Hardware Engineering Manager

Job Title:  Hardware Engineering Manager
Location: Reading
Salary: We know salary transparency matters. While we can’t list a figure on this advert, the client is genuinely flexible and open to shaping the package around the right person.
Employment Type: Permanent
Working Arrangements: Hybrid Working

We’re seeking a Hardware Engineering Manager to lead a highly skilled hardware engineering team and play a pivotal role in an ongoing engineering transformation. This is a senior leadership position with significant influence over technical direction, team capability, and cross‑functional collaboration.

While this is not a hands‑on design role, the successful candidate must bring strong technical foundations and deep experience across the full lifecycle of hardware development - from hardware architecture and PCB layout through manufacturing, bring‑up, and design proving for complete electronic systems (CPU, memory, power). Expertise in Intel x86 or ARM‑based architectures is highly desirable.

This role is ideal for someone who thrives on guiding talented engineers, asking the right technical questions, facilitating problem‑solving, and ensuring decisions are made with a holistic, system‑level mindset.

Key Responsibilities for the Hardware Engineering Manager:
- Lead, manage, and develop a high‑performing hardware engineering team
- Provide technical oversight and challenge, ensuring robust decision‑making
- Facilitate problem‑solving sessions and guide engineers through complex issues
- Ensure hardware decisions consider impacts across mechanical, software, and manufacturing disciplines
- Drive alignment and engagement across cross‑functional teams from early design phases
- Support the organisation’s engineering transformation by contributing to senior leadership discussions and strategy
- Oversee the end‑to‑end lifecycle of hardware development, ensuring quality, reliability, and timely delivery
- Build and maintain a strong engineering culture focused on collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement

What You’ll Bring:
- Strong technical background in hardware/electronics engineering
- Extensive experience across hardware design lifecycle: PCB layout, manufacturing, bring‑up, validation, and system proving
- Expertise with Intel x86 or ARM architectures (highly advantageous)
- Ability to guide and challenge engineers through intelligent questioning and structured thinking
- Experience collaborating across mechanical, software, and manufacturing teams
- Proven leadership experience — or strong technical foundations with readiness to step into senior leadership
- Confidence managing highly skilled engineers and navigating the unique challenges of senior technical teams
- Clear communication skills and a calm, structured leadership style

What’s In It for You
- Impactful Leadership: Drive a major engineering transformation and shape the future of hardware development
- Technical Depth: Lead a team working on complex, cutting‑edge hardware challenges
- Strategic Influence: Play a key role in cross‑functional decision‑making and organisational direction
- Growth Potential: Opportunity to step into an even more senior leadership role as the new structure evolves
- Dynamic Environment: Join a company investing in its people, infrastructure, and long‑term engineering capability

This role requires the successful candidate to pass BPSS screening and meet the eligibility criteria for Security Check (SC) clearance.

For more information, please contact Cathy Swain. 
T: (phone number removed)
E: (url removed)