Senior Director, AI-Driven Manufacturing Engineering

IFS; Staines-upon-Thames; Hybrid; GBP 140,000 - 210,000; Full time

Job summary

IFS is seeking a Senior Director of Engineering for Manufacturing to lead a multi-layered engineering organization, including Directors, Architects and Principal Engineers. You will define and execute the manufacturing engineering strategy aligned with product direction and business priorities, driving capability building and succession planning.

You will balance strategic leadership with technical depth, ensuring high standards in cloud-native architectures, APIs, distributed systems, and

Qualifications

• Strong foundation in software engineering and enterprise application development.
• Experience leading leaders (Directors/Managers) and senior technical experts.
• Proven track record delivering large-scale, complex software systems across multiple teams.
• Deep understanding of modern architectures (cloud-native, APIs, distributed systems).

Responsibilities

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

Skills

Leadership

Strategic thinking

Cloud-native architecture

APIs

Distributed systems

AI in engineering

Stakeholder management

Communication

Job description

IFS is seeking a Senior Director of Engineering for Manufacturing to lead a multi-layered engineering organization, including Directors, Architects and Principal Engineers. You will define and execute the manufacturing engineering strategy aligned with product direction and business priorities, driving capability building and succession planning.

You will balance strategic leadership with technical depth, ensuring high standards in cloud-native architectures, APIs, distributed systems, and