Role: Chief Programme Engineer 

Location: Midlands/Shoreham by the Sea

 

Our vision is to create a safe and sustainable world

Automotive and Industrial is one of Ricardo plc’s five operating business units and is a trusted global engineering services partner for clean and efficient integrated propulsion and energy systems. Our experience and history over more than 100 years at the forefront of mobility innovation enables us to deliver solutions to the most complex challenges, allowing our customers across all global transport sectors to achieve a sustainable zero-carbon future.

 

Purpose:

Chief Programme Engineering at Ricardo, working alongside a Chief Engineer, you will be responsible for leading complex multi-disciplinary projects, managing risk and Ricardo’s commercial exposure.  Development of compelling engineering proposals with a hit rate >20%, whilst ensuring that all projects are completed to time, cost and quality requirements, whilst achieving high levels of customer satisfaction. You will be:             

Leading the lead (bid / no bid) qualification processes
Understanding and documenting our competitive differentiators and proposal critical success factors
Leading bid teams to develop compelling and competitive proposals
Leading development of costed, Microsoft Project delivery plans and associated risk assessments
Leading Deal Review, Pricing Approval, Group Approval and Unlimited Liability Board Approval processes based on a firm knowledge of Ricardo processes
Supporting Business Development in closing deals through refining our offer based on customer discussion and supporting the Business Development negotiation process
As the senior customer interface for projects, you will establish strong and effective customer relationships and will be responsible for delivering excellent levels of customer service
Working directly with customers and Ricardo engineers, you will ensure that project objectives and scope are known, understood and achievable
Ensuring effective project communication and coordination between all project participants including clients, vendors, Ricardo leadership, and all other Ricardo departments
Proactively leading management risks and opportunities throughout both bid and project delivery
Driving efficiency of project delivery whilst monitoring project progress, timing, costs and resources; resolving issues and escalating as required
Managing and monitoring project scope and leading customer negotiations on changes 
Ensuring projects are delivered in adherence to Ricardo’s internal project management processes and procedures
Leading internal and external project reviews
Monitors and supervises daily activities, sets priorities to ensure task completion, focus on departmental objectives.
Identifying, capturing and sharing lessons learned to drive continuous improvement
Grow Ricardo’s internal project management capability by supporting and mentoring more junior team members
May have management responsibility for personnel matters. 
Depending on the project worked on, the role will involve some travel. 

 

Key accountabilities:

Essential

With a passion for delivering solutions to customers, you will be able to demonstrate a track record of successfully leading and delivering technically complex bids and projects in a multi-disciplinary, matrixed, engineering environment
As all our projects are delivered to external customers it is essential that you are commercially astute and have significant experience managing the commercial delivery of external customer projects. This includes identifying, managing and mitigating commercial risks within contractual terms and Statements of Work and leading customer negotiations during project delivery, particularly in relation to scope change.
You will demonstrate excellent communication skills
As a leader you will be self-aware and will be able to create high performance teams by engaging your teams at both a team and individual level
You will be resilient, leading and supporting your project teams with respect and integrity within a fast paced and dynamic business environment.
Excellent presentation, proposal and report writing skills
Excellent numerical and analytical capability
Highly proficient with MS Applications including Word, Excel Powerpoint and Project
A desire to help your peers and colleagues and drive continuous improvement

 

Valuable

Experience of delivering engineering development projects in the fields of: power electronics, batteries, electric motors and, or, fuel cell systems
Be degree-qualified in a relevant scientific, technical, engineering and, or, business discipline
Knowledge and experience of delivering projects using system engineering processes and gateways
Affiliation with a recognized professional programme management body (PMI or APM)
Experience of Product Management

 

Working here

Ricardo is an exciting and rewarding place to work and you have the opportunity to make a difference. You will work with teams of talented, dedicated, and supportive individuals. Alongside having a fantastic opportunity to develop your career with us through our broad range of projects, mentoring opportunities and a personalised approach to your learning and development. We are always keen to hear from people who have driven, ambition and a flair for innovative thinking.

 

Wellbeing and work life balance

We offer flexible approaches to work, whether that's working from home, being in the office, or as a hybrid worker. We're happy to discuss flexible working arrangements. Wellbeing is at the core to our culture, allowing employees to flourish and to achieve their full potential. Our People are important to us, and we take pride in our wellbeing programmes and policies that support individuals including flexible working, carers policy, mental health first aiders and readily available support through our extensive Employee Assistance programme.

 

Diversity, Equality and Inclusion statement

We are an Equal Opportunity Employer, we believe in each person's potential, and we'll help you reach yours. We have an ambitious diversity, equality, and inclusion approach as explained here. We value diversity; recognising that a more diverse workforce creates a richer and more varied working environment. Diversity also drives innovation, by allowing us to offer our clients the best consultancy service that we can. As part of our commitment to engage positively and pro-actively with all our employees to ensure an inclusive culture, we are a recognised as a 'disability confident' employer.

 

Benefits

Our core benefits include 25 days' annual leave, plus 8 flexible bank holidays, a competitive company pension scheme, life assurance and professional subscriptions reimbursement. We also offer a wide range of flexible benefits to suit your lifestyle.

 

Once you have submitted your application a member of our Recruitment Team will be in touch. Please be aware that the timing can vary dependent on the volume of applications that we receive for each role and in some cases, we may start to review applications prior to the closing date.