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Great ideas come from different minds.
That’s why we bring together engineers, scientists, analysts, and creatives from every background — and give them the trust, tools, and freedom to make a difference. What connects us is the mission: solving meaningful problems and building capability that protects what matters most.
And as the challenges evolve, so do we — working on the technologies that will shape tomorrow, not just today.
Programme Director
The Programme Director is expected to influence delivery strategy, exercise authority across technical, financial and quality domains, lead complex stakeholder relationships and be accountable for significant business outcomes.
Purpose
This is a senior delivery leadership role for an individual with significant experience in leading large, complex programmes and services in demanding environments. This is not a PMO, governance or reporting position.
The Programme Director is responsible for the successful delivery of complex Defence and National Security programmes, typically delivered through Fixed Price contracts valued at between £50M and £200M.
Leading multidisciplinary teams across project delivery, engineering, service management, commercial and operational functions, the Programme Director ensures that contractual commitments are delivered safely, securely, profitably and in accordance with customer expectations.
- Providing leadership, challenge and assurance across the programme, establishing confidence that delivery objectives will be achieved and that emerging risks are identified and addressed before they impact outcomes.
- Optimising commercial, customer and operational priorities whilst maintaining clear visibility of programme performance to achieve successful programme outcomes.
- Cohere, prioritise and optimise performance across multiple competing projects whilst maintaining ownership of all outcomes.
Candidate Profile
- Proven track record of leading complex Fixed Price delivery in Defence, National Security or similarly demanding environments.
- Individuals whose experience is primarily focused on PMO leadership, governance administration, reporting or project controls are unlikely to be successful in this role.
- Excellent Stakeholder Management and demonstrable experience of building excellent relationships both internally and with key client stakeholders.
- Able to work through complex, ambiguous situations whilst maintaining communications with multiple stakeholders.
- Solid business acumen and project finance skills.
- Be willing and capable to contribute at an individual level when required.
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Main Responsibilities
Programme Delivery
- Lead complex programmes and services to deliver agreed customer, operational and business outcomes.
- Maintain a clear understanding of programme performance, dependencies, risks and opportunities, ensuring senior leaders and customers have confidence in delivery plans and forecasts.
- Actively manage competing priorities and support delivery teams in overcoming obstacles that threaten successful outcomes.
- Ensure project visibility and prioritisation across the Company.
Performance and Assurance
- Establish a culture of objective performance measurement and evidence-based decision-making across the programme.
- Ensure programme health is understood and actively managed across technical delivery, schedule, cost, contract performance, supplier performance, customer satisfaction, customer obligations, resourcing, quality, safety, security, trade compliance and governance.
- Where delivery confidence is reduced, challenge assumptions, investigate root causes, recommend, lead and own recovery activity to restore programme performance.
- Escalate significant delivery, commercial or customer issues where successful outcomes are at risk.
Commercial and Financial Leadership
- Take ownership of programme revenue, profitability and performance against forecast.
- Ensure contractual obligations are understood and fulfilled, commercial risks are managed proactively and customer-driven change is controlled appropriately.
- Support sustainable business growth through successful delivery, trusted customer relationships and identification of follow-on opportunities.
Leadership
- Establish and champion the Programme management structure and discipline to exist in a strong engineering environment.
- Build, lead and develop high-performing teams capable of delivering complex programmes in challenging environments.
- Promote a culture of accountability, openness and delivery excellence, creating an environment where issues are surfaced early, informed decisions are made quickly and lessons are applied continuously.
Accountabilities
The Programme Director is accountable for:
- Delivery of contractual outcomes and customer commitments.
- Programme revenue, profitability and forecast accuracy (cost and margin).
- Effective management of programme risk and recovery activity.
- Customer satisfaction and long-term customer relationships.
- Supplier and partner performance.
- Programme staffing with SQEP resources.
- Compliance with contractual, regulatory and corporate requirements.
- Integrity of programme reporting and performance information.
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Experience and Qualifications
Essential
- Significant experience leading complex programmes, services or major projects within Defence, National Security, Government or similarly regulated environments.
- Demonstrable success delivering large Fixed Price contracts.
- Strong Project, Programme and Portfolio Management (P3M) expertise.
- Experience leading multidisciplinary teams and managing complex supplier relationships.
- Strong commercial, financial and contractual management skills.
- Experience recovering underperforming projects or programmes and restoring delivery confidence.
- Credibility and influence with senior customers, partners and executive stakeholders.
Desirable
- Experience of systems integration, managed services, software-enabled capability or through-life support environments.
- Experience within Defence digital transformation, ISTAR, CEMA, Electronic Warfare or related operational capability domains.
- MSP, APMP, PRINCE2, ChPP or equivalent professional qualifications.
Education and Qualifications
- BSc. Graduate or equivalent qualification.
- APMP or PMP Qualifications.
Why join us
- Competitive reward package – highly competitive salary, performance-related bonuses, salary reviews and pension scheme.
- Work-life balance – flexible working through flexi-time and hybrid arrangements, plus 30 days' annual leave with the option to buy or sell additional holiday.
- Learning and development – access to over 20,000 LinkedIn Learning courses and our dedicated Roke Academy, supporting continuous learning and career development.
- Health and wellbeing support – flexible benefits including life assurance, a Healthcare Cash Plan, Employee Assistance Programme and eye care support.
- Private medical cover – access to private healthcare through Bupa.
- Recognition and rewards – length of service awards that celebrate and reward your contribution.
- Supportive and inclusive culture – a range of employee community groups that bring colleagues together, foster meaningful connections and create a genuine sense of belonging.
All benefits are subject to eligibility, terms and conditions.
Security Information
Due to the nature of this position, we require you to be eligible to achieve DV clearance. As a result, you should be a British Citizen and have resided in the UK for the last 10 years.
The Next Step
Click apply, submitting an up-to-date CV. We look forward to hearing from you.
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