Head of Electrical Engineering

Description

Your new role

Hitachi Rail have an exciting opportunity for a technically minded, people focused manager to join our Rolling Stock Engineering team as the Head of Electrical Engineering. As the Head of Electrical Engineering you have a strong passion for people development along with prior experience of delivering results within the rolling stock environment which in-turn will focus you in helping drive and scope an over-all high performing, efficient and solution focused team ensuring the delivery of company goals and objectives are met. This is a diverse position in which the Head of Electrical Systems Engineering’s scope will cover both functional and operational system functionalities therefore the successful candidate must have a rolling stock systems background.

The Head of Electrical Engineering will interface with both internal and external stakeholders, ranging from internal sale, projects and our wider global engineering teams but also the end customer along with various sub-contractors and suppliers. It is essential to be successful in this role you must have previous customer facing experience and effective stakeholder management skills to align all parties’ expectations.

This is a fantastic opportunity for a forward thinking, strategically minded individual where you will join the organisation and really be able to make an impact. You will have autonomy within your dedicated area to create new ways of working, building more efficiencies and help to push the team forward and must be comfortable making these decisions. You will thrive on working collaboratively in an evolving, sometimes challenging environment whilst always remaining focused on the overall goal.

Due to the nature of this role candidates must be flexible with regular travel to other UK Hitachi Rail sites as well as limited international travel (potentially 2-3 times annually) when required.

Who we are

Hitachi Rail is a fully integrated, global provider of rail solutions across rolling stock, signalling, service & maintenance, digital technology and turnkey. With a presence in 38 countries across three continents and over 13,000 employees, our mission is to contribute to society through the continuous development of superior rail transport solutions. We are working to Inspire the Next – and this is your chance to be part of it.

At Hitachi Rail you will find a passionate and collaborative environment. We operate according to our values of Harmony, Sincerity and Pioneering Spirit. As such, we work closely as a team and empower our colleagues to take ownership and become creative in our pursuit of excellence. We take pride in the contribution we make to society and we always act with integrity and fairness towards our customers, suppliers and colleagues.

Why Hitachi Rail?

Here at Hitachi Rail we value the importance of all of our employees, if you would like to join our fantastic organisation you could be entitled to:

• Competitive salary
• Annual Performance bonus paid on discretionary basis.
• 25 days holiday
• Pension scheme with contributions up to 9%
• Private medical insurance
• Personal Accident insurance
• Group Income protection
• Group Life Insurance
• Employee Assistance Programme

We also offer additional perks for you to choose from within a flexible plan that will meet your specific needs and lifestyle.

About you…

Applicants should be able to demonstrate all of the essential requirements listed below:

Essential

• Vast experience of systems engineering within the rolling stock environment.
• Strong leadership and management experience within a technical, rolling stock environment.
• Extensive experience of building and leading the engineering team(s) and people to establish good engineering department.
• Flexible and forward thinking, able to lead and operate effectively in a period of organisational expansion.
• Excellent communication and negotiation skills based on technical background with demonstrable experience of dealing with customer, supplier and stakeholder bodies.
• Extensive experience gained from a rolling stock design or maintenance and operations environment.
• Knowledge and understanding of the European and Railway Group Standards and other railway specific engineering standards.
• Must have experience of managing UK railway systems engineering requirements and standards.
• Experienced in all phases of a project, from bid through design, development, integration, test acceptance, delivery and operational development.
• Experience of monitoring and encouraging the personal development of team members

Desirable Requirements

• Japanese or Italian Language / exposure to Japanese or Italian business culture
• Previous experience with working with Board members
• Experience of working with a Global / International remit.
• Chartered Engineer or working towards

Role responsibilities…

• Effective management of Electronics, Electrical and Process / Software Engineering teams to satisfy all relevant internal and external stakeholders to achieve company goal and successfully deliver of products.
• Ensure their function has a high-level interface with all global engineering teams, define scope of work and responsibility, and manage gaps for each project.
• Establish strategic proactive development plan of their functions to ensure future proof design to support rapid growth of company.
• Effective management of engineering resources to satisfy internal customers (Sales, Project Management, NAY manufacturing, procurement and Service Delivery Team), and all the external stakeholders to achieve company goals.
• Effectively manage their functions annual and project specific budgets, costs, and to ensure these remain within allocation.
• Take engineering lead on allocated live projects, and take ownership of the 1st level of escalation.
• Communicate with other department heads openly/ faithfully to establish good network and efficient process.
• Lead product development proactively to support sales activity and opportunities. Responsible for validation of bid submission contents.
• Inspire and motivate their functions to challenge and solve issues or to improve efficiency for future company growth, based on Hitachi Values (Harmony, Sincerity and Pioneering Spirit).
• Establish and manage a Cyber Security team to meet the demands of new projects, whilst working with internal stakeholders.
• Establish Software Development team and process to achieve SIL2 accreditation and manage all database production for the UK fleets without reliance on global partners.
• Establish and manage an effective team to work on end-to-end design, providing technical support to all other stakeholders during testing and post-production work.
• Establish and manage an effective team to carry out advance engineering work, to allow our future builds to be more innovative and competitive in the UK market.
• Attend the industry events/conferences/meetings arranged by DfT, NR, ATOC, RIA, Future Rail, RSSB, IMechE, IET, etc., making presentation if necessary to support local society development.

If you like the sound of the above and feel energised by the idea of joining a great brand at a moment of exciting expansion, please apply now. We look forward to hearing from you!