Head of Engineering

City, Sheffield
Ford & Stanley Executive Search

Candidate Opportunity Briefing Document

Role: Head of Engineering

Ford & Stanley Executive Search (Part of the Ford & Stanley Group) are a leading Executive search firm to the UK, North American and European Rail, Defence, Technology, & Heavy Manufacturing industries.

Our search directors, search consultants and research teams specialise in all horizontal functions of our clients’ organisations with expertise spanning engineering, commercial, procurement, HR, IT, finance, HSQE, sales, projects, operations and c-suite.

We are trusted by over 100 leading organisations when they seek to make a leadership appointment, be that a permanent appointment or interim solutions.

We have been appointed on a retained search for a Head of Engineering.

Below you will find a candidate opportunity briefing document developed from notes taken during the scoping meeting (Situational Discovery) held between the Research Manager & Principal Consultant of Ford & Stanley Executive Search and the Engineering Director of my client.

This brief is designed to give candidates a deeper insight into the opportunity inherent within the role, the challenges the role presents, and provide access to the detail that sits behind the job specification.

Challenges expected within the first 12 months include:

1. Highly complex and challenging projects with diverse safety considerations.
2. The incoming Head of Engineering can expect to experience a range of personalities and dynamics, both internally and externally.
3. A demanding client mix, that requires strong stakeholder engagement and commerciality

Key deliverables within the first 12 months include:

1. Be the eyes and ears of the Engineering Director, escalate where needed but focus on a solutions approach.
2. Built a strong working partnership with the Programme Manager (where you both could finish each other’s sentences).
3. Working with the Programme Manager to ensure the project is on track to be delivered within cost, engineering quality, and to required compliance/safety standards.

Essential Hard Skills (Skills & Experience)

Experienced in leading multi-disciplinary engineering teams

Chartered Engineer – Able to read safety cases

Able to challenge internally and externally (Independent Assurance)

Strong background ideally in Crane or material handling, if not coming from a safety-critical industry (i.e. Defence, nuclear, rail)

Essential Soft Skills (Attributes & Behaviours)

A proactive and pragmatic character who gets things done and can get the best out of a technical team

A positive can-do attitude, who is focused on solutions, not problems

Ability to work to a high degree of autonomy.

Commercial Acumen – able to focus on the technical detail but take a step back and take a holistic overview of the project

Able to build credibility with a customer / hold a room ( Executive Maturity)

Working Arrangements & Location:

Hybrid working at least three days per week based out of HQ in Sheffield

Ford & Stanley Interview Process:

• 1st Stage: Candidate Discovery: An open, conversational and consultative discussion where interested candidates are assessed on their suitability for the role in the context of the above and challenged on how the opportunity lines up with their career aspirations, motivations, financial expectations and personal circumstances.
• 2nd Stage: The shortlist : Candidates are asked to reflect on the candidate discovery discussion, take time to reflect on the opportunity and undertake subsequent research on the client business, reporting back on their thoughts, questions and providing additional specific information on their suitability (if applicable). Final checks of role, package and logistical alignments made.

Good to know:

• The role formally reports to the Engineering Director.
• The Head of Engineering roles are newly created positions due to a shift towards a matrix organisation. The business is assigning a Head of Engineering for each major project/workstream.
• We are looking for highly capable and ambitious multi-disciplinary Engineering leaders with aspirations to become an Engineering Director in the future.
• We need to secure a Head of Engineering who will work in equal partnership with the Programme Manager, challenge where appropriate but also act as sounding board in client situations.
• The Head of Engineering will have System engineers reporting to them.
• The Head of Engineering is expected to read and understand the contract with the Programme Manager and sign off on compliance, safety cases and reports.
• The business has also created a new position of Chief Engineer that will sit outside of the project delivery teams. These Chief engineers will focus on their disciplines (EC&I, Functional Safety & Mechanical) and will focus on process, tools and governance.
• The headcount of the business is currently circa 130 permanent employees with a further circa 60 contractors/subcontractors.
• The business turnover is circa £31m with an ambition to grow this to £45mil by the end of the next financial year.
• Require a candidate who has the gravitas and stature to hold a room of executive leaders and confidently manage up as well as down.
• My client is a specialist design, build and manufacturing consultancy of traditional material handling solutions and kinetic architecture.
• The business is made up of multiple 3 5-year Design and build contracts in the Nuclear, Defence and Stadia sectors

Executive Search Delivery Team:

• Billy Jackson Principal Consultant (Headhunting, Offer Negotiations, Client Consulting)
• Ollie Nunn Research Manager (Shortlisting, Networking, Research, Search, Longlisting, Interviews, Data & Market Intel)
• Ralitsa Kuzeva Executive Assistant (Diary Management, Coordination, Candidate Experience).

About Ford & Stanley Executive Search:

Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group are in the business of people and performance. Our mission is to create one million better workdays through facilitating great recruitment, leadership and occupational mental fitness. We support our clients in their most challenging business areas – recruiting, developing and retaining the best talent from shop floor to boardroom.

1. Ford & Stanley TalentWise – Business specialising in blue collar trade & technical services permanent and temporary.
2. Ford & Stanley Recruitment – Business specialising in white collar spanning all company functions with specialist verticals within Digital, Rail Engineering, Civils & Infrastructure, General Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Logistics both permanent and contract.
3. Ford & Stanley Executive Search Business specialising in Executive Search & Executive Interim Solutions in the UK, North America, Middle East and Europe.
4. Ford & Stanley Genius Performance – Performance is always accelerated when good people are coached, inspired, trained and focused in the right way.

Ford & Stanley Talent Services Group Ltd is a Disability Confident employer that is committed to a policy of equal opportunities for all opportunity seekers. We shall adhere to such a policy at all times and will review on an on-going basis all aspects of recruitment to avoid unlawful or undesirable discrimination. We will treat everyone equally irrespective sex, sexual orientation, gender reassignment, marital or civil partnership status, age, disability, colour, race, nationality, ethnic or national origin, religion or belief or political beliefs and we place an obligation upon all staff to respect and act in accordance with the policy.

Services advertised by Ford & Stanley are those of an employment consultancy business.