| Detail | For this role |
|---|---|
| Department | Engineering |
| Level | Senior management |
| Reports to | Managing Director |
| Direct reports | Engineering Manager (Projects), Design Engineering Manager, Service Manager |
| Experience | 15+ years in engineering with 6 years managing teams and budgets |
General Manager Engineering job description template
Copy this job description, replace the text in square brackets and post it on your careers page or a job portal.
Job title: General Manager Engineering
Department: Engineering
Reports to: Managing Director
Location: [City], [office, branch or site]
About the role
A General Manager Engineering runs the whole engineering function as a business. They own delivery, budgets, resourcing and quality across all projects or product lines, and answer for engineering to the management board. The role turns the order book into completed, profitable engineering work. A good GM keeps utilization high, protects margins, builds discipline leads and makes sure design, projects and service pull in one direction.
Key responsibilities
- Own the engineering department budget, headcount plan and utilization targets for the financial year.
- Set delivery commitments with sales and clients, and hold discipline managers to schedule and cost.
- Review project engineering health weekly and step in where cost, quality or timeline is at risk.
- Approve major engineering spends, tool purchases, software licences and outsourcing of design packages.
- Build the leadership bench by hiring, grooming and retaining discipline managers and senior engineers.
- Standardize design processes, checklists and templates so quality does not depend on individuals.
- Drive productivity through reuse of designs, standard products and better planning of engineering hours.
- Represent engineering feasibility and cost in bid reviews and management meetings.
- Own engineering compliance with statutory approvals, safety norms and appointment letters for the team under the OSH Code.
Requirements
- Bachelor's degree in engineering (BE or BTech)
- MBA or postgraduate management qualification is an advantage
- Strong record of leading engineering teams
- 15+ years in engineering with 6 years managing teams and budgets
KRAs and KPIs for a General Manager Engineering
Key result areas for the appraisal form, each with a KPI you can measure every month or quarter.
| Key result area | How to measure it |
|---|---|
| Delivery | 90 percent of engineering deliverables released on the committed date each quarter |
| Cost control | Engineering man-hour cost held within the approved project budget |
| Utilization | Billable engineering utilization at or above 80 percent each month |
| Quality | Design related site rework below 3 percent of engineering hours |
| Talent retention | Voluntary attrition among senior engineers below 12 percent a year |
| Bid support | Engineering inputs for bids submitted within the agreed review window |
Skills and tools
Tools used day to day: MS Project or Primavera, ERP module for projects, AutoCAD and 3D CAD, MS Excel, Business review dashboards.
Reporting line and career path
Next roles: Vice President Engineering, Chief Operating Officer, Business Unit Head
Interview questions for a General Manager Engineering
- How do you plan engineering headcount and utilization for a variable order book?
- A project is running over on engineering hours. How do you find and fix the cause?
- How do you standardize design quality without slowing your senior engineers?
- Walk me through how you decide to outsource a design package instead of doing it in house.
- How do you retain strong discipline managers in a competitive market?
- What engineering metrics do you take to the management board every month?
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What does a General Manager Engineering do?
A General Manager Engineering leads the engineering function as a business unit. They own budgets, resourcing, delivery and quality across projects, set commitments with clients and sales, groom discipline managers and report engineering performance to the board. The aim is to convert the order book into completed engineering work on time and on cost.
What is the difference between a GM Engineering and a Technical Director?
The GM Engineering runs day to day delivery, people and budgets of the engineering department. The Technical Director sets technology direction, standards and long term capability, often from the board. One owns execution and numbers this year, the other owns technical strategy for the years ahead.
What qualifications does a GM Engineering need?
A BE or BTech in a core discipline plus long engineering and project experience is the base. Many hold an MBA or a management qualification for the budgeting and people side. A track record of delivering projects on time and leading managers matters most.