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The Client
My client is a leading international technology manufacturer headquartered in County Durham and is looking for a people-driven Head of R&D to lead best-in-class NPD delivery. This is a highly hands-on role, focused on execution, product lifecycle excellence, and compliance - not strategic R&D oversight or architectural ownership.
About the Role
Reporting to the Global Head of R&D, the Head of R&D will drive high-quality, on-time product development and sustaining engineering across the business unit portfolio, with full accountability for product compliance to all relevant standards and regulations.
Leading UK-based engineering and product compliance teams, the role works closely with European R&D leadership to align priorities, accelerate execution, and deliver consistently strong performance across sites.
Main Responsibilities
Engineering Delivery & Execution
- Own delivery of UK-based engineering projects (scope, timeline, quality)
- Drive predictable execution through structured planning, tracking, and accountability
- Align engineering capacity with project priorities and business needs
- Establish and manage delivery KPIs (cycle time, on-time delivery, throughput)
Product Lifecycle & Sustaining Engineering
- Own engineering support for the existing product portfolio, including:
- Obsolescence-driven redesigns
- Cost optimisation and component changes
- Regulatory and standards-driven updates
- Ensure continuity of supply and product competitiveness
- Balance new product development and sustaining engineering activities
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Product Compliance Leadership
- Lead the Product Compliance team within R&D
- Ensure all products meet relevant regulatory, safety, and certification requirements
- Maintain alignment with applicable standards (e.g. IEC, ISO, regional compliance requirements)
- Work closely with engineering teams to embed compliance early in development
- Support certification, audits, and regulatory approvals
Team Leadership & Capability Building
- Lead and develop UK-based engineering and compliance teams
- Build a culture of accountability, ownership, and continuous improvement
- Strengthen technical and delivery leadership within the team
- Ensure effective resource utilisation and capability development
Cross-Site Collaboration
- Work closely with European-based R&D leadership and engineering teams to ensure aligned priorities and coordinated execution
- Support a unified development model across UK and Europe
- Contribute to a cohesive, high-performing engineering organisation across locations
External Development Integration
- Integrate external development partners to increase engineering capacity and speed
- Define clear scopes, interfaces, and deliverables
- Ensure quality and timely delivery from external partners
Process & Performance Improvement
- Improve engineering efficiency, reducing development cycle time and rework
- Implement pragmatic, scalable development processes (Agile / hybrid)
- Ensure clear visibility of delivery performance, risks, and dependencies
- Proactively remove technical and organisational blockers
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About You
To be considered for the role, it is essential that you possess demonstrable experience and strength in the leading of engineering teams and NPD, in the electronics, testing & measurement, safety, or instrumentation product sectors. You will also be degree qualified in an appropriate discipline.
Key Selection Criteria
- Familiarity with platform-based product architectures
- Strong track record of delivering complex engineering projects on time and to quality targets
- Experience in multidisciplinary engineering (hardware, embedded software, systems)
- Experience managing product compliance, certification, or regulatory activities
- Experience working across multiple locations or distributed teams
- Experience working with external development partners or outsourced engineering models
- Strong execution focus with ability to deliver results through teams
- Structured, data-driven approach to problem solving
- Ability to manage complexity and competing priorities
- Clear and effective communication across technical and non-technical stakeholders
- Pragmatic, delivery-oriented mindset with high accountability
- Collaborative leadership style with ability to influence across locations
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