HybridHybrid workplace in Dartford, United Kingdom.
Engineering ManagementEngineering Leadership
About the job
Requirements
Proven experience line-managing and growing software engineers, including performance management, coaching, team development, and leading teams through transformation and change.
Genuine embedded engineering credibility through prior work in areas such as C/C++, microcontrollers, and real-time operating systems; understanding of constraints, cadence, and hardware dependencies; and a track record of improving quality, testing culture, and reducing cognitive load.
Fluency with generative artificial intelligence is mandatory, including intensive use of Claude and the ability to advance organizational adoption.
Broad understanding of end-to-end systems spanning hardware, embedded software, Internet of Things, and cloud, with experience coordinating delivery across teams and differing release cadences, including embedded release management, over-the-air rollouts, and cloud continuous integration and continuous delivery.
Ability to establish embedded-software metrics, including release predictability, defect escape rate, over-the-air success and rollback rates, and cycle time within hardware constraints, and use facts to drive decisions.
Ability to work across development and operations, collaborate closely with Product Management, and use Objectives and Key Results to set direction and measure outcomes.
Ability to guide teams through uncertainty and change with emotional intelligence and empathy.
Ability to coordinate engineering delivery, improve practices, and lead a team through change.
Hands-on exposure to embedded real-time systems, development tools, and software engineering methods is desirable.
Experience with embedded Linux and real-time operating systems such as Zephyr is desirable.
Experience developing code for microcontrollers such as STM32 and Nordic nRF is desirable.
Knowledge of low-level communication protocols such as Bluetooth Low Energy, Universal Asynchronous Receiver-Transmitter, Inter-Integrated Circuit, and Serial Peripheral Interface is desirable.
Ability to read printed circuit board schematics and use hardware debugging tools such as J-Link is desirable.
Knowledge of secure coding principles and cybersecurity for connected embedded devices is desirable.
Experience in lighting or building environments, including embedded systems, connected devices, lighting controls, smart buildings, and protocols or standards such as DALI-2/D4i, DMX, Bluetooth Mesh, Zigbee, Thread, and BACnet is desirable.
Exposure to AWS IoT products or platforms is desirable.
Experience with product portfolios of mixed maturity, balancing investment in established products and next-generation development, is desirable.
Experience in international or multi-site engineering organizations and bringing teams together across locations is desirable.
Responsibilities
Line-manage the embedded software team and own performance, coaching, and team development.
Drive engineering delivery and support coordination and collaboration across teams operating at different rhythms, including embedded release management and over-the-air rollouts alongside cloud continuous integration and continuous delivery.
Improve embedded software development practices, engineering standards, quality, testing, and delivery discipline.
Establish and use metrics relevant to the embedded domain and drive decisions based on facts.
Support transformation and change across the software organization.
Build stronger collaboration across sites, remove silos, and encourage shared ownership.
Partner closely with Product Management on the roadmap, priorities, and trade-offs.
Drive and support artificial intelligence adoption across the team and organization, leading by example.
Coordinate engineering delivery, improve practices, and lead the team through change.
Build trust with engineers and stakeholders; lead with clarity, empathy, and accountability; foster community and belonging; challenge constructively; and create a culture of collaboration, ownership, and continuous improvement.
The Engineering Manager at Helvar:
We’re looking for an engineering leader to manage, grow, and inspire our embedded software team, and to help us build a more unified, higher-performing engineering culture across our sites. The priority is people leadership, engineering leadership, and delivery ownership. You’ll coordinate delivery, raise the bar on how we build embedded software, and lead the team through real change.
This matters most because we’re building the next generation of our offering - an end-to-end system that spans hardware, embedded, IoT, and cloud. That program lives or dies on alignment, coordination, and cross-team collaboration, so we need a leader who understands how the whole system fits together, not just their own layer. We believe high performance and genuine care for people reinforce each other rather than compete: teams that feel trusted, that belong to something, and that are led by example are the ones that deliver their best work. We want someone who is excited by transforming an engineering organisation into a high-performing one, who can instil a sense of community and belonging, and who leads from the front. If that’s the kind of leader you are, this is a role where you can leave a mark.
This person must be able to coordinate engineering delivery, improve practices, and lead the team through change. The priority is people leadership, engineering leadership, and delivery ownership rather than purely hands-on technical expertise.
The successful candidate will be expected to help remove country-based silos between the UK and Finland, building a stronger “One Helvar” mindset across teams.
The ideal candidate will be an experienced engineering leader with a strong technical background and proven people management experience.
They should be confident leading teams, improving delivery, and influencing engineering culture.
They do not need to be the deepest technical expert in the room, but they must have enough technical credibility to understand software, hardware integration, infrastructure, security, testing, quality, and the full software development lifecycle.
This person should be comfortable working in a complex technical environment with Embedded Software.
What you'll be doing as our Engineering Manager
The Engineering Manager will be responsible for:
Line-manage the embedded software team; own performance, coaching, and team development.
Drive engineering delivery and support coordination and collaboration across teams - including teamsoperatingat different rhythms (embedded release management and OTA rollouts vs. cloud CI/CD).
Improve embedded software development practices, engineering standards, quality, testing, and delivery discipline.
Establish and use the right metrics for the embedded domain; drive decisions from facts, not opinions.
Support transformation and change across the software organisation.
Build stronger collaboration across sites, removing silos and encouraging shared ownership.
Partner closely with Product Management on roadmap, priorities, and trade-offs.
Drive and support AI adoption across the team and organisation, leading by example.
What experiance we are looking for:
The candidate must have:
Proven experience line-managing and growing software engineers - performance management, coaching, team development - and leading teams through transformation and change.
Genuine embedded engineering credibility: you’ve done the work (e.g. C/C++, microcontrollers, RTOS), you understand its constraints, cadence, and hardware dependencies, you know what good looks like, and you have a track record of improving engineering practices (quality, testing culture, reducing cognitive load) - even if you’re not a recent hands-on expert in every tool.
Fluency with generative AI is mandatory. We use Claude, and we want someone who works with generative AI seamlessly and intensively as part of how they operate - and who can take our people andorganisationto the next level of AI adoption.
Broad understanding of end-to-end systems spanning hardware, embedded, IoT, and cloud, with proven experience coordinating and aligning delivery across teams working at different rhythms (embedded release management and OTA alongside cloud CI/CD) - enough to drive the alignment a next-generation program demands, without being the expert in any single layer.
Able to put in place metrics genuinely relevant to embedded software - release predictability, defect escape rate, OTA success androllbackrates, cycle time within hardware constraints - and to drive decisions from facts rather than opinion (DORA-style delivery metrics don’t map cleanly here).
Thinks across the development and operations boundary, collaborates closely with Product Management, and is comfortable using OKRs to set direction and measure outcomes.
High emotional intelligence and empathy, with the ability to guide teams through uncertainty and change.
Nice-to-Have Experience
Hands-on exposure to embedded real-time systems, development tools, and software engineering methods.
Embedded Linux; RTOS such as Zephyr.
Understandingof developing code for microcontrollers such as STM32 and NordicnRF.
Low-level communication protocols such as BLE, UART, I2C, and SPI.
Reading PCB schematics and using hardware debugging tools such as J-Link.
Secure coding principles and cybersecurity for connected embedded devices.
Experience in lighting/building environments - embedded systems, connected devices, lighting controls, smart buildings - and their protocols and standards (e.g. DALI-2/D4i, DMX, wireless mesh such as Bluetooth Mesh / Zigbee / Thread, BACnet).
AWS IoT product or platform exposure.
Product portfolios with mixed maturity - balancing investment across established products and next-generation development.
International or multi-site engineering organisations, and bringing teams together across locations.
Leadership Style Required
We’re looking for a strong leader more than a purely technical specialist - someone who gets the best out of people by caring about them and by holding a high bar at the same time.
The right person should be able to:
Build trust quickly with engineers and stakeholders.
Lead with clarity, empathy, and accountability.
Instil a sense of community and belonging, and lead by example.
Challenge constructively and drive performance without creating fear.
Be honest and kind.
Help teams navigate uncertainty and change.
Create a culture of collaboration, ownership, and continuous improvement.
Why Helvar:
We value your growth: With a wide range of online learning opportunities and internal mobility, you’ll have the tools and support to advance your career.
Autonomy and balance: Our culture is built on trust, offering you autonomy in your role while promoting a healthy work-life balance and benefiting from a supportive and collaborative environment.
Wellbeing at the heart: Whether it’s our products for customers or how we care for our team, wellbeing is our top priority. We offer a dedicated Wellbeing Day every year, and all employees can take advantage of our weekly Empower Hour for wellbeing, community, or learning activities.
A company you can trust: With over 100 years of history, we’re a stable, family-owned Finnish company that’s growing across our international locations.
If you’re excited to drive innovation, shape Helvar’s future, and grow in a company with a rich history and forward-thinking mindset, we want to hear from you!
Apply to join our team of talented and innovative experts!
If you’d like to join the Helvar family, please apply for this vacancy through our Careers site at helvar.com/careers by 31st October 2026. We have included a few questions in the application form that we hope you won’t mind answering.
We will be continuously interviewing candidates during the application period and will fill the position as soon as we find the right match!
For additional information on the role, please contact our Talent Acquisition & Development Manager: Ben Fryer [email protected] who will get in touch with you shortly.
In the meantime, please give us a follow on Instagram: @lifeathelvar
The Helvar Promise to You!
At Helvar, we’re determined to improve the wellbeing of people in every space - including our own employees. We promise you conditions that foster your personal growth and help you achieve your full potential. As a tight-knit company with a family ethos, we’re proud to see that Helvarians care deeply about our customers, our partners, our planet and each other. Our drive to create a better working environment is part of what we call Brighter Spaces.
We trust your vision! "Over the last 100 years, we've become experts at innovation. It's part of our culture. Together we evolve and adapt our solutions to create perfect conditions.“
We invest in you! "As we spend 1/3 of our life at work, it's important to have fun! We work in a friendly, easy-going atmosphere, and we're focused on improving your wellbeing. We celebrate a learning culture and promote Bright Ideas.”
You have the freedom to impact! “People help shape our success. This allows us to be true leaders. With your ideas, we're focused on achieving a brighter, sustainable future for generations to come.”
We’re with you all the way!
About Helvar
Helvar is an international lighting technology company delivering intelligent, energy-efficient lighting solutions for smart, sustainable buildings. By combining advanced lighting controls, environmental sensing, and digital services, Helvar helps create healthier, more productive spaces while reducing energy consumption and supporting long-term sustainability goals.
For more than 100 years, Helvar has been at the forefront of lighting innovation, enabling buildings to operate more intelligently through data-driven insights, seamless system integration, and future-ready technology. With offices in Finland, the UK, Poland, and Sweden, and a global partner network spanning more than 80 countries, Helvar provides local expertise backed by international reach.
With over 300,000 projects delivered worldwide across a wide range of industries and applications, Helvar offers wired, wireless, and hybrid lighting control solutions, environmental sensing technologies, and a cloud-based digital services platform. Together, these solutions form a comprehensive end-to-end ecosystem that helps customers optimise building performance, enhance occupant wellbeing, and achieve their sustainability ambitions.
Helvar Recruitment Equality and Diversity Disclaimer
At Helvar, we are committed to creating a workplace that promotes a culture of equality, respect, and opportunity for all.
We welcome applications from individuals of all backgrounds, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, or any other characteristic protected by law. We value the unique perspectives and experiences that each individual brings to our team and encourage everyone to apply.
If you require any accommodations during the recruitment process, please do not hesitate to get in touch.