Engineering Delivery Manager

Job Title: Engineering Delivery Manager (SC Cleared – Contract)

Location: United Kingdom (On-site/Hybrid – Southwest preferred)

Clearance: Active SC Clearance (Sole British National)

Engagement: Contract – Outside IR35

Start Date: ASAP

Role Overview

We are seeking an expert Engineering Delivery Manager with a strong foundation as a former hardware, electronics, or mechatronics engineer to lead the successful delivery of complex technical programmes. This is a hands-off leadership role best suited to someone who has walked the path of a design engineer and can use that deep understanding to drive accountability, delivery pace, and engineering quality across cross-functional teams.

You will operate within a high-assurance, security-cleared environment, coordinating multiple engineering workstreams and acting as the central point of contact for both stakeholders and delivery teams.

Key Responsibilities

Technical Delivery Oversight:

• Drive and coordinate the end-to-end delivery of multi-disciplinary engineering projects—from planning to execution to handover.
• Oversee work across hardware, electronics, firmware, and mechanical integration teams, ensuring seamless cross-domain collaboration.

Stakeholder & Team Leadership:

• Engage with internal and external stakeholders to align expectations, provide delivery assurance, and maintain transparency.
• Act as a technical sounding board and delivery authority for engineers, project managers, and leadership teams.

Project Governance & Control:

• Define delivery frameworks using appropriate methods (Agile, V-Model, hybrid) based on project context.
• Manage project risks, configuration, dependencies, and escalation processes in line with defence and regulatory standards.

Hands-On Credibility:

• Leverage your engineering background to interrogate schedules, review technical plans, and challenge assumptions constructively.
• Contribute to the culture of engineering excellence and pragmatic delivery without micromanaging.

Engineering Expertise:

• Background as a hands-on engineer in hardware, electronics, or mechatronics , with the credibility to guide and challenge technical teams.

Delivery Leadership in Secure Environments:

• Track record of delivering complex engineering projects within regulated, safety-critical, or defence sectors .
• Fluent in delivery assurance, schedule management, risk control, and stakeholder communication.

Security Clearance:

• Active SC Clearance and sole British nationality (non-negotiable due to project sensitivity).

Strong Communication & Organisational Skills:

• Ability to engage both engineers and executives, translate between technical and delivery contexts, and keep delivery momentum.

Toolset & Process Knowledge:

• Comfortable with engineering project tools (e.g., JIRA, MS Project, Confluence, PLM systems).
• Working knowledge of relevant engineering standards (e.g., ISO 9001, DO-254, MIL-STD, etc.).

Desirable Attributes

• Familiarity with defence, aerospace, or high-integrity systems (e.g., naval platforms, weapons systems, autonomous vehicles).
• Experience overseeing multi-vendor, multi-site or matrixed delivery environments.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng or equivalent) or demonstrable peer-level technical authority.