Engineering Manager

City, Leeds
BAE Systems Digital Intelligence

Engineering Manager – Hybrid Working – Leeds

At BAE Systems Digital Intelligence, we believe that digital technology is the key to unlocking our customers’ advantage. By advancing digital technologies, we open doors to worlds of opportunities, together. We are a highly respected engineering organisation providing services to governments around the world. At Digital Intelligence we are proud of the mission critical systems that we build for our customers, in areas that truly make a difference to society. We work in a number of sectors including Healthcare, Law Enforcement, Security, Defence, Space, Telecommunications and National and International Government to name but a few.

We currently have opportunities for several engineering managers. In this role, you will have responsibility for leading teams of software engineers/testers/analysts working on a broad range of projects. Your teams will operate within an Agile framework (predominantly SCRUM and variants thereof) and you will find yourself overseeing several distributed teams, helping to prioritize multiple, often conflicting priorities.

You’ll be responsible for facilitating the management, prioritisation, estimation and allocation of workload among the Agile teams, steering them towards achieving their goals and satisfying (if not exceeding) customer expectations.

You may find yourself working with account managers and project managers, helping to assure that bids are well formed and that, technical, and resource concerns are considered. From here you will help to mobilise delivery teams, deliver projects, and then support the transition of projects into a live. Due to this range of responsibilities, you will be someone with a technical background who also has a strong capability to communicate complicated technical matters with non-technical stakeholders. You will be commercially astute and balance the commercial needs of a project with that of its technical needs

You will be expected to play a key part in evolving the Agile process and tooling as part of continuous improvement activity with a focus on improving efficiency, quality and cost effectiveness. Outside of delivery activity, you will influence the strategic direction of the centre. Supporting communities of practice and knowledge sharing activities, as well as the career development of your mentees.

Key Responsibilities

Your responsibilities and role may vary from project to project and you will be confident and adaptable.

• Support bids and planning providing estimates and helping to assure bid documentation.
• Provide a contact point for engagement with the delivery centre and build relationships with key stakeholders from outside the delivery centre to improve the way the organisation engage with the delivery centre.
• Undertake the role of a Scrum Master within Agile projects or perform a more formal Development Manager/Technical PM
• Facilitate Scrum ceremonies (planning, sprint review, sprint demo etc) or project meetings, inviting the correct people and ensuring that the stakeholders understand and are able to execute their responsibilities.
• Assist the Product Owner/Customer/ Analyst in maintaining and prioritising requirements.
• Accountable for the allocation and tracking of work between the team members to ensure timeliness of the delivery and early escalation of issues.
• To remove barriers and impediments from the team so the team can operate effectively.
• To marshal the Application Lifecycle Management system ensuring the work is correctly broken down to the necessary granularity and ensuring that progress information is up to date at all times.
• To identify and manage risk within the delivery team.
• Provide a point of escalation and coordination for the Project Management community, over and above the day to day interaction as part of the sprint process.
• To own the environment in which the development team operates, continually looking for improvements in the physical environment, tools and approaches.
• To work with the operational teams to ensure that the products developed may be transitioned into operations smoothly and effectively.
• To evangelise and undertake coaching for Agile teams both within the organisation and to our clients.
• To provide necessary progress reports and interpretation and recommendations as a result of these reports.
• Line management of the Development team in a matrix environment. Overseeing the mentoring, coaching of team members and supporting their career progression.
• Maintain an accurate supply and demand forecast and ensure that the project team is prepared to meet the needs of the business.
• Strengthen the presence of our team as an Digital centre of excellence.

Mandatory Skills and Experience

• Agile development methods (e.g. Scrum / DSDM / XP / Kanban / SAFE)
• Expert understanding of Software Development lifecycle and best practices (TDD,BDD, source control. change management, requirements management, release management, environments control)
• Agile tooling (Jira etc)
• Automation (Continuous Integration)
• Professional Qualification (degree or significant industry experience)
• Experience of end to end solution development in a commercial environment
• Excellent inter-personal, negotiation, communication and conflict management skills
• Excellent analytical skills (listening, questioning, challenging, modelling etc.)
• Experience of delivering development projects on time and within budget.
• Able to brief up to Executive level with ease
• Able to chair and manage workshops and meetings

Other Desirable Skills and Experience

• Certified Scrum Master
• Experience surrounding the practical application of automated testing techniques (Cucumber, Selenium, QTP etc.)
• Experience surrounding the practical application of DevOps tooling and culture
• Commercial acumen and business development

Life at BAE Systems Digital Intelligence

We are embracing Hybrid Working. This means you and your colleagues may be working in different locations, such as from home, another BAE Systems office or client site, some or all of the time, and work might be going on at different times of the day. By embracing technology, we can interact, collaborate and create together, even when we’re working remotely from one another. Hybrid Working allows for increased flexibility in when and where we work, helping us to balance our work and personal life more effectively, and enhance well-being.

Diversity and inclusion are integral to the success of BAE Systems Digital Intelligence. We are proud to have an organisational culture where employees with varying perspectives, skills, life experiences and backgrounds – the best and brightest minds – can work together to achieve excellence and realise individual and organisational potential.

About BAE Systems Digital Intelligence

BAE Systems Digital Intelligence is home to 4,800 digital, cyber and intelligence experts. We work collaboratively across 16 countries to collect, connect and understand complex data, so that governments, nation states, armed forces and commercial businesses can unlock digital advantage in the most demanding environments.

Launched in 2022, Digital Intelligence is part of BAE Systems, and has a rich heritage in helping to defend nations and businesses around the world from advanced threats.