Head of Manufacturing

SubSea Craft Limited; Portsmouth; On-site; GBP 75,000 - 85,000; Full time

Job summary

A maritime technology company in Portsmouth seeks a Head of Manufacturing to oversee production platforms. The role involves developing manufacturing capabilities, managing teams, and ensuring compliance with standards. Ideal candidates have extensive experience in electrical and mechanical manufacturing, excellent stakeholder management skills, and can adapt to regulatory requirements. The position offers a competitive salary and a range of employee benefits, including private healthcare and professional development opportunities.

Benefits

25 days annual leave

Private healthcare

Professional development

Qualifications

• Extensive experience with electrical and mechanical manufacturing to recognised standards.
• Experience integrating production engineering functions with manufacturing teams.
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Delivery of hardware and firmware inline with project and production needs.
• Establishing and improving supplier relationships to optimise value streams.
• Responsible for managing risks and monitoring resource allocation.

Skills

Electrical manufacturing

Mechanical manufacturing

Stakeholder management

Attention to detail

Digital workflows

Tools

Design software

Project management software

Job description

Head of Manufacturing

Full Time
Permanent
Salary: £75,000 – £85,000 (Dependant on experience)

Who we are: SubSea Craft is a fast growing, privately-funded, UK-based innovative maritime technology company specialising in next‑generation, high-performance watercraft and systems. We operate at the intersection of advanced engineering, cutting‑edge design, and user‑centric innovation, delivering safe, effective, and enabling solutions for both commercial and defence applications.

What We Offer

• Annual Leave – Entitlement to 25 days of annual leave plus bank holidays
• Wellbeing Day – An additional Wellbeing Day each year to focus on personal health and wellbeing.
• Private Healthcare – Access to comprehensive private healthcare coverage to support your physical and mental wellbeing.
• Life Assurance and Critical Illness Cover – Comprehensive protection including Life Assurance (4x salary) and Critical Illness Cover for added financial security.
• Family Leave – Enhanced maternity and paternity pay
• Christmas Leave – A Christmas shutdown is typically observed.
• Professional Development – Commitment to ongoing learning and career growth, supported by training programmes and access to LinkedIn Learning.
• Pension Contribution – pension scheme with the option to contribute via salary sacrifice
• Flexible Working – Opportunities for flexible working arrangements to promote work–life balance.
• Inclusive Culture – A professional environment that values diversity, innovation, and collaboration.

The Head of Manufacturing is a pivotal role in the delivery of prototype, pilot and production platforms. The role will be responsible for developing and upgrading the current manufacturing capability across multiple regions, both insourced and outsourced. With a wide remit to cover electrical, mechanical and composite disciplines, the role will also further develop and integrate the Production Engineering team. The Head of Manufacturing will take ownership of both development project delivery and volume production delivery.

Responsibilities Will Include

• Delivery of hardware and firmware inline with project and production needs
• Delivery of appropriate documentation and records to professional and recognised standards
• Establishing, implementing and continuously improving supplier relationships in order to optimise identified value streams
• Responsible for the management of risks and blockers, utilising a depth of experience and escalating where required
• Responsible for the monitoring of resource allocation and usage, to ensure strategic priorities are appropriately executed
• Responsible for the ongoing compliance to internal and external standards whether they be EHS, Quality or Regulatory standards
• Provide strategic plans and assessments for optimised delivery across the portfolio
• Set and manage departmental budgets
• Hiring and development of team members
• Line management to senior team members and wider cultural leadership across the business

Qualifications and Experience

• Extensive experience with electrical and mechanical manufacturing to recognised standards
• Extensive experience integrating production engineering functions with manufacturing teams
• Experience and understanding of defence and military manufacturing standards and reporting requirements
• Experience with compliance to regulatory bodies and the associated management of auditors
• Experience with digital workflows and the implementation of modern work spaces
• Experience of working across functions – including knowledge of commercial management, safety, best practice, supply chain, finance
• Excellent stakeholder management and communication skills
• Excellent attention to detail
• High level of proficiency with various design and project management software packages

Note: Due to the nature of work undertaken at SubSea Craft, the selected candidate must be capable of meeting the security requirements of the position, which would include as a minimum existing right to live and work in the UK, Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS), with UK National security clearance required for certain roles.*

Values

Our people are our greatest asset, we continually strive to provide an excellent working environment to enable our team to do their best work. We have an agile professional workforce: we are founded on the belief that our people are valued and our business is trusted, inclusive and commercially-adept.

What We Expect From You

• Teamwork, mutual respect and collaboration
• Initiative and independent working
• Honesty and integrity
• Business and commercial awareness
• Agility, adaptability and continuous development

We are committed to building an inclusive, diverse workplace where everyone can thrive. If you require any support or adjustments to interact with us, please let us know.

We regret that due to the high volume of applications we are unable to acknowledge every application. Please bear in mind that if you are selected for an interview we will aim to contact you within 14 days of your application or the closing date (if stated). However, if we think that your skills and qualifications may be suitable for other similar positions we may hold your details on our database and contact you in the future. Please let us know if you do not wish us to keep your details on file.

Please note that DBS, Driving Licence and reference checks will be carried out and all offers of employment are subject to meeting our requirements.