Head Of Engineering

Fortress Recruit are supporting a leading defence engineering business in the recruitment of a Head of Engineering, providing functional leadership across the engineering organisation and ensuring engineering capability, resource and output are aligned to programme and business requirements.

Key responsibilities will include:

Taking overall responsibility for the day-to-day leadership and performance of the engineering function

Leading and coordinating engineering Team Leads across mechanical, electrical, electronics and systems/software disciplines

Ensuring engineering resource is effectively aligned to live programmes, customer requirements and business priorities

Taking ownership of engineering workload prioritisation and resource allocation across multiple concurrent programmes

Leading the engineering function in supporting programme delivery and achievement of key milestones

Taking a proactive approach to identifying and resolving resource, delivery and technical challenges

Leading the development and capability building of the engineering team

Ensuring appropriate engineering processes, controls and governance are in place and consistently applied

Leading continuous improvement across engineering processes, ways of working and team performance

Working closely with PMO, Operations, Production, Quality and other business functions to maintain alignment and delivery

Acting as a key interface between Engineering, PMO and wider business functions

Ensuring engineering best practice is applied across the function, including appropriate use of DFMA, FMEA and structured engineering governance

To be successful in this role, you will have:

Significant engineering experience, including several years in a leadership or functional management position

Experience leading engineering teams within a complex manufacturing, defence, aerospace or similarly regulated environment

Strong understanding across multiple engineering disciplines

Proven experience managing engineering resource and delivering against programme delivery requirements

Experience working through organisational change, competing priorities and resource constraints

A structured and process-driven approach, with the ability to improve processes without creating unnecessary bureaucracy

Strong people leadership and team development capability

The confidence to challenge, prioritise and make decisions across competing demands

Eligibility for SC clearance (5 years UK residency with no visa or sponsorship requirement)

This is a key functional leadership role for an experienced engineering leader who can bring structure, clarity and accountability to a busy engineering organisation while ensuring the right people and capability are aligned to programme delivery.

This is a full-time, permanent role based on-site in Poole with hybrid flexibility, offering a competitive salary and bonus scheme, plus further training and development opportunity.

For a confidential conversation or to request the full job description, please click apply and send a full copy of your CV to Devon.-