Head of Engineering, McLaren Accelerator

At McLaren, our mission is to set the standard for high performance in sport. Everyone, in every part of the team, has a role to play. So if you want to test your ideas with the world watching... And measure your progress in milliseconds... And play your part in racing history... You belong here. High performance starts with you.

Purpose of the Role

The primary purpose of this role is to lead a multi-disciplined engineering team to deploy best practices across Engineering, Technical Consulting and High-Performance Programmes for McLaren Racing. This will be achieved by working through our Accelerator function with the following stakeholders:

• Our Commercial Partners
• Key stakeholders including their technical teams and customers
• All areas of the McLaren business (to identify, develop and incorporate Racing insight)
• Primary suppliers as required

The primary goal of Accelerator is to generate revenue for the McLaren Racing platforms. As the Head of Engineering, you will work closely with the Director of Accelerator, the Head of Technical Projects, the Head of High Performance Programmes and Accelerator Project Managers to provide direction and leadership to ensure the internal technical backbone is robust including insight to scope, resource and deliver a cohesive Engineering solution.

Role Dimensions:

The role sits within the McLaren Racing Partnerships team with line reporting to the Director, McLaren Accelerator. 50% of this role is to ensure we deliver the Engineering backbone of Accelerator projects on time, to quality and within budget to achieve maximum Return on Investment. Within this element, you will be expected to build, develop and lead the McLaren Accelerator Engineering team. This team will be responsible for the design, delivery and improvement of engineering and manufacturing processes for McLaren and our partners of engineering resource from the McLaren Accelerator team, and external technical resource suppliers as required. It is envisaged that these teams may be formed from one or multiple resource pots, so called ‘Hybrid team’ that will be dependent on the technical requirements of the project. The role will also have close interaction with the functional directors, finance & people partnering teams to ensure that projects and initiatives are resourced appropriately to enable success.

The other 50% will be focused on developing the external technical service line via Business Development and expanding the technical capabilities of the McLaren Accelerator function to meet future requirements.

Principal Accountabilities:

• Manage McLaren Accelerator Engineering team and their project delivery.
• Interface with The McLaren Accelerator Project Managers to ensure the technical delivery is robust and delivers to expectations.
• Lead the strategic thinking to develop the internal Engineering capability of the Accelerator team.
• Develop the internal competencies of the McLaren Accelerator Engineering team to meet the future needs.
• Build on and grow positive relationships across the business to enable clear decision making and lead and deliver successful projects.
• Identify, develop and close-out additional revenue opportunities including Engineering led projects.

Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

• Higher Degree (PhD or Masters) qualified in a technical discipline (Engineering/ Manufacturing)
• Experience of leading an Engineering team within a Racing / F1 environment
• Previous experience of successfully delivering complex Engineering projects from inception to completion, on time, to budget and against project KPI’s
• Problem Solver – ability to work with ambiguity, learn and adapt previous approaches and problem solve for the partner using appropriate techniques
• Leadership skills:

• Experience of leadership and management of an engineering team
• Recruiting and Developing McLaren talent
• Providing / receiving feedback & coaching
• Effective Technical resource mentoring
• Leading & developing high performance teams
• Organisational Alignment
• Strategic Networking (Collaboration)
• Strategic Thinking

• Thought leadership in key McLaren Racing Engineering competences
• Ability to apply insight across other sectors
• Experience prioritising projects in line with resource profiles, business demand and impact of outcomes.
• Highly skilled in producing Engineering reports to a high standard for a variety of audiences
• Risk management, mitigation, escalation and reporting experience essential

• Confident communicator with the ability to translate and present complex information succinctly to suit the audience.
• Structured communication including developing and delivering effective presentations (storyboarding)
• Executive communication/management
• Identifying and engaging key stakeholders
• Effective teamworking at a functional and project level

• Developing and managing Intellectual Capital and products for McLaren
• Relationship selling
• Excellent stakeholder management with the ability to understand partner needs and shape projects for success

What can McLaren offer?

We constantly strive to be better tomorrow than we are today. Our ambition is to be the most pioneering and exhilarating racing team in the world, and our collective task is to set the standards for high performance in sport. We show up every day with energy and enthusiasm, ready to play our part. We encourage and support diversity, equity and inclusion. We will actively promote a culture that values difference and eliminates discrimination in our workplace. McLaren Racing is based at the iconic McLaren Technology Centre (MTC) near Woking. Here at McLaren, we offer hybrid working with 3 days a week based in the MTC. Our state of the art, sustainable campus offers many facilities including a gym, restaurant and indoor and outdoor break-out areas, as well as direct access to park and common land. The MTC is connected to Woking mainline station via regular shuttle buses, from which London Waterloo is a 30 minute train ride. We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including private healthcare, car schemes, life insurance and generous pension contributions.