Hardware Team Leader

Our client is seeking an experienced Hardware Team Leader to lead a team of hardware engineers supporting the development and production of complex, safety-critical electronic systems within the aerospace and defence sector. This role combines technical leadership with people management, ensuring the successful delivery of engineering activities throughout the full product lifecycle., * Lead, motivate and develop a multidisciplinary hardware engineering team.

• Manage engineering work packages, including cost, schedule, resource planning, risk and delivery.
• Ensure engineering activities effectively support development, production and New Product Introduction (NPI).
• Provide technical governance, ensuring compliance with engineering processes, standards and best practice.
• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance quality, productivity and delivery performance.
• Lead technical decision-making, balancing cost, performance and programme requirements.
• Work collaboratively with Systems, Software, Manufacturing, Quality and Supply Chain teams to deliver integrated engineering solutions.
• Champion root cause analysis, corrective actions and lessons learned to improve product reliability and manufacturing performance.

We seek an engineer with recent high-integrity or safety-critical industry experience (defence, aerospace, or similar), or eligible for UK security clearance., * Proven experience leading engineering teams through the full product development lifecycle.

• Strong background in electronics or hardware engineering within a complex engineering environment.
• Experience managing engineering work packages, including planning, cost, schedule and risk.
• Knowledge of product development, design governance and production support.
• Experience driving continuous improvement and implementing process enhancements.
• Strong understanding of root cause analysis and failure reduction methodologies.
• Experience working within a regulated or safety-critical industry.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to engage at all levels.

Desirable Experience

• FPGA/PLD design experience.
• Experience with requirements management tools (e.g. DOORS).
• Familiarity with project/work package management tools such as MSP or JIRA.
• Aerospace, defence or other highly regulated industry experience.

Personal Attributes

• Strong leadership and coaching skills with the ability to develop high-performing teams.
• Collaborative, proactive and delivery-focused approach.
• Confident communicator, capable of leading technical discussions and presenting to senior stakeholders.
• Commercially aware with excellent problem-solving and decision-making skills.
• Committed to delivering high-quality engineering solutions in a fast-paced environment.