Engineering Manager: Build & Lead New Defence Tech Team

4C Strategies; Warminster; Hybrid; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Hybrid working

Competitive salary

Pension Scheme

Private healthcare

Enhanced family leave

25 days holidays

Life Assurance

Cycle to work

Company social events

Job summary

4C Strategies is building a dedicated, security-cleared engineering team in Warminster for a multi-year UK defence programme. You will own delivery outcomes, shape how the team works, and grow engineers toward Staff+ leadership while maintaining technical grounding.

This is a build role with influence over team composition, hiring pace, and work practices, requiring patience and high standards in a security-cleared environment. Hybrid working with on-site presence a few days per week is expected.

Qualifications

• Experience formally managing software engineers as direct reports with growth, performance and delivery accountability.
• Proven ability to hire engineers in competitive markets where candidates are scarce.
• Experience establishing how a team works rather than inheriting a pre-defined setup.
• Strong technical foundation as a senior or staff engineer with credibility in architecture and design.

Responsibilities

• Build the team: define roles, recruit cleared engineers, onboard quickly.
• Set delivery cadence, code review practices, quality and operational standards from scratch.
• Own the team's delivery commitments to the customer during growth.
• Coach engineers against our competency framework toward Staff+ leadership.
• Represent the team to the defence customer and enable optimal performance.
• Review code and designs, participate in architecture decisions, contribute technically when needed.

Skills

People management

Hiring engineers

Team setup

Technical leadership

Code review

Architecture decisions

Job description

4C Strategies is building a dedicated, security-cleared engineering team in Warminster for a multi-year UK defence programme. You will own delivery outcomes, shape how the team works, and grow engineers toward Staff+ leadership while maintaining technical grounding.

This is a build role with influence over team composition, hiring pace, and work practices, requiring patience and high standards in a security-cleared environment. Hybrid working with on-site presence a few days per week is expected.