Head of Engineering Functions in Cambridge

Why join Marshall Systems in this role?

The Marshall Land Systems, Head of Engineering Functions role is accountable for leading the transformation and continuous evolution of Supportability, Systems, Mechanical and Electrical Engineering across the business.

Brief Description

The role ensures that engineering capability is not only delivered but systematically improved, standardised and scaled, enabling high-performing, multi-disciplinary teams to execute design, development and production readiness across the programme portfolio.

This is a critical leadership role driving engineering excellence through process optimisation, capability development, digital and process transformation, working in close collaboration with the Global Engineering organisation and cross-functional business units.

The role is accountable for embedding a culture of continuous improvement, robust governance and modernised engineering processes, ensuring safe, compliant, efficient and cost-effective engineering outcomes that support both current delivery and long-term business growth.

• Your responsibilities will include
• Provide strong transformational leadership to Engineering functions, embedding a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and high performance aligned to programme, customer and regulatory requirements.
• Lead the development and evolution of engineering capability, aligning professional development, skills frameworks, and workforce planning with future business and technology needs.
• Ensure engineering functions deliver capability and capacity through optimised processes, standardised ways of working, and efficient resource utilisation, meeting governance and customer requirements on time and within budget.
• Hold Functional Leads accountable for capability delivery on ongoing capability improvement, productivity gains within budget environment.
• Embed resource planning as a disciplined, data-driven process, improving predictability, utilisation, and alignment to strategic workforce plans.
• Drive a commercially focused engineering function, ensuring bid inputs reflect efficient delivery models, competitive cost structures, and scalable capability.
• Support and shape the Engineering strategy, ensuring it incorporates transformation roadmaps, digital enablement, and continuous improvement initiatives aligned to business growth.
• Engage with key stakeholders and customers to identify innovation opportunities, emerging technologies, and process advancements that enhance capability and competitive differentiation.
• Lead the progressive transformation of engineering capability, ensuring it anticipates future customer requirements and enables differentiated product and service offerings.
• Functional Transformation & Leadership
• Lead Supportability, Systems, Mechanical and Electrical engineering functions with a focus on operating model optimisation, standardisation, simplification, and continuous improvement.
• Define and implement future-focused functional strategies, embedding transformation initiatives and measurable improvement objectives.
• Ensure teams are not only resourced and competent, but continuously improving in efficiency, effectiveness, and delivery maturity.
• Foster a culture of transparent communication, learning, and continuous evolution, aligned with global business messaging.
• Engineering Governance, Process Excellence & Compliance
• Own and continuously improve engineering governance frameworks, including policies, processes, standards, and assurance activities.
• Drive process simplification, harmonisation, and standardisation across functions to reduce complexity and improve delivery consistency.
• Ensure compliance with defence, aerospace, and land systems standards while streamlining compliance processes to improve efficiency and agility.
• Act as escalation point for engineering risks, with a focus on root cause analysis and systemic improvement.
• Technical Assurance, Quality & Continuous Improvement
• Oversee independent technical assurance, ensuring design integrity while driving improvements in quality, repeatability, and right-first-time delivery.
• Strengthen requirements management, configuration control, and traceability through enhanced processes and integrated and applicable digital toolsets.
• Lead initiatives to reduce defects, rework, and non-conformance, embedding continuous improvement methodologies and a preventative quality culture.
• Capability, Competency & Workforce Transformation
• Lead the development and continuous enhancement of engineering toolsets, digital capabilities, and ways of working to improve productivity and collaboration.
• Own competency frameworks, ensuring they drive capability growth, skills standardisation, and future-readiness.
• Deliver strategic workforce planning, succession planning, and capability pipelines to sustain long-term organisational performance.
• Coach and develop leaders to embed a culture of continuous improvement, innovation, and technical excellence.
• Cross-Functional Integration & Delivery Excellence
• Partner with Programme Management, Operations, Quality, IT and Commercial teams to optimise end-to-end processes and improve delivery performance.
• Provide oversight to bids and planning activities, ensuring engineering solutions are efficient, scalable, and aligned to transformed delivery models.
• Contribute to senior leadership decision-making with a focus on data-driven insights, performance improvement, and operational excellence.
• Performance Management & Continuous Improvement
• Define and track KPIs aligned to capability maturity, process performance, quality, and efficiency improvements.
• Lead audits, reviews, and transformation initiatives to continuously improve engineering maturity and organisational effectiveness.
• Champion digital engineering, appropriate and applicable model-based systems engineering (MBSE), and data-driven decision making to modernise engineering delivery.

Requirements

Apply if you have most of the following

• Senior leadership experience within a matrix organisation in defence, aerospace, land systems, or similarly regulated sectors, with a strong track record of leading transformation and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary engineering functions while driving process optimisation, capability uplift, and organisational change.
• Strong analytical capability, using data to identify improvement opportunities and inform strategic decisions.
• Experience implementing modern engineering processes, digital toolsets, and transformation programmes.
• Demonstrated experience defining and delivering an Engineering strategy with embedded continuous improvement and capability development.
• Strong stakeholder management, with experience influencing internal and external partners to support transformational change and innovation.
• Deep understanding of systems engineering, governance, safety, supportability, and assurance, with a focus on process effectiveness and continuous enhancement.
• Experience developing competency frameworks and operating models that enable scalable, high-performing engineering organisations.
• Chartered Engineer (CEng) / Professional Engineer (P. Eng) or equivalent preferred.
• Must be eligible to meet the requirements of export control regulations and appropriate government security access within the UK, including the Canadian Controlled Goods Programme and Canadian government security requirements.
• Technical Skills & Education
• Full product development lifecycle experience along with solid understanding of a breadth of engineering disciplines and integration of an Engineered solution in a manufacturing operational environment.
• Engineering (Electrical / Systems / Mechatronics / Mechanical) degree qualifications and aligned experience.
• An understanding of financial management and wider programme management principles and techniques.
• The ability to understand complex problems, develop and deliver appropriate solutions.
• Demonstrated, well-rounded design experience including systems, hardware and large scale integration.
• Additional local needs
• Candidate will need to be eligible to obtain SC
• Some travel in UK, EU & CA
• Main location Cambridge with
• Hybrid working arrangements min 3 days per week in office
• Summary

Marshall Land Systems is a Canadian-owned global company with an unrivalled pedigree of British engineering excellence.

From its origins in Cambridge, UK, through more than a century of innovation, pioneering advances from the nose of Concorde to the early Hydrogen fuel cell technology that ultimately powered the moon landings, Marshall engineers now continue to innovate specialist vehicles and infrastructure for NATO forces across the world.

From bomb disposal vehicles to deployed shelters, from command and control to CT scanners on the battlefield, Marshall Land Systems protects people in critical situations with the very best in engineering.

It employs 600 people with major facilities the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands.

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