Head of Engineering

The Head of Engineering is responsible for leading all engineering, product management, quality, compliance, and new product introduction activities across multiple business units and international locations.

This role provides strategic and technical leadership, ensuring engineering excellence while driving innovation, operational efficiency, and exceptional customer satisfaction. Working closely with Sales, Operations, Manufacturing, Supply Chain and executive leadership, the successful candidate will build a high-performing engineering organisation capable of supporting long-term business growth and delivering world-class interconnect solutions.

• Lead engineering activities across multiple global business units.
• Build, develop and mentor a high-performing engineering team with clear ownership and accountability.
• Foster a culture focused on technical excellence, collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Align closely with global manufacturing engineering teams to ensure efficient product development and successful production launch.

• Develop and execute the product roadmap in line with business strategy and manufacturing capability.
• Manage the existing product portfolio, ensuring complete technical documentation and ongoing product support.
• Oversee Engineering Change Notices (ECNs) and Product Change Notices (PCNs) to minimise customer disruption.
• Lead product testing and validation programmes to strengthen product performance and market competitiveness.
• Establish an efficient and responsive design engineering function.
• Deliver custom and modified product designs to meet customer-specific requirements.
• Improve speed to design and speed to quotation.
• Drive innovation through concept development, simulation, reverse engineering and design for manufacture.
• Review and approve customer drawings and engineering documentation before production release.
• Approve design revisions and first article inspections.
• Assess customer requirements against manufacturing capabilities, tooling constraints and commercial considerations.

• Own engineering quality standards and product compliance across internally manufactured and externally sourced products.
• Ensure compliance with applicable industry standards and regulatory requirements including ISO, IATF 16949, REACH and RoHS.
• Ensure timely investigation and resolution of quality issues through effective corrective action processes.
• Drive improvements across engineering, quality and compliance processes.
• Improve engineering productivity, resource utilisation and project visibility through best practice methodologies.

• Establish a disciplined NPI process that consistently delivers successful product launches aligned with customer and business objectives.
• Support strategic customer relationships by providing technical leadership throughout the design and product development process.
• Partner with commercial teams to secure new business opportunities and strengthen customer relationships.

• Ensure close integration between Engineering, Sales, Operations, Manufacturing and Supply Chain to improve execution speed and business performance.

• Recruit, develop and retain high-performing engineering professionals across multiple locations.
• Create succession plans and support ongoing professional development.

• Contribute as a member of the senior leadership team to the development and execution of business strategy.
• Ensure engineering capability supports long-term growth, innovation and market expansion.

• Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related engineering discipline. An advanced engineering qualification is desirable.

• Minimum of 8 years' engineering experience within electronic components industry.
• Proven experience leading engineering teams within a manufacturing environment.
• Extensive knowledge of connector design, product development and manufacturing processes.
• Experience with APQP, PPAP and IATF 16949 methodologies.
• Strong understanding of injection moulding, metal stamping and related manufacturing processes.
• Demonstrated success managing cross-functional engineering projects and global teams.

• Advanced proficiency in Solid Works and other CAD platforms.
• Strong engineering drawing interpretation and creation skills.
• Excellent knowledge of engineering specifications, testing and validation.
• Proficient in Microsoft Office applications.

• Strategic thinker with strong commercial awareness.
• Excellent leadership and people development skills.
• Outstanding communication and stakeholder management abilities.
• Highly organised with exceptional planning and project management capability.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills.
• Customer-focused with a commitment to quality and continuous improvement.