Manager, Engineering in Burnaby, British Columbia at Cellula Robotics Ltd

Cellula is looking to add a Engineering Manager to its Engineering team to support product development and project delivery.

Cellula Robotics Ltd. is a world-leading marine technology company focused on changing the paradigm of subsea survey, science and security through modular, long range, autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) systems. Our company is growing and is transitioning from building mostly one-of-a-kind prototypes to completing the development of our four core products and will be delivering multiples of those products to our customers. Our products are configured for each client to deliver required capabilities to the end-user. We are committed to producing sustainable solutions for the defense, mineral exploration, and energy sectors driven by innovation and industry knowledge. We’re looking for enthusiastic and energetic people to join us in this growth and transition.

At Cellula we believe in collaboration, innovation, adaptability and reliability. These values are woven through all our products and how we do business. Our products are designed to be solutions to the challenges and capability needs of our clients, which often requires developing new capabilities and subsystems unique to a particular application. These systems are designed, built, and tested in-house by a skilled team of engineers, technicians, and support staff. People are at the heart of our business, and we pride ourselves on having a team-based workplace and building partnerships to solve the most difficult challenges in ocean technology. We believe in learning and innovating by doing. We send staff along with our products into the field to learn from our clients which informs our innovation.

We are seeking an experienced Engineering Manager to lead and develop a high-performing multidisciplinary engineering team focused on underwater robotics and autonomous subsea systems. This role is accountable for the health and effectiveness of the engineering team, including team leadership, engineering procedures, quality systems, and standards governance. The Engineering Manager manages and continuously improves the underlying engineering system including workflows, processes, documentation, collaboration between engineering disciplines which enables the successful delivery of subsea robotic products. While beneficial to the role, subject matter expertise in subsea robotics is not a requirement. We are seeking an engineering manager who has expertise in engineering process improvements which help improve our overall engineering efficiency while maintaining or improving overall job satisfaction in our team.

• Lead, coach, and develop a multidisciplinary engineering team across mechanical, electrical, software, controls, and systems engineering through regular one-on-ones, performance feedback, career development planning, and team capability building.
• Own the engineering operating system by developing, maintaining, and continuously improving engineering procedures, workflows, design controls, review processes, and development gates to improve efficiency, consistency, traceability, and quality.
• Support, maintain, and strengthen the Quality Management System (QMS) by ensuring engineering processes, technical documentation, design reviews, change control, approvals, and records align with internal quality requirements and audit expectations.
• Manage engineering standards and governance, including developing and maintaining internal engineering standards, procedures, templates, and work instructions, and implementing applicable external design standards such as ABS, DNV, and relevant commercial and defence standards.
• Monitor, assess, and implement applicable regulatory and professional practice changes, including requirements and guidance from Engineers and Geoscientists BC (EGBC), and translate them into practical engineering procedures, expectations, and controlled documentation.
• Build and maintain the engineering team’s capability to deliver autonomous subsea systems by ensuring appropriate skills, roles, training, tools, and engineering discipline are in place across the organization.
• Partner with Project Managers, Program Managers, production, operations, and manufacturing to ensure engineering resources, processes, and standards support successful delivery, without owning day-to-day project leadership.
• Oversee the engineering framework for verification, validation, integration, and testing of subsea robotic systems, ensuring the team follows robust processes for pressure-tolerant and sealed system verification, lab validation, tank testing, field trials, and deployment readiness.
• Guide technical governance and sound engineering decision-making across propulsion, power, controls, sensing, communications, navigation, and payload integration, while enabling technical leads and project teams to execute the work.
• Support hiring efforts by identifying talent needs, interviewing candidates, onboarding new team members, and building an effective, collaborative, and accountable engineering culture.
• Monitor team health, workload, and organizational effectiveness, and drive continuous improvement in team processes and cross-functional collaboration.
• Communicate organizational risks, process gaps, quality concerns, compliance impacts, and engineering capability needs clearly to leadership and cross-functional partners.

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Robotics, Marine Engineering, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.
• 5+ years of experience in engineering roles, with prior experience leading teams or managing people in a multidisciplinary product development environment.
• Strong experience developing, maintaining, and improving engineering procedures, documentation, design controls, and structured engineering processes.
• Experience supporting or operating within a Quality Management System (QMS) and standards-driven development environment.
• Working knowledge of complex electromechanical systems, underwater robotics, autonomous systems, or marine systems sufficient to govern engineering practices and standards effectively.
• Experience with technical documentation, verification and validation, structured design reviews, and change control.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills, with the ability to make sound decisions with incomplete information.

• Previous experience managing multidisciplinary engineering teams developing underwater robotics, autonomous subsea systems, or complex marine electromechanical products.
• Experience improving engineering organizations through better processes, governance, standardization, and quality systems.
• Experience with ROVs, AUVs, subsea sensing, acoustic systems, underwater navigation, marine instrumentation, or mission systems.
• Familiarity with subsea design constraints, maritime classification, marine design standards, and external regulatory frameworks such as ABS and DNV.
• Experience planning and supporting integration, commissioning, tank testing, sea trials, field testing, or operational deployment.
• Track record of hiring, mentoring, and retaining strong engineering talent in a growth-oriented environment.

A successful Engineering Manager in this role builds a strong, capable engineering organization and a disciplined, scalable engineering operating system that enables the reliable delivery of underwater robotic systems. They improve the effectiveness of the team, strengthen procedures and the QMS, maintain engineering standards, and ensure the organization can consistently support high-quality subsea product development and deployment. Success in this role is measured less by personally leading projects and more by creating the people and process foundation that allows engineering teams to execute effectively.

Please include a cover letter as part of your application.

Reports to: Director of Products

Position type: Full time

Location: Burnaby, British Columbia