Engineering & Innovation Manager

Engineering & Innovation Manager | Perth, WA | $200,000 - $220,000 + Super | Confidential Client

Keystone People Solutions is recruiting on behalf of a confidential client, an established Western Australian manufacturer, for an Engineering & Innovation Manager to lead their engineering team from the front, not from a distance.

This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who wants to personally lead, develop and hold a team accountable, while staying technically sharp enough to challenge engineers and get into the detail when it's needed, design reviews, testing, troubleshooting alongside your team, not just reviewing their output. You'll also bring genuine appetite and capability for applying AI and innovation to engineering and product development, and partner closely with Product Management on delivery.

What you'll do:

• Lead and develop your team day to day: set clear expectations, hold people accountable for performance, and be genuinely present as their manager, not a remote strategic figurehead
• Stay hands-on where it counts, design reviews, testing, troubleshooting, prototyping, working alongside your engineers rather than only directing them
• Own technical execution, architecture and delivery, partnering with Product Management on strategy and specifications
• Bring AI and innovation thinking into engineering and product development, identifying where new technology and approaches genuinely move the business forward
• Manage stakeholder relationships and navigate competing priorities within a small, fast-moving team

What you'll bring:

• Proven, ongoing experience leading and developing a team, with real, demonstrated accountability for their performance, not just technical direction from above
• A genuine, current willingness to be hands-on, personally involved in design review, testing and problem-solving alongside your team, not solely delegating it
• Genuine skill or strong appetite for applying AI and innovation within engineering and product development
• Deep enough technical credibility to challenge engineers and lift the standard of their work
• A track record of taking technically complex products from concept through to launch

This role reports to the Head of Product and Innovation and works closely with Product Management, who own product strategy and specifications. It's not a fit for someone looking to step back into pure strategy or oversight, this is a leader who wants to be genuinely close to both their people and the work.

For a confidential conversation, contact Nick Sutton at Keystone People Solutions.