Head of Engineering at Ocean Optics · Cambridge

Head of Engineering Location: Cambridge Furthermore, here at FFE we value our employees giving them the freedom to be creative and innovative. Having a great team spirt and people that are proud to work for a company that saves lives, our teams see the direct impact of their efforts in the daily operations. Duties and Responsibilities: Engineering Leadership & Strategy Overall responsibility for electronics, mechanical, software and development engineering activities Translate the company’s technical and product strategy into clear engineering objectives and execution plans. Create and implement best practice engineering vision, strategy, policies, processes and procedures to aid and improve business performance Ensure engineering outputs comply with relevant standards, regulations, and internal processes Champion the consistent use of formal problem‑solving tools, structured testing methodologies, documentation standards, and design governance. Continuously assess and improve the development strategy for both new and existing products. People Management Line management of the electronics, mechanical, software and development engineering teams Coach, mentor and develop direct reports (circa. 20 employees) Set department objectives and monitor ongoing progress and performance Ensure strong communication between the teams to facilitate efficient exchange of information and in order to implement change and improvements Establish strategy and best practices for staff to ensure achievement of overall business objectives. Build a high‑performance culture focused on accountability, collaboration, and technical excellence. Identify capability gaps and drive upskilling, succession planning, and recruitment priorities. Foster strong engagement and clear communication across engineering teams and the broader business. New Product Development (NPD) and Sustaining Engineering Oversee engineering contributions to NPD projects, ensuring technical robustness, regulatory compliance, and on‑time delivery. Ensure engineering teams deliver products that meet customer value propositions, performance,  quality and cost targets. Maintain high standards of testing, validation, verification, and design quality throughout the product lifecycle. Contribute to sustaining engineering activity, ensuring product integrity, reliability, and customer satisfaction. Ensure timely and effective resolution of issues impacting quality, regulatory compliance, or customer experience. Act as a senior engineering representative in cross‑functional reviews, portfolio discussions, and strategic planning. Skills and Experience: Proven leadership experience leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams, including electronics, embedded software and mechanical engineering, within a product development environment. Direct experience delivering electronics-based products into medium or high volume manufacture, not just prototype or low-volume development. Proven ownership of engineering industrialisation, including Design for Manufacture (DFM), Design for Test (DFT), Design for Assembly (DFA) and Design for Cost (DFC). Strong background in safety critical or regulated products, with hands-on experience supporting certification, compliance and post certification change (e.g. fire, aerospace, industrial, medical or similar regulated environments). Demonstrated experience leading complex hardware / software product development programmes from concept through certification and into sustained production. Clear accountability for engineering handover to manufacturing, ensuring designs are production-ready, fully documented and supported through ramp-up and ongoing manufacture. Experience working closely with manufacturing, test engineering and supply chain teams, including engagement with contract manufacturers / EMS partners. Strong working knowledge of structured validation, verification, test and design governance, including formal design reviews, risk assessments and traceable test evidence. Proven ability to lead sustaining engineering, including issue resolution, obsolescence management, cost down activity, yield improvement and customer-led corrective actions. Track record of applying structured problem-solving methodologies (e.g. 8D, RCA, fault tree analysis) in both development and production environments. Educated to degree level in a relevant engineering discipline (electronics, electrical, embedded systems, mechanical or similar), or equivalent senior experience. Leadership & Commercial Capability Strong, hands-on engineering leadership style, with the credibility to challenge and support senior engineers and technical specialists. Clear experience setting direction, managing priorities and driving delivery across multiple concurrent projects. Commercial awareness of how engineering decisions impact product cost, margin, quality and lifecycle performance. Experience managing engineering budgets, resource planning and capability development. Ability to communicate complex technical issues clearly to non technical stakeholders, including senior leadership. A pragmatic, delivery focused mindset, balancing technical excellence with business outcomes. Desirable (Differentiating) Experience Experience with long product lifecycles and configuration-controlled product portfolios. Exposure to multiple international certification regimes (e.g. EN / UL / FM / regional approvals). Experience working across multi-site engineering teams. Prior involvement in cost reduction and value engineering programmes post launch. FFE Benefits include: 25 days Annual Leave, Company bonus Scheme, Halma Pension plan, BUPA health insurance, Simply Health cash plan, EAP. #LI-JS9#FFE If you like wild growth and working with happy, enthusiastic over-achievers, you'll enjoy your career with us! Not the right fit?Let us know you're interested in a future opportunity by clicking Introduce Yourself in the top-right corner of the page or create an account to set up email alerts as new job postings become available that meet your interest!