About this role
We're building the UK's next generation engineering powerhouse, providing critical technology that strengthens national security and resilience. We specialise in turning advances in sensing, AI, and communications into operational capability for the edge, where connectivity may be degraded or denied. Our work focuses on accelerating the deployment of technology, improving decision-making for frontline teams, and protecting people and critical assets in demanding environments. Headquartered in Bristol, Rowden employs around 200 people and operates over 20,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing facilities. We have a growing international footprint and are one of Europe's fastest-growing engineering businesses. About the role We are hiring an Edge Compute Lead to take ownership of the hardware our engineers design, build and test on. The scope of the role will encompass everything from resource-constrained edge nodes, through to test infrastructure and high-performance compute. Working within the Platforms team, you will ensure that decisions made at the silicon, board and network layer support what runs above them - operating systems, orchestration, inference stacks and applications. This is a hands-on technical role without direct reports. Your influence will come from judgement, evidence, and the quality of what you put in front of engineers. You'll be the person teams come to when they need to know what to build on. You will hold a set of known-good, documented configurations, advise projects on the right platform for the problem in front of them, and stand up reference systems and test capabilities that let people prove their work early and repeatedly. This role requires an average of 4 days per week on-site at our Bristol HQ, with occasional travel. Candidates must be eligible for SC clearance. More information about security clearance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels As Edge Compute Lead at Rowden, you will: Own the engineering hardware estate: specify, procure, configure and maintain compute, HPC, GPU, storage and networking hardware across its full life, from selection to retirement. Lead on edge hardware: evaluate and integrate small form factor compute so that our systems perform wherever they are deployed. Build reference systems: create and maintain representative engineering systems and test capabilities that teams can rely on for integration, test & evaluation. Align hardware with software: work with the Platforms team so that firmware, drivers, interconnect and accelerator choices support the operating system and application layers above. Advise project teams: recommend platforms, publish known-good configurations, and help engineers reach the right hardware decision quickly. Set the standard: define and hold sensible standardisation, documentation and configuration baselines, so kit is supportable and reproducible rather than bespoke to one project. Keep things performant and available: benchmark, monitor and plan capacity, resolve faults, and manage spares, warranties and refresh cycles. Managing suppliers: build relationships with vendors and integrators, test claims against real workloads, and get good value from specialist purchases.