We are recruiting a Production Manager on behalf of a globally respected manufacturing business based in Haywards Heath, West Sussex. This is a senior, site based leadership role offering a salary of up to £75,000 for the right candidate.

This is not just a process role. Our client is looking for a Production Manager with genuine people skills. Someone who leads with presence, earns respect on the production floor, and knows how to get the best out of a team. It’s a great business with a positive culture where people genuinely enjoy working together.

What the Role Involves

• Leading Team Leaders and production staff across multiple production zones
• Driving output, quality, and OTIF performance through engaged, motivated teams
• Championing Lean and continuous improvement using VTPS methodology
• Collaborating with Planning, Engineering, Quality, Supply Chain, and HR
• Managing budgets, labour costs, and KPIs with a hands-on leadership style
• Maintaining compliance with ISO 45001 and ISO 9001 standards

What you’ll need

• 5+ years in a manufacturing or production leadership role
• A strong track record as a people manager. Coaching, developing, and motivating teams
• Experience managing Team Leaders in a multidisciplinary environment
• Lean manufacturing knowledge (Yellow Belt or equivalent a plus)
• Familiarity with MRP/ERP systems, ideally SAP
• Degree in Engineering, Manufacturing, or Operations (desirable, not essential)

Key Skills

People leadership | Lean / CI | Production planning | Team development | SAP / ERP | Budget management | ISO 45001 | ISO 9001 | VTPS

If you’re an experienced Production Manager looking for a role where your leadership style is valued as much as your technical knowledge, we’d love to hear from you. Apply now or get in touch for a confidential conversation.

Location: Stroud (Office-Based)
Salary: Competitive + Equity Options
Job Type: Permanent

Overview
We’re partnering with a well-funded, early-stage startup operating in the field of cutting-edge data collection and monitoring devices. They’re building innovative wireless solutions that enable smarter, real-time insights across a range of applications. They’re now looking for an RF Engineer to join their growing team on a permanent basis, working onsite in Stroud. This is a hands-on opportunity to play a key role in shaping products from the ground up.

The Role
As an RF Engineer, you’ll take ownership of RF design, development, and testing across the full product lifecycle. You’ll work closely with a small, high-calibre engineering team, contributing to everything from concept through to production.

Key Responsibilities

• Design and develop RF circuits and systems for wireless data collection and monitoring devices
• Perform simulation, modelling, and analysis of RF performance
• Prototype, test, and validate RF designs in a lab environment
• Troubleshoot and optimise RF performance issues
• Collaborate with hardware, firmware, and systems engineers
• Support regulatory compliance and certification processes

Key Requirements

• Proven commercial experience in RF design and development
• Strong understanding of RF fundamentals (antennas, propagation, signal integrity)
• Experience with RF simulation tools (e.g., ADS, CST, HFSS or similar)
• Hands-on experience with RF lab equipment (spectrum analysers, network analysers, etc.)
• Experience with wireless communication technologies (e.g., IoT, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, 5G, or similar)
• Ability to thrive in a fast-paced, startup environment
• Ability to achieve SC clearance, if you hold it already even better

Desirable

• Experience with low-power RF design
• Familiarity with EMC/EMI and certification standards
• Experience taking products from prototype to production
• Exposure to embedded systems or mixed-signal design

Why Join?

• Be part of a well-funded startup at a pivotal growth stage within the data collection and monitoring space
• Direct influence on product direction and technical decisions
• Collaborative, in-person engineering culture
• Competitive salary and meaningful equity package
• Long-term career growth in a high-impact environment

If you’re looking for a permanent, office-based role where you can make a tangible impact on cutting-edge wireless technology, we’d love to hear from you.

Job Title: IT & Security Manager
Location: Stroud
Salary: Up to £65,000 DOE

About KO2’s Client
KO2’s client is an ambitious and rapidly growing engineering startup entering an exciting phase of scale. With innovation at its core, the business is building a robust, secure, and future-proof technology environment to support expansion. They are now looking for an experienced IT & Security Manager to take ownership of their IT infrastructure and security strategy from the ground up.

The Role
This is a hands-on and strategic role where you will design, build, and manage the company’s IT function while ensuring best-in-class security practices. You will play a key role in shaping internal infrastructure, supporting business growth, and embedding a strong security culture across the organisation.

Key Responsibilities

• Design, implement, and manage scalable IT infrastructure across Linux, Mac, and Windows environments
• Lead the development and enforcement of IT security policies, procedures, and controls
• Own and drive ISO 27001 compliance, including audits, risk assessments, and continuous improvement
• Manage networks, cloud services, endpoints, and internal systems
• Ensure system reliability, performance, and security across all platforms
• Oversee user access, identity management, and endpoint security
• Act as the primary point of contact for all IT and information security matters
• Support and scale IT operations in line with company growth
• Manage third-party vendors and service providers where required

About You

• Proven experience in an IT Manager, IT Lead, or similar role within a fast-paced environment
• Strong hands-on experience with Linux, macOS, and Windows systems
• Demonstrable experience implementing and maintaining ISO 27001 standards
• Solid understanding of cybersecurity principles, risk management, and compliance
• Experience with cloud platforms (e.g. AWS, Azure, or GCP)
• Ability to build IT systems and processes from scratch in a growing organisation
• Strong problem-solving skills and a proactive mindset
• Excellent communication skills, with the ability to work across technical and non-technical teams

Desirable Skills

• Experience in a startup or scaling business
• Knowledge of DevOps practices and automation tools

What KO2’s Client Offers

• Opportunity to shape and lead IT and security strategy in a growing company
• A collaborative, innovative, and flexible working environment

How to Apply
If you’re excited by the challenge of building and securing IT systems in a high-growth startup, please apply with your CV and a brief cover note outlining your experience and interest in the role.

Position: Test and Compliance Engineer

Location: Reading

Salary: Up to £100,000 DOE

KO2’s client is hiring a founding test and compliance engineer to take full ownership of testing and validation within a brand new, high performance manufacturing facility in Reading

This is a key, early hire where you will define how testing and compliance is done from day one, with the goal of helping build the best in class motor manufacturing facility in Europe

You will own the entire testing and compliance programme across both motor production and PCB assembly, creating an end to end validation environment that supports rapid product development while meeting the highest aerospace and defence standards

The products are small brushless motors ranging from 1kW to 15kW power, operating across 6 to 14S voltage platforms, requiring rigorous, evidence driven validation and verification processes

You will take full responsibility for designing and executing test strategies, covering EMC, environmental and functional validation. This includes pre compliance and formal EMC testing, environmental testing such as thermal, vibration and shock, and propulsion level validation including performance, efficiency and endurance

A major part of the role is ownership. You will build the complete testing framework, from lab capability and external test house management through to documentation and evidence packs required for aerospace and defence applications. You will define acceptance criteria, implement production test processes, and ensure traceability from design through to manufactured product

You will work closely with engineering and manufacturing teams to embed compliance thinking early in the design process, ensuring products are built for validation rather than retrofitted to pass tests later

The facility itself will consist of two core areas, PCB assembly and motor winding, and your role will span both, ensuring consistent, high quality validation across the full product lifecycle

This role requires someone highly experienced in aerospace or defence environments, with a strong understanding of relevant standards and how to apply them in practice. The ideal candidate will be an EMC expert with a background in aerospace or defence and experience working on propulsion systems or similar high reliability technologies

You should be comfortable taking full ownership of a discipline, building processes from scratch, and operating in a fast paced environment where speed and quality both matter

Role requirements and logistics

Full time onsite role based in Reading
Salary £80,000 to £100,000 with flexibility for exceptional candidates
Short term contracts can be considered as an interim solution while a permanent hire is secured

If you want to define the testing and compliance strategy for a facility being built to set the standard across Europe, this is that opportunity

Apply today with an up-to-date CV.

Embedded Software Lead – MedTech
Bristol (3–4 days on-site)
£75,000 + £20,000–£25,000 bonus + excellent benefits

KO2’s client is an innovative and fast-growing technology business developing advanced wearable devices within a medically regulated environment. They are now seeking an Embedded Software Medical Lead to play a critical role in shaping the next generation of their products, although being narrowly focused on highly specialised or niche medical systems.

This is a leadership position within the R&D function, sitting alongside mechanical leadership and taking ownership of embedded software at a system level.

The Opportunity

You’ll act as the system-level lead across embedded software and hardware, driving design, integration, and validation of both current and next-generation wearable products.

This role blends hands-on engineering, technical leadership, and cross-functional collaboration, giving you real influence over product direction without being confined to purely regulatory work.

What You’ll Be Doing

• Contribute to early-stage innovation, exploring new technologies in embedded systems and wearable applications
• Develop proof-of-concepts and functional prototypes
• Identify risks early and shape product direction through informed engineering decisions
• Support usability testing and concept validation

• Lead system design across software and hardware for new product development
• Own design control, risk management, and verification/validation activities
• Provide technical oversight and challenge solutions to ensure high-quality delivery
• Investigate complex technical issues and support resolution of field challenges
• Drive continuous improvements in performance, reliability, and cost
• Work closely with quality and cross-functional teams

What KO2’s client is looking for

• Strong background in embedded software development (ideally with some hardware exposure)
• Experience working on physical products (not purely cloud or desktop systems)
• Background in a regulated environment (medical, safety-critical, or similar preferred, but not overly specialised)
• Solid understanding of full product lifecycle, from concept through to launch and improvement
• Experience with design control, testing, and documentation
• Strong communicator with the ability to lead and influence

Technical skills:

• Experience in C or C++ (or similar embedded languages)
• Understanding of electronics or hardware integration (beneficial, not essential)
• Awareness of cybersecurity and safety considerations

This role would suit someone who:

• Wants to step into or continue in a technical leadership role
• Enjoys working on tangible, real-world products
• Prefers broad engineering ownership rather than being siloed
• Has some exposure to regulated environments but doesn’t want an overly compliance-heavy role.

Salary and Benefits

• £75,000 base salary
• On-target bonus of £20,000–£25,000
• Strong benefits package
• A key leadership role in a growing R&D team
• The opportunity to work on cutting-edge wearable technology with real-world impact

If you’re an embedded software engineer ready to lead at a systems level—and want to work on innovative wearable products in a collaborative, fast-moving environment—this could be a great next step.