Head of AI-Driven Manufacturing Engineering

IFS; Staines-upon-Thames; Hybrid; GBP 140,000 - 190,000; Full time

Job summary

IFS is seeking a visionary Head of Engineering for Manufacturing to lead an AI-native, multi-layered engineering organization. You will shape strategy, scale leaders, and drive product excellence across Manufacturing, Sustainability and Supply Chain domains, with a strong emphasis on AI-enabled engineering and responsible adoption.

You will partner with Product, Architecture, and domain leaders to deliver high-impact solutions, maintain engineering discipline, and foster a culture of ownership

Qualifications

• Strong foundation in software engineering and enterprise application development.
• Experience leading Directors/Managers and senior technical experts.
• Proven track record delivering large-scale software systems across multiple teams.
• Deep understanding of modern architectures (cloud-native, APIs, distributed systems).
• Ability to operate at both strategic and technical levels.
• Strong communication, decision-making, and stakeholder management skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead a multi-layered engineering organization including Directors, Architects, and Principal Engineers.
• Define and execute the engineering strategy for Manufacturing, aligned with product and company direction.
• Drive organizational design, capability building, and succession planning.
• Build a culture of ownership, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Scale leadership capability by coaching and developing leaders of leaders.
• Own delivery outcomes across multiple teams with predictability, quality, and timely execution.

Skills

Software engineering

Technical leadership

Cloud-native architecture

AI adoption

Job description

IFS is seeking a visionary Head of Engineering for Manufacturing to lead an AI-native, multi-layered engineering organization. You will shape strategy, scale leaders, and drive product excellence across Manufacturing, Sustainability and Supply Chain domains, with a strong emphasis on AI-enabled engineering and responsible adoption.

You will partner with Product, Architecture, and domain leaders to deliver high-impact solutions, maintain engineering discipline, and foster a culture of ownership