At Roke

Roke is a world-class engineering and technology company, with a trusted and long-standing record of delivery spanning research & development, products, managed-services and consultancy, serving customers across the globe. The markets Roke operates in are broad but they are frequently cross-cutting at engineering and delivery levels; markets include defence, national security, industry sectors, with diversity being at the centre of Roke's strategy.

Preserving high-levels of confidence by consistently meeting or exceeding customer expectation in relation to engineering and value creation is paramount, equalled by the need to meet the needs of the business regarding safe and sustainable generation of revenue and profit.

Balancing the needs of the customer and the needs of the Business Units (BUs) provides a constant challenge, requiring firm leadership and high-levels of responsiveness to risks and opportunities as they arise.

The Role

The Head of Engineering will drive the capabilities within the Engineering team to ensure fulfilment of the BU strategies. They will contribute to the strategy for their BU as well as providing technical advice and support to the delivery function.

The Head of Engineering is a senior position reporting to the Business Unit Assistant Director within Roke that brings together technical leadership, career strategies, best practice and innovation, providing leadership in all these topics across the entirety of the business.

The position is a direct (fee-earning) role and as a consequence there is an expectation that the successful candidate will balance their productivity as follows:

• 50% contribution to Head of Engineering role to include Business Development/Winning/New Product and Service Ideation/Capability Generation
• 30% contribution to customer funded project work
• 20% Line management responsibilities

Primary Job Purpose

• To act as the role model for the Defence Engineers. The Head of Engineering will excite and motivate the technical community through their leadership and contribution.
• To work with Business Unit and Innovation to shape development of current and future capabilities for epics, campaigns, products and services
• To act as an interface between key stakeholders: Sales Team, Heads of Profession, Innovation Leaders, Head of Delivery, Resourcing, Human Resources, MARCOMMS and the Technical Community
• To promote and build the Roke brand so customers value our honesty and integrity

Key Responsibilities

Leadership

• Understand the Customer vision and help them to contract and deliver that change
• Grow the digital skills within the Information Advantage Delivery Unit
• Identify organic investment opportunities to generate new products and services
• Support the generation of M&A targets
• Play an active role in BU Leadership Team, constantly looking for ways in which to improve ways of working and the capability of the engineering team to match the needs of the BU strategy.
• Manage internal budgets effectively in the areas of training, conferences and necessary engineering facilities.
• Provide engineering leadership to strategic projects, bids and clients
• Develop a community within the engineering cadre, own initiatives to support attrition at/below planned rates and to support desired Roke/Chemring values and behaviours.

Capability

• Ensure that the people capability within the BU aligns to the demands of the BU (capacity, skills, location and clearance), the company people capability strategies (owned by Heads of Profession) and is supported by a training plan considering personal careers aspirations.
• Ensure that Offerings within the BU are owned and managed, and follow Roke policies and processes for their lifecycle management.
• Work with Innovation team to ensure PV investments and University engagements are aligned to BU strategy and to ensure engineering tools and processes remain current to meet delivery needs and are used consistently across the Company.
• Ensure there is a network of technical pre-sales capability within the BU engineering community to facilitate deliveries.
• Maintain a community of Technical Leads contributing to Delivery, Business Development and Capability Development that works within the BU and across the Company.

Managing People & Recruitment

• Identifies and implements opportunities to optimise team effectiveness and performance
• Sets clear and ambitious objectives for the team and supports the team in achieving them
• Coaches and mentors staff across the business, provides feedback through regular 1:1 meetings and team meetings to discuss goals set in line with company policies
• Leads employees through the performance management processes including performance conversations, career development and performance improvement programmes
• Facilitates the cascade of business communications to team members, providing context and guidance where required
• Ensure that support to recruitment is in place against the short and long term demands of the BU.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Education and Qualifications

• Technical education and/or qualifications in relevant field.

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Accomplished technical and business development professional with in depth knowledge of capability provision and supply of the specific domain.
• Knowledge of sector operations, organisations and structures and how to align them to products and services.
• Deep expertise in the relevant Technical landscape.
• Experience in providing thought leadership and guidance to key stakeholders.
• Experience in developing complex user requirements and translating them into technical or support requirements.
• Experience of working in, and managing, agile teams and delivering complexity at pace.
• Experience delivering bids and securing both Client and internal funding.

Where will you be based?

Your work will typically be located at Roke's Romsey site, with occasional travel.

Why you should join Roke

We have a competitive salary and access to a number of additional flexible benefits, which will cover Health and Wellbeing, Savings and Protection & Life, Leisure and Entertainment.

Roke has a great community of groups with shared interests. These enable people to share ideas and be passionate about tools, technologies & techniques, which interest them.

We are committed to a policy of Equal Opportunity, Diversity and Inclusion. Our working environment is friendly, creative and inclusive. We will consider flexible working arrangements and support a diverse work-force and those with additional needs.

Security

Due to the nature of this position, we require you to be eligible to achieve SC as a minimum and in some cases DV clearance may be required. As a result, you should be a British Citizen and have resided in the UK for the last 5 years for SC and 10 years for DV.