Lead Hardware Engineer – Electric Drive Systems

Location: Norfolk (Hybrid Working Available)

Salary: Competitive + Benefits

ARCA Resourcing is partnering with an innovative engineering business developing advanced electric drive technologies for automotive and mobility applications. Due to continued growth, they are seeking a Lead Hardware Engineer to take ownership of hardware development activities and lead the delivery of next-generation electric drive systems.

This is an excellent opportunity for an experienced engineer with strong technical leadership capabilities and a background in high-voltage power electronics, automotive product development and high-volume manufacturing.

The Role

As Lead Hardware Engineer, you will lead the design, development and delivery of production-ready hardware solutions for electric drive systems, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget and to the highest quality standards.

You will provide technical leadership to a team of hardware engineers while working closely with project management, software, systems, mechanical and manufacturing teams throughout the product lifecycle.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of high-voltage automotive hardware, including power electronics, control electronics, DC-DC converters, motor drive inverters and onboard charging systems.
• Own hardware delivery from concept through validation and production release.
• Define robust, scalable and cost-effective hardware architectures suitable for high-volume production.
• Lead and mentor a team of hardware engineers, supporting technical development and project delivery.
• Work closely with Project Managers to plan activities, manage risks and ensure programme milestones are achieved.
• Drive best practice in Design for Manufacture (DFM), Design for Cost (DFC) and FMEA activities.
• Support supplier engagement, component selection and new technology development.
• Lead cost reduction initiatives through design optimisation, value engineering and platform reuse strategies.
• Support Design Verification Plans (DVP), validation activities and root cause investigations.
• Ensure compliance with relevant safety, reliability and regulatory requirements.
• Promote structured development processes, strong documentation and continuous improvement across the engineering function.

About You

You will have a strong background in automotive electronics or power electronics development, combined with experience leading engineering teams and delivering products into production.

Essential Experience

• Proven experience designing complex high-voltage power electronic systems, ideally within automotive, electrification, motorsport or related industries.
• Experience with traction inverters, DC-DC converters, battery charging systems and associated control electronics.
• Strong understanding of high-volume product development, manufacturability, cost optimisation and production readiness.
• Experience leading engineering teams, allocating work and supporting project delivery.
• Knowledge of hardware architecture development, schematic design and component selection.
• Experience planning development activities, managing technical risks and supporting programme delivery.
• Strong understanding of validation, debugging, reliability and root cause analysis processes.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with software, firmware, systems, mechanical, manufacturing and quality teams.

Desirable Experience

• Experience working within automotive development environments.
• Knowledge of EMC, functional safety and regulatory compliance requirements.
• Exposure to supplier management, production launch activities and cost reduction programmes.

What's on Offer?

• Opportunity to lead the development of cutting-edge electric drive technologies.
• Significant technical ownership and influence across product development programmes.
• Collaborative and fast-paced engineering environment.
• Competitive salary and benefits package.

Please note: Unfortunately, visa sponsorship is not available for this position.

For further information or a confidential discussion, please apply or contact ARCA Resourcing.