Design Manager - Hardware

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Design Manager - Hardware

Department: Miscellaneous

Employment Type: Contract

Location: Bristol, UK

Reporting To: Ash Clayton

Compensation: GBP 400 - GBP 500 / day

Description

We're building the next UK-headquartered engineering powerhouse.

There is a gulf between the needs of mission-focused organisations and the development and delivery of the critical technology they rely on. The consequences of this are felt acutely by underserved frontline operators, demanding a new breed of engineering enterprise to bridge this divide.

Rowden exists to meet this need. We design and build systems, infrastructure, and applications to deliver mission advantage to those working to protect the security of the UK and its allies. Rowden is setting a new standard in government technology provision: hyper-efficient engineering, better customer relationships, and rapid assimilation of commercial technology.

We're on the lookout for a dynamic and strategic leader to join us on a 12-month contract, helping our team bring an exciting new Software Defined Radio project to life. As the Design Manager, you'll take the lead in driving development, drawing on the expertise of specialists to shape a well-informed delivery strategy.

Your role will be crucial in ensuring the project navigates critical design risks effectively and develops a manufacturing strategy that fits the project's scale and unique demands. Beyond hardware development, you'll also oversee the software and firmware development, ensuring everything aligns smoothly.

This is a hands-on role, where you'll work with a small, agile team to test and prove the project's viability. Your task will include managing the design process in line with our business assessment criteria, ensuring the project stays on track, on time, and within budget, all while meeting the user's needs.

While experience in hands on product design and mechanical design abilities is a plus, it's not a strict requirement for this role. What matters most is your ability to lead and inspire.

You'll be joining a diverse group of multidisciplinary engineers at Rowden, with expertise in RF, electronics, systems, software, DevOps, and hardware prototyping. Your contribution will be key in guiding the vision, strategy, and execution of our new product from concept to market. This is an opportunity to make a real impact and be part of something innovative and exciting.

Key areas of responsibility

As a Design Manager at Rowden, you'll be at the forefront of driving innovation and steering this project to success. Your key responsibilities will include:

• Visionary Design Leadership: Shape and communicate a clear design vision and strategy that aligns with the company's objectives, inspiring the design team to deliver innovative and high-quality outputs.
• Design Process Mastery: Oversee the entire design process from concept to final execution, ensuring that milestones are met on time and within budget, while upholding the highest standards of design excellence.
• Efficient Design Delivery: Apply a risk-based approach to the design workflow, swiftly addressing and resolving major design challenges to maintain project momentum.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Collaborate closely with the development team, technical leads, and other stakeholders to ensure the design process integrates seamlessly with broader project goals, fostering a culture of teamwork and efficiency.
• Risk Management & Creative Opportunity: Proactively identify design risks and opportunities, developing strategies to mitigate issues and capitalise on creative possibilities, ensuring these are clearly communicated and addressed within the project.
• Supplier & Vendor Management: Manage relationships with suppliers and external partners, ensuring that designs meet the intended use case, and that strong, effective partnerships are built to facilitate product development and manufacturing.
• Stakeholder Communication: Maintain detailed design documentation and provide regular, transparent updates to stakeholders on design progress, risks, and outcomes, reinforcing trust in the design team's leadership and vision.

Key skills, experience and behaviours

We are seeking a passionate leader who is driven to deliver ground-breaking products and is committed to continuously developing their expertise. While this role offers ongoing learning and growth, you should already possess:

• Proven Delivery Expertise: Demonstrated success in leading projects from inception to completion, ensuring alignment with goals and timelines.
• Delivery of Electronics Projects: Strong track record of delivering electronics projects including PCBA development and integration.
• Inspirational Leadership: A strong track record of leading cross-functional teams, motivating them to excel and achieve shared objectives.
• Project Management Proficiency: Exceptional ability to juggle multiple priorities and deadlines, ensuring that every aspect of the project is managed with precision.
• Data-Driven Decision Making: Strong analytical skills that enable you to make informed, data-driven decisions that propel the project forward.
• Exceptional Communication: Outstanding written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to influence and persuade stakeholders at all levels.

Desirable experience:

• Defence or Military Experience: Previous experience working on Defence or Military projects or products, enabling you to quickly navigate stakeholders, compliance and use cases.
• Compliance & Regulation: Experience with the compliance, regulation, and testing of electrical systems, giving you the ability to navigate complex regulatory landscapes.
• RF and Wireless Systems Projects: Experience in RF or wireless systems projects, positioning you to lead innovative solutions in this specialized field.
• Secure by Design: Demonstrated experience managing projects where security was integrated into the design and development process from the outset.

The ideal candidate will have a strong balance of technical skills and experience, and the behavioural competencies that we believe are key to success in the role are as follows:

• Self-Motivated and Confident: You take initiative, trusting in your abilities to lead and deliver exceptional results.
• Passionate About Impact: You have a deep passion for leading and delivering complex projects that make a real difference to the end user.
• Strategic Thinker: You excel at identifying optimal solutions and clearly communicating their impact to your team and stakeholders.
• Adaptable and Resilient: You thrive in fast-paced environments, quickly adapting to changes and challenges with resilience and determination.
• Eager to Learn: You have a strong desire to quickly absorb new information and meet the evolving needs of the project, always striving for excellence.

Working at Rowden

We are committed to building a flexible, inclusive, and enabling company. Our aim is to create a diverse team of talented people with unique skills, experience, and backgrounds, so please apply and come as you are!

We also recognise the importance of flexible working and support this wherever we can. We typically operate a flexible, hybrid-working model, with an average 4 days in the office each week (dependent on the role). We welcome the opportunity to discuss flexibility, part-time working requirements and/or workplace adjustments with all our applicants.

Rowden is a Disability Confident Committed company, and we actively encourage people with disabilities and health conditions to apply for our roles. Please let us know your requirements early on so that we can make sure you have everything you need up front to help make the recruitment process and experience as easy as possible.

Finally, if you feel that you don't meet all the criteria included above but have transferable skills and relevant experience, we'd still love to hear from you!