Director Next Generation Architecture - Aerospace & Defense

About the Role

We're looking for an Engineering Leader who is equal parts technical leader and people leader — and who sees AI as a fundamental part of how modern software is built, not a bolt-on. This is a player-coach role — you'll lead one or more autonomous product teams while maintaining the technical depth of a Principal Engineer or Architect. You won't just manage engineers; you'll guide architectural decisions, set the technical bar, and help shape how we build enterprise software at IFS.

AI fluency is central to this role. You'll be expected to drive AI adoption across your teams — from AI-assisted development workflows that accelerate delivery, to AI-powered product capabilities that create customer value. You need to understand AI/ML integration patterns (RAG, agentic architectures, evaluation harnesses), guide your engineers in using AI tools effectively and responsibly, and ensure your teams can build, test, and validate AI-driven features. This isn't about hype — it's about making AI a practical, embedded part of how your teams work and what they ship.

Your teams own the full delivery lifecycle — design, development, testing, deployment, and operations. You'll ensure they have the clarity, context, and conditions to deliver great work, while taking direct responsibility for hiring, developing, and retaining the engineers on your teams.

This is not a role for managers who have left the code behind. You'll be expected to participate in design reviews, evaluate architectural trade-offs, unblock complex technical problems, and stay hands-on with modern engineering practices — including the AI tools and techniques your teams use daily.

What You'll Do

• Lead and grow engineers — hire, onboard, coach, and develop Software Engineers across the full career ladder, from associate through to senior lead level
• Own delivery outcomes — ensure your teams deliver high-quality software at a sustainable pace, balancing technical quality with business value
• Drive technical quality — participate in architectural reviews, guide technology choices, and ensure teams follow modern engineering practices (CI/CD, automated testing, observability, infrastructure as code)
• Champion AI fluency — drive adoption of AI-assisted development across your teams, ensure engineers can build and validate AI-powered product features, and foster a culture where AI is a practical tool, not a buzzword
• Remove obstacles — resolve cross-team dependencies, shield teams from organizational noise, and ensure engineers can focus on what matters
• Shape engineering culture — foster continuous learning, healthy debate, and a "you build it, you run it" mindset
• Partner cross-functionally — work closely with Product Management, Design, Architecture, and senior leadership to align technical execution with product strategy
• Develop specialisms — help engineers identify and grow deep expertise in areas such as front-end, back-end, data engineering, applied AI, platform/SRE, security, and more