Head of Engineering in Hitchin

FFE is a global design and manufacturing business, with a head office and manufacturing in Hitchin, R&D Centre in Cambridge and sales and marketing support across the globe. FFE are dedicated to supplying specialist detection and suppression products to the fire industry. Our business is driven by our vision of a future where all lives and livelihoods are safe from fire, and is supported by:

• Understanding our customers and our markets whilst providing the highest quality of customer service and satisfaction.
• Designing and manufacturing quality products in a sustainable way.
• Striving for excellence in everything we do.

There is worldwide reliance on FFE products, in high profile public infrastructure, commercial workspaces and industrial operating environments. FFE products are trusted to protect some of the world’s most iconic buildings such as the White House, Dubai Airport, and Pinewood Studios. The FFE portfolio includes two industry leading product brands: Fireray® and Talentum®.

Furthermore, here at FFE we value our employees giving them the freedom to be creative and innovative. Having a great team spirit and people that are proud to work for a company that saves lives, our teams see the direct impact of their efforts in daily operations.

Duties and Responsibilities

Engineering Leadership & Strategy

• Overall responsibility for electronics, mechanical, software and development engineering activities.
• Translate the company’s technical and product strategy into clear engineering objectives and execution plans.
• Create and implement best practice engineering vision, strategy, policies, processes and procedures to aid and improve business performance.
• Ensure engineering outputs comply with relevant standards, regulations, and internal processes.
• Champion the consistent use of formal problem‑solving tools, structured testing methodologies, documentation standards, and design governance.
• Continuously assess and improve the development strategy for both new and existing products.

People Management

• Line management of the electronics, mechanical, software and development engineering teams.
• Coach, mentor and develop direct reports (circa 20 employees).
• Set department objectives and monitor ongoing progress and performance.
• Ensure strong communication between teams to facilitate efficient exchange of information and in order to implement change and improvements.
• Establish strategy and best practices for staff to ensure achievement of overall business objectives.
• Build a high‑performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, and technical excellence.
• Identify capability gaps and drive upskilling, succession planning, and recruitment priorities.
• Foster strong engagement and clear communication across engineering teams and the broader business.

New Product Development (NPD) and Sustaining Engineering

• Oversee engineering contributions to NPD projects, ensuring technical robustness, regulatory compliance, and on‑time delivery.
• Ensure engineering teams deliver products that meet customer value propositions, performance, quality and cost targets.
• Maintain high standards of testing, validation, verification, and design quality throughout the product lifecycle.
• Contribute to sustaining engineering activity, ensuring product integrity, reliability, and customer satisfaction.
• Ensure timely and effective resolution of issues impacting quality, regulatory compliance, or customer experience.
• Act as a senior engineering representative in cross‑functional reviews, portfolio discussions, and strategic planning.

Skills and Experience

• Proven leadership experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams, including electronics, embedded software and mechanical engineering, within a product development environment.
• Direct experience delivering electronics‑based products into medium or high volume manufacture, not just prototype or low-volume development.
• Proven ownership of engineering industrialisation, including Design for Manufacture (DFM), Design for Test (DFT), Design for Assembly (DFA) and Design for Cost (DFC).
• Strong background in safety critical or regulated products, with hands‑on experience supporting certification, compliance and post certification change (e.g. fire, aerospace, industrial, medical or similar regulated environments).
• Demonstrated experience leading complex hardware / software product development programmes from concept through certification and into sustained production.
• Clear accountability for engineering handover to manufacturing, ensuring designs are production‑ready, fully documented and supported through ramp‑up and ongoing manufacture.
• Experience working closely with manufacturing, test engineering and supply chain teams, including engagement with contract manufacturers / EMS partners.
• Strong working knowledge of structured validation, verification, test and design governance, including formal design reviews, risk assessments and traceable test evidence.
• Proven ability to lead sustaining engineering, including issue resolution, obsolescence management, cost down activity, yield improvement and customer‑led corrective actions.
• Track record of applying structured problem‑solving methodologies (e.g. 8D, RCA, fault tree analysis) in both development and production environments.
• Educated to degree level in a relevant engineering discipline (electronics, electrical, embedded systems, mechanical or similar), or equivalent senior experience.

Leadership & Commercial Capability

• Strong, hands‑on engineering leadership style, with the credibility to challenge and support senior engineers and technical specialists.
• Clear experience setting direction, managing priorities and driving delivery across multiple concurrent projects.
• Commercial awareness of how engineering decisions impact product cost, margin, quality and lifecycle performance.
• Experience managing engineering budgets, resource planning and capability development.
• Ability to communicate complex technical issues clearly to non-technical stakeholders, including senior leadership.
• A pragmatic, delivery focused mindset, balancing technical excellence with business outcomes.
• Experience with long product lifecycles and configuration‑controlled product portfolios.
• Exposure to multiple international certification regimes (e.g. EN / UL / FM / regional approvals).
• Experience working across multi‑site engineering teams.
• Prior involvement in cost reduction and value engineering programmes post launch.

Benefits

• 25 days Annual Leave, Company bonus Scheme, Halma Pension plan, BUPA health insurance, Simply Health cash plan, EAP.
• Reward & Recognition – Free Shares Scheme and annual bonus opportunities to peer‑nominated Spotlight Awards, milestone celebrations with extra leave and cash awards.
• Wellness – Access to the YuLife app for healthy activity rewards, fresh fruit and juice in the workplace, and the Employee Assistance Programme for mental, emotional and financial wellbeing.
• Family Support – 14 weeks of fully paid maternity, paternity or adoption leave.
• Future Security – Pension scheme with up to 10.5% employer contribution, critical illness cover for work‑unrelated illness lasting more than 26 weeks.
• Lifestyle & Everyday Savings – Benefits Hub discounts on everyday purchases, tax‑efficient schemes for cycling and electric vehicles, and team lunch celebrations.
• Growth & Long‑Term Recognition – Training and learning opportunities, extra annual leave and a £250 award at every five‑year milestone.

Application: To find out more about this role, please visit the FFE careers page.