XTEND
Project / Operation Manager
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You are the execution engine behind every UK contract Xtend signs. This is not a traditional PMO role. You will build delivery, logistics, and operational discipline from the ground up - the structure that lets us scale from a single contract to a portfolio of MOD programmes without compromising quality or pace. The right candidate builds a process while delivering the work, not before it.
Core Responsibilities
- Own delivery end-to-end across every UK contract - Whatever it takes to ship on time and on specification.
- Build the operational backbone: project plans, supplier coordination, RACI, milestones, customer reporting. The structure does not yet exist - you create it.
- Run logistics, equipment movement, demos, and training events. Hands on the kit, not just on the schedule.
- Coordinate execution across UK technical, BD, compliance, and global engineering teams - across time zones and engineering cultures.
- Track delivery, budget, and risk at the project level. Escalate early. Resolve quickly.
- Stand up the new UK facility as a delivery project in its own right - lease, fit-out, lab move, security, IT.
- Be the operational single point of contact when customers need a decision the same day.
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Requirements
- 5+ years running delivery or operations in defence, aerospace, or regulated hardware - ideally in environments small enough that you executed the work yourself.
- Proven track record in taking complex multi-stakeholder programmes from kick-off to delivery, against firm contractual milestones.
- Builder, not maintainer. You have built a process and structure from a blank page before, not only operated inside someone else's system.
- Equally comfortable in a boardroom, a warehouse, and a lab.
- Sharp written and verbal communication - able to run a customer review and produce the minutes the same day.
- Fluent English; right to work in the UK.
- Strong advantage: ex-military or MOD background, PRINCE2 / APM, prior UAV or unmanned systems exposure.
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Environment and Expectations
- Xtend UK is a fast-growing defence-tech company. Pace is high, structure is being built, and ownership is real.
- You will be expected to contribute beyond the formal scope of your role. Team members support each other to execute the mission successfully.
- Mission-first mentality. We are building capability that ends up in the hands of operators - that comes before process and hierarchy.
- This role is about making things happen in a setting where the playbook is still being written. Comfort with operational ambiguity is essential.
- Expect to design processes lean and iterate - not to import a heavyweight corporate PMO model.
- Problem-solving and logistics improvisation are part of the daily routine. The work is hands-on as much as it is strategic.
- Execution speed matters. We operate with urgency, high ownership, and a strong bias toward action.
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