We’re building the UK's next generation engineering powerhouse, providing critical technology that strengthens national security and resilience.
We specialise in turning advances in sensing, AI, and communications into operational capability for the edge, where connectivity may be degraded or denied. Our work focuses on accelerating the deployment of technology, improving decision-making for frontline teams, and protecting people and critical assets in demanding environments.
Headquartered in Bristol, Rowden employs around 160 people and operates over 20,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing facilities. We have a growing international footprint and are one of Europe’s fastest-growing engineering businesses.
The Role
We are looking for a Design Manager who is equal parts product leader, deliverer, and team builder. This is a hands-on hybrid role; part Product Owner, part Project Manager, part design lead. You will own a product line from strategy through delivery, managing the roadmap, translating customer needs into actionable requirements, and making trade-off decisions in ambiguous, fast-moving environments.
You won’t manage from a distance. You’ll get stuck in, sometimes diving into technical decisions, sometimes directly supporting your team, sometimes interfacing with customers on hard problems. You will report to the VP of Product and work alongside a Technical Lead who handles deeper engineering execution. But the accountability for delivery, quality, roadmap and customer satisfaction sits with you.
This role suits someone who thrives in unclear accountability structures, has delivered hardware products from concept to production, understands supply chain realities, and is not afraid to make decisions with incomplete information.
This role requires a minimum of 3 days per week on-site at our Bristol HQ.
Candidates must be eligible for SC clearance.
More information about security clearance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels
Product Leadership & Roadmap
- Own and develop the product roadmap aligned with market need and business strategy.
- Define a clear product vision, translating customer problems into actionable requirements.
- Prioritise features and capabilities across multiple platforms and constraints.
- Communicate vision clearly to cross-functional teams, customers, and stakeholders.
Delivery & Execution
- Manage hardware product delivery across the full lifecycle; concept, design, prototyping, production.
- Own schedule, quality, cost and technical risk across product lines.
- Make trade-off decisions between performance, cost, timeline and capability in ambiguous environments.
- Drive integration and manufacturing readiness; understand supply chain constraints and logistics.
- Ensure products meet specification, reliability, cost targets and customer expectations.
Team Leadership
- Build and lead a small team (design, engineering, and operations as needed).
- Be hands-on from day one, you will both lead and do, not just delegate.
- Support your team through technical decisions, problem-solving and career development.
- Work cross-functionally with engineering, manufacturing, supply chain and customer teams.
- Mentor engineers and establish a culture of accountability and pragmatism.
Customer & Market Engagement
- Maintain direct relationships with customers; understand their operational needs and constraints.
- Respond quickly to market feedback and customer requests.
- Contribute to go-to-market strategy, pricing, business cases and bid development.
- Advocate for customers inside Rowden; bring their voice to product decisions.
Risk & Quality Management
- Identify and escalate technical, schedule and supply chain risks early.
- Manage design and delivery risks proactively; tolerate ambiguity while driving clarity.
- Ensure quality and reliability standards are met; own test and validation strategy.
- Make pragmatic decisions when data is incomplete or timelines are tight.
What success looks like
Within the first 12–18 months, you will have:
- Delivered a product or product increment on time, to specification, within cost and quality targets.
- Established clear ownership of the roadmap and demonstrated responsiveness to customer/market feedback.
- Built a capable, engaged team with clear accountability and technical capability.
- Navigated supply chain complexity and cost optimization without compromising quality.
- Made multiple trade-off decisions that balanced competing priorities (performance vs. cost, speed vs. quality, scope vs. timeline).
- Earned trust from engineering, manufacturing, senior stakeholders and customer teams through pragmatic, honest delivery.
Essential
- Experience delivering hardware products from concept to production, with experience managing end-to-end product lifecycle.
- Track record of leading cross-functional teams through complex, multi-disciplinary delivery.
- Proven ability to prioritise, make trade-off decisions, and execute in resource-constrained or ambiguous environments.
- Strong understanding of supply chain, manufacturing, cost management and production logistics.
- Experience defining product requirements, managing roadmaps and translating customer needs into delivery.
Desirable
- Software product development or supporting software-hardware integration.
- RF, electronics or communications domain knowledge.
- Defence, aerospace or mission-critical systems background (familiar with compliance and demanding customers).
- Familiarity with agile delivery, rapid prototyping and iterative development.
Technical Capability
- You do not need to be an RF engineer or electronics expert, but you need to understand technical tradeoffs and be able to speak credibly with engineers about design decisions.
- Comfortable with ambiguity and incomplete information; able to drive decisions forward despite uncertainty.
- Pragmatic problem-solver who prioritises getting to a working solution over perfect planning.
About you
- You are pragmatic and decisive, comfortable making decisions with incomplete information.
- You want to own something real, a product, a roadmap, a delivery outcome, not just advise.
- You are willing to get stuck in, support your team directly, and push delivery forward yourself.
- You thrive in ambiguous, fast-moving environments and see unclear accountability as an opportunity, not a blocker.
- You respect engineering and understand that good design requires trade-offs, not perfection.
- You are committed to working from Rowden’s Bristol HQ at least three days per week.
We are committed to building a flexible, inclusive, and enabling company. Our aim is to create a diverse team of talented people with unique skills, experience, and backgrounds, so please apply and come as you are!
We also recognise the importance of flexible working and support this wherever we can. We typically operate a flexible, hybrid-working model, with an average 3 days in the office each week (dependent on the role). We welcome the opportunity to discuss flexibility, part-time working requirements and/or workplace adjustments with all our applicants.
Rowden is a Disability Confident Committed company, and we actively encourage people with disabilities and health conditions to apply for our roles. Please let us know your requirements early on so that we can make sure you have everything you need up front to help make the recruitment process and experience as easy as possible.
Finally, if you feel that you don’t meet all the criteria included above but have transferable skills and relevant experience, we’d still love to hear from you!
What matters to us?
- Our focus is on the end user. We exist to deliver the best possible outcomes for the users of our systems.
- Pace matters. The problems we solve are urgent.
- Our diverse skills and backgrounds make us better. Our team prides itself on being inclusive and multidisciplinary.
- We are radically honest. Saying what we mean, even when it isn’t easy.
- We are pragmatists. We provide realistic, focused solutions that get to the point.
- We improve continuously. We are relentless in our drive to make things better.
