Development Manager

Company

Groupe Atlantic are a French family owned international organisation employing 8,000 people and boasting a turnover in excess of €2bn. They specialise in providing heating and ventilation products for both domestic and commercial markets.

The UK & ROI Division has several market leading brands including the household name Ideal Heating who manufacture in excess of 400,000 boilers per year. Recent activity has seen a drive to support its increasing focus on new and sustainable heating technologies.

Reporting to the R&D Director, the successful candidate will be responsible for the overall Development function within the R&D Thermodynamics team. This is an area with 10 Engineers at present however will have significant growth in terms of head count, growing responsibility and access to state-of-the-art facilities that are nearing completion.

The Development Manager must be a proven professional Engineering leader with a track record of managing Engineers, resources and deliverables. Combining mentoring and developing talent as well as technical project delivery are key elements within the balance of the role. The technical deliverables element will be a combination of New Product Introduction programs as well as coordinating research activities and collaboration activities with other areas of the wider Group.

Specific area of focus will be the Research and Development of future products in the area of Heat Pumps and related technologies that support the business transition to low carbon heating systems. Supporting the wider business team as part of the development function, the job holder will be responsible for all Development activities and will focus on the performance and validation aspects associated with developing Heat Pump technologies from concept through to market launch.

Opportunity:

• Effectively manage the Development function, coordinate activities that support NPI and Research activities. Prioritise workstreams and support the team with execution and timely delivery
• Establish workstream management methodologies that improve the prioritisation of activities within the team
• Report progress regularly, establish metrics to effectively communicate the status of activities across the team
• Input to the vision of the department, improvement initiative introduction, methodologies and continual improvement mindset department wide
• Collaborate with other departments and project stakeholders. Manage their expectations and adhere to commitments made
• Development of staff and facilitate the knowledge gaining, training, development of oneself and the wider team, identify emerging leaders within the department
• Grow knowledge within the technology sector and work towards becoming an industry expect
• Have robust experience and understanding of complex engineering principles and apply a theoretical and scientific approach to problem solving, idea generation and validation
• Promote innovation and advancement in technology and participate in specified research, design, and development activities
• Be an excellent communicator and facilitator. Ensure barriers between teams are removed and enable groups to come together and work towards a common goal
• Capable of thinking strategically and an ability to readily “zoom” in and out from situations to understand the micro and macro impact of decisions and R&D activities
• Function and excel in an international organisation with complex reporting lines and areas of responsibility

Person:

• 10 years plus relevant industrial experience with at least 5 years in a role of seniority where managing a team has been a significant element of the role
• Third level degree qualification in Engineering is essential, and a post graduate qualification or professional qualification is desirable
• Experience in project management, workstream management and workload prioritisation. Awareness of effective planning and implementation of design and development activities
• Strong analytical, problem solving and decision-making skills
• Team player with excellent communication and networking skills with strong drive and self-motivation
• Experience with refrigeration & HVAC systems, specifically in Heat Pump technologies is desirable
• Knowledge of thermodynamic principles associated with refrigeration cycles & hydronics is desirable
• Proactive approach to engineering and product development activities
• Logically minded with the ability to analyse and evaluate information quickly and accurately
• Able to perform well whilst working under pressure and to strict deadlines