Engineering Manager

Ocean Infinity; Southampton; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 130,000; Full time

Job summary

Ocean Infinity seeks an Engineering Manager to build and sustain a high-performing engineering organisation capable of delivering complex programmes at scale. You will focus on people, capability, capacity, and organisational effectiveness, enabling great engineering through leadership, coaching, and continuous improvement.

Working with senior leadership, you will balance delivery demands with long-term health, developing teams, planning workforce needs, and ensuring sustainable processes and

Qualifications

• Leadership experience in engineering organisations.
• Forecasting & workforce planning skills.
• Strong communication with stakeholders.

Responsibilities

• Own engineering team development — lead recruitment, onboarding, performance management, career progression, succession planning, and skills development.
• Manage capability and workforce planning to meet evolving engineering priorities.
• Enable realistic delivery planning with capacity and capability insights for sprint planning and programme delivery.
• Improve engineering effectiveness by adopting processes, tools, and best practices.
• Support team health and engagement with psychologically safe culture and continuous improvement.
• Lead organisational design and resource allocation to optimise delivery outcomes.
• Develop engineering standards and competencies to support growth across teams.
• Monitor and manage organisational risk related to capability gaps and workloads.
• Partner with Chief Engineers, Technical Project Managers, Product Managers, HR, and senior leaders to align capability with strategy.
• Champion sustainable delivery ensuring capacity-based commitments.

Job description

We are seeking an Engineering Manager to build, develop, and sustain a high-performing engineering organisation capable of delivering complex programmes at scale. You'll focus on people, capability, capacity, and organisational effectiveness, ensuring engineering teams have the skills, support, and structure needed to deliver high-quality outcomes at a sustainable pace.

Working closely with the Chief Engineer, Technical Project Managers, Product Management, and senior leadership, you'll create an environment where engineers can perform at their best, develop their careers, and contribute effectively to both technical and business goals. This role is less about directing technical solutions and more about enabling great engineering through strong leadership, workforce planning, coaching, and continuous improvement.

This role combines:

• People leadership & development — building high-performing teams through recruitment, coaching, performance management, succession planning, and career development
• Capability & capacity management — ensuring the organisation has the right skills, experience, and resources to meet current and future engineering demand
• Organisational effectiveness — improving engineering ways of working, supporting process adoption, and creating an environment where teams can deliver sustainably

You will play a critical role in balancing delivery demands with the long-term health of the engineering organisation. This role suits someone who enjoys developing people, creating clarity in complex environments, and building the structures and culture that allow engineering teams to thrive.

What you will be doing:

• Own engineering team development — lead recruitment, onboarding, performance management, career progression, succession planning, and skills development across your area of responsibility
• Manage capability and workforce planning — ensure the organisation has the appropriate mix of skills, capacity, and experience to meet evolving engineering priorities
• Enable effective delivery planning — provide realistic capacity and capability insights to support sprint planning, programme delivery, and resource forecasting
• Improve engineering effectiveness — drive adoption of processes, tools, and best practices that improve team performance, collaboration, and quality
• Support team health and engagement — foster a culture of psychological safety, professional growth, accountability, and continuous improvement
• Lead organisational design and resource allocation — make decisions on team structures, staffing approaches, and resource deployment to optimise delivery outcomes
• Develop engineering standards and competencies — establish role expectations, development frameworks, and capability pathways that support consistent growth across teams
• Monitor and manage organisational risk — identify capability gaps, capacity constraints, or unsustainable workloads and elevate where appropriate
• Partner across the organisation — work closely with Chief Engineers, Technical Project Managers, Product Managers, HR, and senior leaders to align organisational capability with engineering strategy
• Champion sustainable delivery — ensure commitments are based on realistic capacity, helping teams maintain quality and sustainable pace while meeting business objectives

Who you are:

• An experienced engineering leader with a proven track record of building, developing, and managing high-performing technical teams
• Skilled in workforce planning, organisational design, recruitment, coaching, and performance management
• A strong communicator who can influence stakeholders, manage difficult conversations, and create clarity in changing environments
• Commercially and operationally aware, able to balance immediate delivery priorities with long-term organisational needs
• Comfortable working within Agile environments and providing realistic capacity and capability inputs to planning activities
• Passionate about developing people and creating a culture where engineers can grow, perform, and thrive
• Organised and data-driven, with the ability to make informed decisions around staffing, skills, and team effectiveness
• Technically literate enough to understand engineering challenges, risks, and capability requirements without becoming the technical decision-maker

Desirable:

• Experience leading engineering organisations within complex product, systems, robotics, software, or technology-led environments
• Knowledge of Agile delivery frameworks, workforce planning methodologies, and organisational scaling strategies
• Familiarity with competency frameworks, talent development programmes, and succession planning approaches
• Understanding of ISO 15288 or similar engineering lifecycle and organisational management frameworks
• Experience supporting engineering teams delivering multidisciplinary products or systems throughout their lifecycle

Given the nature of the work, this role requires you to obtain and maintain the appropriate level of UK national security clearance. You must be willing and able to undergo the necessary security vetting process, and continued employment in the role may be subject to maintaining the required clearance. Security vetting will be conducted in accordance with the requirements and standards set by United Kingdom Security Vetting (UKSV). Further information on UK security clearance levels, eligibility, and the vetting process can be found on the UK Government website: United Kingdom Security Vetting: Applicant