Job Title: Engineering Director – Marine Sector
Location: Various UK Sites + Hybrid Working Arrangements
Compensation: Competitive + Benefits
Role Type: Full time / Permanent
Role ID: SF
Lead engineering that protects what matters most.
At Babcock, we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together. If you join us, you can play your part as an Engineering Director within our Marine Sector at any of our main UK locations, near major commutable hubs across the country.
The role
As our Engineering Director for the Marine sector, you will set the technical vision and lead end‑to‑end engineering excellence across complex, safety‑critical defence and maritime programmes. It is work with purpose—shaping naval capability, strengthening national resilience and advancing the technologies that keep people safe—while accelerating your own leadership impact and career growth. You’ll join an organisation known for “lifetime engineering” and careers “engineered with purpose,” with the scale and backing to deliver at pace. With a strong focus on shipbuilding in the UK and internationally, this role will provide strategic leadership of the whole engineering function across the whole shipbuilding lifecycle – from concept and design through to manufacturing, integration and in service support.
This role requires deep shipbuilding engineering expertise with a proven track record of leading large scale technical teams with strong commercial and stakeholder leadership in a defence/marine environment.
Day-to-day, you’ll have the following responsibilities:
1. Lead a whole‑of‑business engineering strategy—people, processes and tools—to deliver high‑quality capability for internal and external customers.
2. Hold Company Technical Authority for the sector, governing engineering assurance, safety and regulatory alignment across all technical activity.
3. Champion robust engineering governance and transparent links across global programmes, building capacity and coverage where it matters most.
4. Represent engineering at executive level, shaping long‑term direction and investment priorities.
5. Influence senior stakeholders—customers, regulators and partners—through clear, data‑driven decisions and collaborative leadership.
Essential experience of the Engineering Director – Marine:
6. Executive accountability for a sector, business unit, country or major corporate function.
7. Significant experience in shipbuilding or maritime engineering leadership.
8. Proven ability to develop, establish and approve long‑term vision and strategy.
9. Board or executive committee influence (or equivalent) with enterprise‑wide impact.
10. Primary accountability for strategic direction and leadership of a sector/function.
11. Deep understanding of economic, commercial and political factors affecting company and industry performance; anticipates trends and builds collaborative relationships to deliver results.
Qualifications for the Engineering Director – Marine:
12. Essential: Degree (or equivalent experience) in engineering or a closely related technical discipline.
13. Preferred: Chartered Engineer (or international equivalent); evidence of senior leadership development (e.g., MBA, executive programmes).
14. Preferred: Demonstrable expertise in regulated, safety‑critical environments (defence, aerospace, or marine).
Security Clearance
The successful candidate must be a sole UK National who is able to achieve and maintain Security Check (SC) security clearance for this role.
Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at Babcock
We’re Babcock — a global FTSE organisation with over 26, people working together to make a difference.
Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.
We call that lifetime engineering.
Join us and see how far we can go, together.
We are a disability confident committed employer.