Group Technical Authority & Engineering Director

About Watsmen

Watsmen is building an engineering-led industrial group. We connect technical capability, disciplined execution and practical commercial judgement to deliver valuable industrial solutions.

Role Purpose

Build Watsmen's shared engineering capability and protect the integrity of its technical decisions. Establish evidenced competence, design acceptance and technical-claim controls across disciplines, with challenge independent of commercial pressure. Ensure industrial intelligence and platform activity are grounded in verified engineering capability and that local professional obligations remain explicit.

Key Accountabilities

• Deliver a technical-governance framework defining discipline scope, review gates, acceptance criteria and escalation routes; document which decisions require independent assurance and which remain with locally authorised professionals or project duty-holders.
• Maintain an engineering competence and authority register supported by qualifications, experience evidence, assessed capability and scope limitations; recommend discipline appointments and delegated technical powers only where competence and organisational approval are both demonstrated.
• Establish traceable requirements, design-basis and verification controls with systems engineering; require technical decisions, assumptions, interfaces and changes to be recorded so acceptance rests on evidence rather than seniority or schedule pressure.
• Deliver risk-proportionate design assurance through reviews, challenge records and closure evidence; expose unresolved safety, quality or performance concerns and escalate release decisions that exceed the agreed technical basis or delegated authority.
• Control external technical claims with commercial and platform leaders, including capability statements, performance commitments and engineering content in proposals; retain substantiation and ensure contractual promises remain aligned with verified capability and approved design assumptions.
• Build reusable engineering capability through discipline standards, learning reviews, validated methods and resource planning; identify critical skills and coverage gaps while keeping Group technical stewardship distinct from project execution and separately governed platform mandates.
• Maintain a current view of the capabilities and delivery capacity that can support customer offers; define technical-claim review response times and reusable assurance routes with Commercial and Marketing, preserving independent endorsement and stop or escalation powers.

First 90 Days

• By day 30: Map active technical commitments, discipline coverage and available competence evidence; identify unsupported claims, immediate assurance gaps and decisions requiring a named accountable technical authority.
• By day 60: Submit the technical-authority framework and competence register for approval; establish practical requirements, review and claim-validation workflows with engineering, commercial and platform colleagues.
• By day 90: Demonstrate the assurance process on representative work; present review findings, resolved and open technical risks, and an evidence-based plan for discipline coverage and reusable engineering standards. Present a current capability and capacity view, tested technical-claim review arrangements and reusable offer-assurance evidence.

Essential Requirements

• Demonstrated senior engineering judgement in complex industrial systems, with a clearly evidenced personal discipline of competence
• Ability to govern multidisciplinary work while recognising the limits of personal and delegated authority
• Practical expertise in requirements, design assurance, verification, technical risk and configuration control
• Evidence of challenging unsafe, unsupported or overstated technical conclusions under commercial or delivery pressure
• Ability to assess engineering competence and develop leaders through clear standards and constructive review

Desirable Experience

• Experience establishing cross-discipline technical governance in an international organisation
• Relevant professional recognition appropriate to the responsibilities and jurisdictions involved

Authority And Decision Boundaries

• Propose technical standards and discipline delegations; withhold technical endorsement where evidence is inadequate, escalating unresolved matters through the approved governance route.
• Exercise design acceptance or technical signing powers only within documented competence and delegation; corporate appointment does not confer regulated professional authority or unrestricted project-release powers.

Key Interfaces

Discipline Technical Authorities and engineering leads; Head of Systems & Project Engineering and project teams; Commercial, contracts and platform leaders; Legal, risk and relevant local technical duty-holders.

COO, Commercial and Marketing on delivery capacity, technical claims and offer assurance.

How Success Is Evidenced

• Traceability and completeness of competence, design-acceptance and claim evidence
• Closure and recurrence of material technical-assurance findings
• Effectiveness of discipline coverage and consistency of reusable engineering standards
• Useful capability visibility, timely technical decisions and reuse of accepted assurance evidence within competence boundaries.

Activation And Delivery Readiness

Assigned work requires confirmed resources, competent delivery capacity and the applicable approvals. The role operates within its documented delegation; appointment alone does not confer contracting, spending, technical-approval or system-access authority.

Location And Travel

Istanbul, Türkiye. Travel may support engineering reviews, technical assurance and site understanding. Specific travel requirements and frequency will be discussed before appointment.

Employment And Working Arrangements

Full-time employment, with annual performance reviews. Twelve-month renewable contracts where legally appropriate, with probation and renewal terms determined under local law.

Roles are on-site by default. Hybrid or remote working requires prior approval. No relocation assistance or visa support is provided.

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