Role Overview
This is a brilliant opportunity for an experienced Design Engineering leader who enjoys bringing order to complexity, supporting talented engineers, and ensuring design activity is planned, visible, controlled and delivered across multiple programmes.
As Design Office Manager, you will lead the day‑to‑day coordination and delivery of design engineering activity across a portfolio of development, production support and aftermarket programmes. You will work closely with the Chief Design Engineer, Senior Product Engineers and the Programme Management Office, helping ensure engineering priorities are clear, resources are aligned, risks are visible and deliverables remain on track. While technical authority and design approval will remain with the Chief Design Engineer and Senior Product Engineers, you will be the person ensuring the design office runs effectively, efficiently and with strong governance.
In this role, you will sit at the heart of design engineering delivery, help talented engineers do their best work, strengthen how programmes are executed, and support products that contribute to the future of aerospace. If you are an engineering leader who thrives on structure, collaboration and making complex design environments run smoothly, this is your opportunity to make a real impact.
Responsibilities
- Lead and develop a team of Senior Design Engineers and Product Support Engineers
- Coordinate engineering workload across multiple concurrent programmes
- Manage engineering capacity, resource allocation and delivery priorities
- Monitor progress against programme schedules, budgets and milestones
- Identify resource conflicts, delivery risks and schedule pressures early
- Support development, production and aftermarket design change activity
- Promote a collaborative, accountable and high‑performing engineering culture
- Ensure adherence to design processes, standards and engineering governance
- Support configuration management and control of engineering data within PLM/PDM systems
- Monitor KPIs relating to process adherence, design milestones and change control
- Build better data capture and reporting methods to improve visibility
- Drive continuous improvement across engineering coordination, standards and delivery efficiency
Qualifications
- Significant experience within Design Engineering, ideally within aerospace or another regulated engineering environment
- Experience leading or managing engineering teams
- Strong experience delivering product development programmes
- Confidence coordinating engineering activities across multiple projects at once
- A strong understanding of design processes, governance and configuration management
- Experience managing engineering deliverables within a structured product development lifecycle
- Strong planning, workload management and resource allocation skills
- The ability to identify risks, manage competing priorities and resolve resource conflicts
- Excellent stakeholder management, communication and organisational skills
- A structured, process‑led approach to engineering delivery
- Awareness of how engineering decisions affect cost, schedule, certification and programme performance
Preferred Experience
- Experience in aircraft interiors, cabin systems or aerospace electrical/electronic products
- Aerospace certification and design assurance environments
- Engineering process improvement or organisational development
- Multidisciplinary engineering teams across mechanical, electrical, electronics or software disciplines
- Production support, aftermarket engineering or product lifecycle support
- APQP or equivalent design assurance and development systems, a degree in Engineering, Management or a related technical discipline, or equivalent industry experience
- Strong experience within a Design Engineering environment
- Previous experience in engineering leadership, management or operational delivery roles
- For technical engineering positions, a STEM‑related background is typically expected, unless prohibited by local laws or regulations
Company Information
Our WASP Switches site in Havant plays a key role in the design and delivery of advanced aircraft interior lighting and switching products used across the aerospace industry. We are now looking for a Design Office Manager to provide the operational leadership, structure and coordination that keeps design engineering moving with purpose, pace and precision.
Collins Aerospace, an RTX business, is a global leader in technologically advanced and intelligent aerospace solutions. Across RTX, 185,000 people are united by a shared purpose: solving complex problems and helping connect and protect the world.
