Engineering Mechanical Design Manager in Cambridge

Why join Marshall Land Systems in this role: The Engineering Mechanical Design Manager plays a pivotal leadership role, combining strategic thinking with advanced technical expertise. This role is essential for driving innovation and delivering complex engineering solutions that meet customer and business needs. This opportunity is a hybrid role requiring you to be onsite in Cambridge around 50‑70% of the time.

This role is critical to advancing our technical capabilities, ensuring high-quality engineering deliverables, and supporting the long‑term success of our business. This position provides essential leadership and expertise, aligning resources, processes, and tools to meet customer needs and business objectives.

Responsibilities:

• Team Management: Lead, mentor, and manage a team of engineers and technologists, providing guidance, performance feedback, promoting health and safety and fostering a collaborative and high‑performance environment.
• Resource Allocation: Operate effectively within a matrix environment, allocating and coordinating with integrated project teams to meet resource needs.
• Capability Development: Ensure the team has the necessary skills and resources to meet current and future business needs. Develop and implement strategies for talent acquisition, training, and career growth.
• Process Optimization: Identify and drive improvements in engineering processes and workflows to enhance productivity, efficiency, and overall team performance.
• Tool Implementation: Assess, select, and integrate engineering tools and technologies that support the team's needs and improve operational efficiency.
• Project Input: Provide guidance and input to integrated project teams on topics related to your subject matter expertise; reviewing and approving technical documents where required.
• Strategic Alignment: Collaborate with the engineering functions team to align engineering capabilities with the mission of empowering our people through a global workforce and effective frameworks.
• Budget Management: Support management of the budget with the broader team; providing input and monitoring of expenditure in line with the budget forecast.

Tasks:

• Lead and mentor a design team of Engineers, fostering communication among engineering, production, and quality teams for problem investigation and resolution.
• Identify and address the development needs of team members, coaching them to enhance technical capabilities in alignment with the Departmental training plan and overall Engineering skills development.
• Support Performance Development Reviews and technical competency assessments.
• Manage a small group of mechanical engineers within the engineering function.
• Collaborate effectively across the matrix organisation to achieve bottom‑line performance, ensuring adherence to budgets and schedules.

Process:

• Provide Subject Matter Expertise in bidding and project delivery, including developing complex design architecture for new and existing product concepts.
• Offer technical input for bids and modifications, generating and defining requirements and mechanical architecture.
• Ensure compliance with Regulatory and Marshall processes, designing solutions tolerant to operational environments.
• Gain in‑depth knowledge of Mechanical Engineering standards and specifications.
• Apply best practices in Mechanical Engineering to support projects and business development.
• Innovate to reduce project/product costs and enhance engineering quality, productivity, and delivery timeliness.
• Maintain rigorous standards and continuous improvement in design solutions, meeting regulatory, quality, and certification requirements.
• Produce and approve mechanical designs following department processes.
• Manage product, build standard, drawing, and document configuration.
• Lead and participate in design review meetings (SRR, ERR, PDR, CDR, change boards).
• Provide expertise to other departments, including production.
• Utilise Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) for configuration control and Engineering Change Notifications.
• Create and update Bills of Material (BOM) structures in PLM.

Tools:

• Establish and maintain Mechanical Product Breakdown Structure (PBS).
• Monitor project progress, budgets, and timelines using a design tracker, generating regular reports on metrics and KPIs.
• Create detailed design briefs that outline project objectives, requirements, and constraints.
• Challenge conventional methods to improve engineering quality, productivity, and delivery timeliness.
• Track and report on key performance indicators (KPIs) related to design quality, project delivery, and team performance.
• Ensure the creation of detailed design briefs that outline project objectives, requirements, and constraints, ensuring clear understanding and alignment across all stakeholders.
• Promote and implement continuous improvement initiatives to enhance design quality, efficiency, and innovation.
• Ensure all design activities comply with health, safety, and environmental best practices and regulations.

Qualifications:

• Qualified to degree level in Engineering, Mathematics or Physics with relevant and sufficient experience in the field. Alternative qualifications and or experience will be considered.
• Apply if you have most of the following:
• Technical knowledge and skills needed for effective performance in the role. E.g. ERP software.
• Mechanical Engineering Expertise: Advanced understanding of mechanical system design and development, meeting performance, safety, and regulatory standards.
• CAD & Engineering Software: Proficiency in CAD software (e.g., Autodesk Inventor) and PLM tools (e.g., PTC Windchill) for managing product lifecycles.
• Quality Assurance & Control: Strong experience in implementing quality management systems and ensuring compliance with industry standards.
• Manufacturing & Materials Knowledge: Familiarity with manufacturing processes and design optimization for manufacturability.
• Risk Management & Compliance: Proficient in identifying risks and ensuring designs meet all regulatory requirements.
• Technical Leadership: Proven experience leading engineering teams and driving continuous improvement.
• Professional Engineer (PEng), Chartered Engineer (CEng), Certified Technologist or equivalent professional accreditation is desirable.
• Experience in operating within a matrix environment, effectively allocating resources and coordinating with integrated project teams.
• Capability to improve engineering processes and effectively implement and manage tools that enhance team efficiency.
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to engage with various stakeholders and foster cross‑departmental collaboration.

The benefits we will offer you include:

• 27 days holiday increasing with service up to 30 days (option to buy/sell)
• Pension contributions up to 9%
• Private medical insurance
• Extensive flexible benefit program including Cycle to Work
• Life assurance at 4x basic salary
• Enhanced parental leave and pay
• Paid volunteering leave
• Access to industry leading wellbeing resources and tools

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 in the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands.