical engineering role prior to working as a project manager.
- 4+ years proven experience in Technical Engineering Project Management across multiple concurrent projects, delivering complex hardware products, ideally in defence, aerospace, or another regulated hardware environment; and ideally at a range of company maturity stages.
- Working familiarity with MIL-STD testing standards, UK DEFSTAN, and NATO STANAG requirements, and how these shape project planning and qualification timelines.
- Comfort operating across a range of TRL levels - from early, rapid prototyping and experimentation through to production-grade delivery - and judgement on how to flex process accordingly.
- A genuine start-up mentality: comfortable with ambiguity, resourcefulness, and getting hands dirty where needed, rather than waiting for the perfect process.
- A track record of hitting ambitious deadlines in fast-moving, resource-constrained environments.
- Strong stakeholder management skills - able to communicate technical risk and progress clearly to both engineers and non-technical leadership.
Technical Project Manager employer: Arcticrd
At ARD, we are not just pushing the boundaries of technology in one of the most extreme environments on Earth; we are fostering a culture of innovation and resilience. As a Technical Project Manager, you will thrive in a dynamic work environment that values autonomy and encourages personal growth, all while contributing to projects that have a profound impact on the future of the Arctic. With competitive benefits and a commitment to employee development, ARD offers a unique opportunity to be part of a pioneering team dedicated to solving complex challenges in a rapidly evolving landscape.
