Head of Engineering - MSO

Who Are We?

No restraints. No limitations. We don’t simply push boundaries. We completely rethink them. McLaren Automotive exists to create breath-taking performance road cars. It takes a community to do what we do. A diverse group of people with many areas of expertise, united by their passion to deliver visionary products and set new benchmarks. McLaren Automotive commits to equal opportunity for all. Diversity, Equality and Inclusion is at the heart of our impact, it drives our innovation and enables us to truly create something special. Join us on our journey.

What to Expect:

McLaren Special Operations create cars around an owner’s precise tastes and provide everything from bespoke customization to GT race cars. From options through to ultra-exclusive limited-edition or one-off models. We have recently brought McLaren Motorsport into the same structure as the legacy MSO organisation to recognise that collectively these products are owned and enjoyed by our most passionate clients, requiring the highest level of personal service. As we continue to grow as an organisation, we are now looking for a senior engineering leader to join our team.

The role reports to the Director of MSO and is responsible for leading, developing and steering the MSO Engineering department, including both road and race car activities. As well as internal leadership this role is the technical face of McLaren Motorsport to race teams and operators. The scope of the role covers all projects from R&D stage to series production, vehicles in the field, and McLaren GT race car platforms through development, validation, release, performance optimisation, reliability improvement, homologation, technical compliance, trackside engineering alignment and lifecycle engineering.

What You'll Do:

• Ensure all Engineering activities are delivered to plan and consistent with the McLaren Development Process (MDP).
• Line manage a team of engineers to deliver One make racing, GT4, GT3, MSO Defined (line fit options), Limited Edition programmes, Bespoke commissions and Heritage programs.
• Investigate and drive innovative solutions to continuously improve the delivery of the Engineering department.
• Provide technical and decision-making support to all Design and Vehicle Engineering activities.
• Lead initiatives to promote MSO Engineering capabilities with internal stakeholders and external parties.
• Champion activities for weight-reduction, cost-down, build concern resolution and process-improvement.
• Lead the team to deliver all Engineering targets in line with KPI’s and milestones set by MDP including BOM, investment including internal and outsourced labour and D&D, tooling costs and attribute targets.
• Ensure Project Timing plan is achieved, i.e. design releases, DFMEAs, DVPs, Risk Assessment Tool and other relevant gateway deliverables.
• Help define future technical strategies and associated technology roadmaps.
• Use the Risk Assessment Tool to identify requirements of Technical Specifications, DVPs, DFMEAs for all systems in line with McLaren and VCA standards.
• Work and liaise closely with key internal stakeholders to ensure buy in.
• In collaboration with MSO Purchasing assist in the selection of preferred suppliers.
• Lead the engineering strategy and technical delivery for McLaren GT race car programmes, ensuring alignment with business objectives, customer racing requirements, championship regulations, homologation obligations and McLaren brand standards.
• Provide senior technical leadership for race-car design, development, validation, release, reliability, serviceability, configuration control and lifecycle support.
• Ensure McLaren GT race cars are engineered to be safe, legal, reliable, competitive, maintainable and suitable for customer racing operation.
• Lead cross-functional engineering activity across vehicle dynamics, chassis, powertrain integration, aerodynamics, electronics, controls, data systems, simulation, durability, service and trackside support.
• Establish and maintain a race-car technical development roadmap, including performance upgrades, reliability improvements, cost reduction, regulatory changes and future platform strategy.
• Oversee technical issue resolution from race events, customer teams and field operations, ensuring robust containment, root-cause analysis, corrective action and lessons learned.