Engineering Operations Manager
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Department: Engineering
Employment Type: Permanent – Full Time
Location: Bristol, UK
Reporting To: Luke Rank
Compensation: GBP 50,000 – GBP 80,000 / year
About Rowden: We specialise in turning advances in sensing, AI, and communications into operational capability for the edge, where connectivity may be degraded or denied. Headquartered in Bristol, we operate over 20,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing facilities and have a growing international footprint.
The role: Rowden’s engineering organisation is scaling rapidly. As Engineering Operations Manager, you will work closely with the VP Engineering to help scale the engineering organisation effectively, identifying friction, capability gaps, and operational improvements. You will also lead the execution of engineering initiatives from tooling to new engineering capabilities.
Eligibility: Candidates must be eligible for SC clearance. More information about security clearance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting
Key areas of responsibility
- Building an accurate view of how engineering is operating across the business – unearthing delivery pressure points, capability gaps, scaling risks, and operational improvements early.
- Interrogating forecasts, delivery assumptions, engineering demand, and technical constraints to understand the realities of trade‑offs and priorities.
- Turning fragmented information from projects, teams, bids, and delivery reviews into clear operational insight that supports fast, high‑conviction decisions.
- Leading engineering improvement initiatives across tooling, workflows, and engineering ways of working.
- Spending time close to the teams and the work to understand how engineering operates on the ground.
- Driving the operational cadence of the engineering function across planning, reviews, reporting, and cross‑functional coordination.
- Coordinating the engineering graduate scheme, including rotations, placement planning, and building long‑term engineering capability.
Key skills, experience and behaviours
- Experience operating within scaling engineering or technical delivery environments where priorities, demand, and constraints are constantly evolving.
- Strong systems thinking and operational judgement, with the ability to understand how decisions in one area impact delivery, teams, and engineering capacity elsewhere.
- The ability to absorb complex information quickly, identify patterns and risks early, and bring clarity to ambiguous situations.
- Sufficient technical fluency to engage confidently with engineers across multiple disciplines and build credibility within technical teams.
- A naturally curious and proactive approach, with a desire to understand how teams really operate and where improvements can have the biggest impact.
- Strong communication and influencing skills, with the confidence to challenge constructively and navigate competing viewpoints or priorities.
- High levels of ownership, organisation, and follow‑through, with the ability to maintain momentum across multiple initiatives at once.
- A pragmatic mindset focused on helping engineering teams scale effectively without adding unnecessary process, overhead, or complexity.
About you
- Curious about how engineering organisations really operate and motivated by solving operational challenges.
- Comfortable operating across fast‑moving teams, competing priorities, and technical domains.
- Confident asking difficult questions, challenging assumptions, and bringing clarity to ambiguity.
- Pragmatic and execution‑focused, with a bias toward improving how teams work without adding bureaucracy.
- Motivated by helping engineering teams scale, collaborate effectively, and do their best work.
Working at Rowden
We are committed to building a flexible, inclusive, and enabling company. We recognise the importance of flexible working and support this wherever we can. Rowden is a Disability Confident Committed company and actively encourages people with disabilities and health conditions to apply. We welcome opportunities to discuss flexibility, part‑time working, and workplace adjustments with all applicants.
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