Director of Software and Electronics Engineering

Director

• of Software and Electronics Engineering
• Location: Coventry, United Kingdom
• Employment: Permanent, full-time
• Working model: Primarily office-based, with reasonable flexibility
• Reporting to: Chief Product Officer, currently the CEO acting
• Travel: Approximately quarterly travel to India, with occasional travel
• to other company locations

Role Overview

• The Director of Software
• and Electronics Engineering will lead the organisation responsible for power
• electronics, electronic systems, embedded firmware, cloud and server software,
• web applications, platform engineering, development infrastructure and automated
• testing.
• The Director will turn
• product strategy into practical engineering plans, production-ready designs and
• dependable product releases. The role is accountable for engineering
• leadership, technical quality, delivery schedules, design reviews and the
• successful introduction of new products into manufacturing.
• This is primarily a
• leadership and management role. The Director must have sufficient technical
• breadth to assess risks, challenge assumptions and make informed decisions, but
• is not expected routinely to act as the principal architect, electronics designer
• or software developer.

Key Responsibilities

Engineering Leadership

• Lead Engineering Managers and senior technical leaders.
• Establish clear accountability for delivery, technical quality,
• people management and risk.
• Build an effective engineering organisation across the United
• Kingdom and India.
• Develop the management structure, specialist leadership and
• technical capabilities required for growth.
• Recruit, develop and retain strong engineering talent.
• Reduce dependence on individual employees and improve succession
• planning.

Integrated Engineering

• Lead the development of power electronics, electronic hardware,
• embedded firmware, connectivity, cloud services, web applications and platforms
• infrastructure.
• Ensure that electronics, firmware and software are developed as
• parts of one integrated product system.
• Manage dependencies between electronic design, firmware,
• communications, software services, manufacturing and field support.
• Ensure designs address performance, reliability, safety,
• cybersecurity, component availability, configuration control, manufacturability
• and testability.
• Delivery and Time to Market
• Establish realistic engineering plans covering requirements,
• architecture, design, prototyping, verification, release and introduction to
• manufacturing.
• Meet agreed product-development and new-product-introduction
• schedules.
• Ensure that resources, dependencies, validation activities and
• manufacturing readiness are included in delivery plans.
• Identify risks early and establish clear recovery plans.
• Provide accurate and transparent reporting of progress, risks and
• forecast completion dates.
• Coordinate hardware, firmware and software releases for major
• product launches.
• Establish and continuously improve design and development processes
• that support efficient, high-quality product delivery.

Design Review Process

Own a formal design-review process covering software, electronics

and power electronics.

Design reviews will involve the relevant representatives from

• ·Product Management;
• ·Programme Management;
• ·Advanced Manufacturing;
• ·Quality Assurance;
• ·Systems, Mechanical and other
• engineering disciplines;
• ·Supply Chain and Operations,
• where appropriate.

Reviews will take place at defined stages, including

• ·Requirements and Concept
• Review;
• ·Architecture Review;
• ·Detailed Design Review;
• ·Prototype and Design
• Verification Review;
• ·Production Readiness Review;
• ·Final Release Review.
• Each review must evaluate requirements, interfaces, technical risks,
• verification plans, component selection, manufacturability, testability,
• configuration control and release evidence.
• Decisions, actions, owners and deadlines must be documented.
• Material actions must be closed before the product proceeds to the next
• approval stage. Unresolved product, schedule, quality or technical issues will
• be escalated to the Chief Product Officer.

Product

• Introduction and Manufacturing
• Ensure products move efficiently from design through verification
• and into production.
• Work closely with Advanced Manufacturing to establish
• design-for-manufacture and design-for-test requirements.
• Confirm that manufacturing documentation, test equipment, production
• software, configuration baselines and engineering evidence are complete before
• production release.
• Support prototype and production bring-up.
• Manage engineering changes, component lifecycle risks and product
• obsolescence.
• Use manufacturing and field feedback to improve future designs.

Engineering

• Quality and Release Readiness
• Ensure Engineering produces complete, tested and documented release
• candidates.
• Build quality into the engineering process rather than relying on
• Quality Assurance to identify incomplete work.
• Maintain appropriate requirements, testing, design-verification,
• documentation and configuration-control practices.
• Provide traceable evidence for independent Quality Assurance review.
• Apply controls appropriate to each product. Physical products
• require controlled design baselines and production readiness, while cloud
• services may use automated deployment and progressive release.
• Maintain suitable security practices across hardware, firmware,
• software and development infrastructure.
• People and Resource

Management

• Manage Engineering Managers and senior engineering leaders.
• Set objectives and conduct regular performance reviews.
• Develop future leaders and address capability gaps or sustained
• underperformance.
• Allocate engineering resources according to agreed product and
• programme priorities.
• Prevent conflicting priorities or informal reassignment of
• engineering resources.
• Plan headcount, recruitment, tools, licences, cloud services,
• prototypes, training and specialist suppliers within agreed budgets.

Relationship

with the Chief Technology Officers

The

Director will work closely with the CTO of Engineering and the CTO of Software

& Intelligence.

The

CTOs provide technical strategy, policies, standards, engineering governance,

specialist advice and technical coaching across their respective domains.

The

• Director remains accountable to the Chief Product Officer for the organisation,
• resourcing and delivery of the Software and Electronics Engineering function.
• Where CTO-led technical work requires engineering effort, the Director will
• ensure that it is appropriately planned, prioritised and resourced alongside
• direct product work.

The

• Director and CTOs will collaborate on significant technical decisions,
• capability development and cross-product engineering issues. Material
• disagreements on technical direction, standards, risk or priority will be
• escalated through the Chief Product Officer where required.

Working Relationships

• The Director will
• work closely with the Chief Product Officer, Product Management, Programme
• Management, Advanced Manufacturing, Quality Assurance, Operations, Supply
• Chain, Security, the CTO of Engineering, the CTO of Software & Intelligence
• and other engineering leaders.

Product Management

defines customer needs, product priorities and requirements.

Programme

• Management owns the integrated programme plan and milestones.
• Engineering owns
• the technical solution, development work, verification evidence and engineering
• readiness.

Quality Assurance

• provides independent review and confirms whether agreed assurance criteria have
• been met.
• The CTOs provide
• technical direction and governance; the Director ensures that required
• engineering work is incorporated into plans and delivered.
• The Director will
• also work closely with the Director of Electrical Machines as an equal partner
• in the development and application of coherent engineering processes across
• Product Engineering.

Decision Authority

• Within agreed company
• plans, budgets, technical policies and engineering standards, the Director will
• have authority to:
• ·lead and organise the Software
• and Electronics Engineering function;
• ·allocate engineering resources;
• ·establish engineering and
• new-product-introduction practices;
• ·approve routine technical and
• delivery decisions;
• ·recruit within approved plans;
• ·manage performance and
• recommend promotions;
• ·establish teams and specialist
• leadership roles;
• ·select appropriate engineering
• methods and development tools.
• Long-term product
• direction, company technology strategy and material departures from established
• technical policies or standards require appropriate executive approval.
• Measures of Success
• Success in the role
• will include:
• ·Engineering Managers operating
• with clear authority and accountability;
• ·UK and India teams functioning
• as one engineering organisation;
• ·regular direct engagement with
• the India-based Electronics Engineering and Computer Science teams;
• ·effective collaboration with
• Product Management in reviewing Market Requirements and Product Requirements;
• ·power electronics, electronics,
• firmware and software teams delivering integrated products to agreed schedules;
• ·formal cross-functional design
• reviews operating consistently;
• ·improved schedule forecasting,
• risk visibility and on-time delivery;
• ·faster and more dependable
• introduction of new products into Manufacturing, Customer Support and Quality
• Assurance;
• ·products reaching Quality
• Assurance complete, documented and ready for independent review;
• ·appropriate reliability and
• MTBF goals being established with Product Management;
• ·a scalable organisation with
• clear leadership, responsibilities and career development;
• ·reduced dependence on executive
• intervention in routine engineering decisions.

Candidate Profile

• The successful
• candidate will have:
• ·significant engineering and
• engineering-leadership experience, with a record of dependable delivery;
• ·experience managing Engineering
• Managers or senior technical leaders;
• ·a record of scaling or
• restructuring a multi-team engineering organisation;
• ·leadership experience covering
• physical products, electronics and software;
• ·practical knowledge of power
• electronics, PCB development, hardware and firmware integration, prototyping,
• verification, EMC and EMI, manufacturing release and configuration control;
• ·strong technical judgement and
• the ability to assess evidence, challenge assumptions and involve specialists
• when required;
• ·experience leading
• geographically distributed teams;
• ·the willingness and ability to
• travel regularly to India.

Experience with

• connected devices, embedded-to-cloud products, motor control, propulsion
• systems, telemetry, cloud platforms, automated testing, aerospace, defence,
• automotive, robotics or industrial systems would be valuable.
• PLease mail your updated resume to [email protected]