McLaren

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McLaren Automotive commits to equal opportunity for all. Diversity, Equality and Inclusion is at the heart of our impact, it drives our innovation and enables us to truly create something special. Join us on our journey. 

McLaren Automotive has introduced a high-performance Zonal Electrical and Electronic Architecture, embedding cutting-edge technologies such as Ethernet backbone, Over-The-Air software update, cybersecurity and AUTOSAR standardisation.   Electronic and Control Systems are fundamental to the performance of our vehicles and are highly influential to our customers’ perception of the quality of our products. 

This is a leadership role within the Software Development team, sitting alongside Principal Engineers responsible for the control systems in each functional domain.  You will be accountable to define the software development plans for multiple domains, into multiple platforms & vehicle programmes.   You will also proactively manage the plans, maintaining the backlog, identifying & managing risks, especially where they cross functional boundaries.

We are a small business with very technical team & the right candidate will have a strong technical understanding, enabling them to effectively identify risks & to challenge the experts’ approach to delivery.

• Work with the Lead Architect to define the content & priorities for each software platform, including ‘bottom-up’ content from the team as well as ‘top-down’ from the programme.
• Work with the Software Development Principal Engineers to estimate the effort & define the overall project schedule.   Resolve any issues between all stakeholders to ensure the result is a plan with the full commitment of the team to deliver against it.
• Support the Head of Software Development to optimise internal & external resource allocation across multiple projects & software domains.
• Identify & widely communicate the programme critical path & any potential blockers that will need the support of the management team to be resolved. 
• Monitor progress of software development against the plan, taking input from JIRA & other tracking tools.  Generate appropriate metrics & performance indicators to demonstrate status on all projects.  Report on status & project risks weekly - at Director level & to the delivery teams - with the right amount of detail & context for each audience.
• Manage interdependencies between teams and remove/avoid impediments. 
• Regularly review & refine the priorities in the software development backlog across multiple programmes & domains to enable the Principal Engineers’ sprint planning to be focused on the right long-term goals. 

·       Orchestrate the Change Review Boards responsible for approving content into each software release.   

• Experience of a full product lifecycle within automotive software, ideally within an ASPICE framework.
• Knowledge of recognised project management methodologies – eg. - Agile, Lean, Waterfall
• Strong technical understanding of the software development process & challenges, ideally using AUTOSAR basic software and MATLAB Simulink for control software development.
• Demonstrable track record of on-time delivery in a high-pressure environment.  Leading software or systems projects using agile methodologies within multi-disciplinary and diverse groups.
• Proven ability to apply risk management concepts.
• Experience working with distributed global engineering teams.
• Competent user of Microsoft Office products
• Experience using JIRA (or similar) for software project management is essential.
• Professional memberships or qualifications in project management methodologies e.g., CSM/APM/PMI/Prince2 are desirable but not essential.
• Experience working in a small or medium sized business is preferred.

·       Bachelor’s or Master’s degree (preferably 1st or upper 2nd) in Software, Electronic/Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering or other relevant engineering subject.

• An energetic, driven and goal-based leader with a passion for delivering challenging projects to exact and compact timescales with a significant amount of innovation and customer focus.  Proactive, tenacious & interested in managing the detail.
• Flexible and pragmatic, able to manage competing priorities and internal customer requests in a dynamic environment.  Adept at problem-solving and finding solutions to keep the team on track.
• Very strong communication and networking skills.  Confident influencing, motivating and leading engineering/project teams as well as harmonising with peers, senior management & internal customers. 
• Excellent negotiating skills, confident to have the difficult discussions & find the win-win with their peers in challenging project circumstances.
• Independent mindset with an appreciation of what ‘better’ looks like – able to suggest improvements to existing products, processes, or ways of working.
• Flexible approach to working hours/ business trips.