Senior Engineering Manager - Mechanical Design

MARSHALL LAND SYSTEMS LTD; Cambridge; Hybrid; GBP 80,000 - 115,000; Full time

Job summary

Marshall Land Systems Ltd in Cambridge is seeking a Senior Engineering Manager – Mechanical Design to lead and scale our mechanical engineering capability, guiding multidisciplinary teams from development through production readiness while ensuring safety, compliance and cost efficiency. You will champion continuous improvement and embed robust governance across the Engineering function.

You will drive strategic workforce planning, collaborate with global teams and customers to deliver

Qualifications

• Experience leading engineering/technical delivery teams.
• Significant design and integration experience in engineering.
• Broad technical understanding of Mechanical Design.
• Understanding of manufacturing techniques (riveting, welding, fabrication).
• Management and people leadership experience.

Responsibilities

• Provide strong transformational leadership to Mechanical Engineering discipline.
• Lead development and evolution of Mechanical Engineering capability.
• Ensure team delivery within governance and budget.
• Embed data-driven resource planning and accountability for capability delivery.
• Drive commercially focused engineering and bid inputs.
• Engage with stakeholders to identify opportunities and innovations.

Skills

Team leadership

Project management

Mechanical design

Manufacturing know-how

Stakeholder management

Strategic planning

People management

Education

Engineering degree

Chartered engineer

Job description

• Employee Type Full Time

Description

Why join Marshall Land Systems in this role:

As Senior Engineering Manager, Mechanical Design, you will play a pivotal role in strengthening and scaling our mechanical engineering capability, enabling multidisciplinary teams to deliver innovative designs from development through to production readiness. You will have the opportunity to drive engineering excellence, modernise processes and introduce more effective ways of working across the wider Engineering function.

Working collaboratively across Engineering and the wider business, you will champion continuous improvement, develop talent and embed consistent standards and robust governance. Your leadership will help ensure our engineering solutions are safe, compliant, efficient and cost-effective, while building the capability needed to support future growth.

Your responsibilities will include:

• Provide strong transformational leadership to Mechanical Engineering discipline, embedding a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and high performance aligned to programme, customer and regulatory requirements
• Lead the development and evolution of Mechanical Engineering capability, aligning professional development, skills frameworks, and workforce planning with future business and technology needs
• Ensure the Mechanical Engineering team deliver capability and capacity through optimised processes, standardised ways of working, and efficient resource utilisation, meeting governance and customer requirements on time and within budget
• Hold Mechanical Engineering managers and lead engineers accountable for capability delivery on ongoing capability improvement, productivity gains within budget environment
• Embed resource planning as a disciplined, data-driven process, improving predictability, utilisation, and alignment to strategic workforce plans
• Drive a commercially focused Mechanical Engineering discipline, ensuring bid inputs reflect efficient delivery models, competitive cost structures, and scalable capability
• Support and shape the Mechanical Engineering strategy, integration with the other Engineering disciplines, ensuring it incorporates transformation roadmaps, digital enablement, and continuous improvement initiatives aligned to business growth
• Engage with key stakeholders and customers to identify innovation opportunities, emerging technologies, and process advancements that enhance capability and competitive differentiation
• Support the progressive transformation of engineering capability, ensuring it anticipates future customer requirements and enables differentiated product and service offerings
• The Senior Engineering Manager – Mechanical Design will work closely with their senior engineers, as well as other Senior Engineering Managers within the Design Engineering team, to estimate, plan and deliver mechanical design/integration work packages to quality, budget and schedule
• As the senior engineering manager, you will be a great people and process manager. It will be your job to make everyone in your engineering discipline successful, keeping them on schedule and resolving issues for successful delivery
• You will be a great communicator, team builder and recruiter, helping us develop and expand our engineering team to deliver efficient engineering solutions
• Support design reviews to ensure consistent and compliant solutions are being developed across the business unit
• Work with the wider business unit to develop and maintain appropriate mechanical design toolsets and processes
• Report mechanical design metrics for tracking progress and feeding into Senior Leadership team
• Review and manage Integrated Business Planning (IBP) demand for delivering effective resourcing, using outsourcing where appropriate
• Work with global Land teams to ensure consistent and efficient execution of mechanical design work packages
• Chair regular cadence team meetings

o Review progress against schedule and budget, including ETC and EAC

o Resolve any issues and confirm team priorities for delivery

o Share best practice and knowledge

• Hold 1:1s and performance reviews with direct reports, ensuring consistent approach is adopted down the chain for performance management and development

Apply if you have most of the following:

• Demonstrable experience managing engineering/technical delivery teams
• Significant design and integration experience in an engineering environment
• Broad technical understanding of Mechanical Design
• Broad understanding of manufacturing techniques, including riveting, welding, fabricating
• Management/Leadership and People Management
• Excellent planning, organisation and financial management skills
• Production Engineering – Design for Manufacture and Assembly
• Mechanical Integration
• Strong aptitude for developing computing skills and the ability to learn new software packages
• Engineering degree and/or significant relevant experience in design and integration
• Professional Chartered Engineer status desirable

Additional local needs:

• Candidates will need eligibility for Security Clearance
• Some travel in UK, EU & CA
• Main location Cambridge with travel to Merthyr Tydfil production facility
• Hybrid working arrangements min 3 days per week in office

The benefits of the role include:

• Play a key role in shaping the future of Mechanical Engineering, leading strategic transformation and embedding modern, scalable ways of working across a complex engineering environment
• Build experience in senior-level leadership, strategic decision-making and influencing across multiple engineering disciplines, programmes and business functions
• Deliver tangible improvements in engineering productivity, cost efficiency, quality and delivery performance, contributing directly to business growth and competitive advantage
• Develop high-performing teams, strengthen technical leadership and succession pipelines, and shape the skills, processes and digital capabilities needed for future programmes and technologies
• Work collaboratively across the wider Land Systems organisation, influencing engineering standards, sharing best practice and building the experience needed for broader engineering or business leadership opportunities

Marshall Land Systems is a Canadian-owned global company with an unrivalled pedigree of British engineering excellence. From its origins in Cambridge, UK, through more than a century of innovation, pioneering advances from the nose of Concorde to the early Hydrogen fuel cell technology that ultimately powered the moon landings, Marshall engineers now continue to innovate specialist vehicles and infrastructure for NATO forces across the world. From bomb disposal vehicles to deployed shelters, from command and control to CT scanners on the battlefield, Marshall Land Systems protects people in critical situations with the very best in engineering. It employs 600 people with major facilities the UK, Canada, and the Netherlands.