Design Engineering Manager

Hours of work: 37.5 hours, Monday to Friday.

Location: ATE House, Westpark 26, Wellington, Somerset, TA21 9AD
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The Design Engineering Manager will provide technical and people leadership for MK Test Systems’ Design Engineering function, ensuring the delivery of structured, robust, and repeatable design solutions that consistently meet business requirements for quality, cost, and on-time delivery. The role is responsible for leading and developing the Design Engineering team, strengthening design capability, and embedding effective design governance, documentation, and cross-functional ways of working to support product development, project execution, knowledge transfer, and long-term business resilience.

The Design Engineering Manager will be accountable for line management, resource planning, technical oversight, and capability development within the discipline. The role will ensure that Design Engineering delivers high-quality outputs, supports efficient project execution, and contributes actively to MK Test’s Engineering Strategy through improved knowledge sharing, stronger engineering processes, effective use of digital tools, and close collaboration with other engineering and business functions.

• Lead, manage, and develop the Design Engineering team to meet current and future business and project demands.
• Provide effective line management through regular 1:1s, clear objectives, constructive feedback, and measurable performance management.
• Create and maintain clear development pathways for team members, supporting technical growth, increased responsibility, and career progression.
• Coach and support early-career engineers, graduates, and placement students through appropriate guidance, delegation, and review.
• Contribute to recruitment, selection, and onboarding activities to ensure the Design Engineering function has the capability and capacity required for business growth.

Resource Planning & Delivery Management

• Plan and coordinate Design Engineering resource to ensure effective workload balancing across product development, customer projects, bid support, and business improvement activity.
• Allocate work according to skills, experience, development needs, and business priority, maintaining visibility of team capacity and delivery risk.
• Provide early input to feasibility, resourcing, scheduling, and technical planning activities to strengthen upfront project definition and delivery confidence.
• Escalate resource constraints, delivery risks, and capability gaps in a timely and structured manner.

Technical Leadership & Design Governance

• Provide technical leadership across the Design Engineering discipline, setting expectations for the quality, consistency, and completeness of design outputs.
• Oversee design activity through appropriate reviews, challenge, and technical critique, ensuring that designs are robust, traceable, manufacturable, testable, and aligned with system-level requirements.
• Define and maintain appropriate design standards, templates, and governance mechanisms to improve repeatability, reduce rework, and support effective knowledge transfer.
• Ensure Design Engineering outputs are controlled, accessible, and suitable for effective hand-off to other engineering disciplines, production, quality, and support functions.
• Support technical risk assessment, root-cause problem solving, and design improvement activity where required.

Capability Development & Continuous Improvement

• Strengthen the capability of the Design Engineering team through coaching, standards, peer review, and continuous development of design methods and working practices.
• Reduce dependence on individual retained knowledge by improving documentation, knowledge capture, and standardised design information.
• Identify and implement opportunities to improve engineering efficiency, throughput, quality, and repeatability without creating unnecessary process burden.
• Support adoption of digital engineering tools, improved data management, and practical AI-enabled workflows where these improve quality, speed, reuse, or knowledge access.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Work closely with Electronics, Embedded, Software,…