Hands-On Design Engineering Manager – Lead Teams

Design Engineering Manager | £65,000 | Somerset

A manufacturer of automated test systems used to validate some of the most complex electronics on the planet is looking for a Design Engineering Manager to lead its Design Engineering function through its next phase of growth.

This isn't a role for someone who wants to sit behind a desk pushing paperwork. You'll be hands-on with a team of design engineers, setting the technical bar, running design reviews that actually catch problems before they hit the shop floor, and building the kind of documentation and standards that mean projects don't live and die with one person's head.

You'll own resourcing across product development, customer projects and bid support, working closely with Electronics, Embedded, Software, Manufacturing and Quality to keep handoffs clean and priorities aligned. You'll also be developing people: coaching early-career engineers and graduates, running proper 1:1s, and building career paths that keep good engineers around.

What you'll need:

• A background in design engineering within industrial equipment, automated test systems, special-purpose machinery or a comparable high-tech manufacturing environment
• Experience managing or supervising engineers in a multidisciplinary setting
• A solid grip on design governance, DFM/DFT thinking, and configuration control
• Comfortable translating commercial and project inputs into clear engineering requirements
• The credibility to influence beyond your own team

What's in it for you:

• 37.5 hour week, Monday to Friday
• Real influence over how a growing engineering function is shaped
• Genuine variety: repeat product lines and project-based solutions, not just one or the other

If you're currently a senior design engineer ready for your first management step, or an engineering manager looking for more technical ownership than your current role gives you, this is worth a conversation.

For more information, contact Hannah Stevens at Oakmont Consulting -