Programme Manager – Strategic Defence Projects

National Composites Centre

Bristol based with hybrid working (2 days on site per week)

Salary: £55,260 to £69,198 per annum plus 12.5% employer pension, private medical insurance.  

Security Clearance: You may be required to undertake government security clearance if successful.  No existing clearance required.

Purpose of Role

The NCC’s Defence portfolio is growing rapidly — with more opportunities to build long-term partnerships on some of the UK’s most important programmes.

We are evolving how we pursue and secure this work, building a more strategic and proactive approach to developing business.  We’re looking for someone who can act as a campaign manager to coordinate all strategic defence development activities, while supporting project deliverables.   

You’ll play a key role in this transformation — coordinating and supporting collaborative business development campaigns that bring together expertise from across multidisciplinary teams in the organisation.

This role is ideal for someone who is motivated by working with others, creating clarity, and enabling success through structured and inclusive delivery practices.

Reporting to the Head of Delivery – Defence and working as part of the Defence Delivery Team.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate the planning and execution of priority Defence business development campaigns.
• Develop and maintain campaign plans with clear objectives, milestones, stakeholder engagement approaches, and activity schedules.
• Support proposal and bid development, including preparation of key documents, internal reviews and governance processes.
• Stakeholders – Engage and maintain key stakeholder relationships, identifying opportunities for strategic engagements.
• Work closely with the Head of Delivery – Defence to prioritise and sequence opportunities in line with our strategic goals.
• Facilitate effective cross-functional collaboration across the Defence Delivery Team — ensuring that colleagues from across Strategic Partnerships, Engineering, Advanced TPMs, Commercial, and Delivery contribute effectively to each campaign.
• Track and report on campaign progress, risks, and next steps, providing clarity and transparency to the team.
• Help ensure that lessons learned are captured and applied to improve future campaign delivery.
• Contribute to the continued development of inclusive and collaborative ways of working across the Defence Delivery Team.

Skills and Experience Required

• Prior Programme Management (or related) role experience with a focus on business development activities.
• Experience working at senior management level or above.
• A background in the defence sector, with a good understanding of current trends.
• Able to demonstrate history of success developing long term and strategic opportunities.
• Experience supporting project work using Waterfall and Agile methodologies.
• Experience identifying new business development opportunities, key individuals and strategy business development planning. 
• Ability to coordinate multi-disciplinary teams and foster a collaborative team culture.
• Strong stakeholder management skills across senior management, communications and project delivery.

In terms of personal qualities which we’ll assess when we get the chance to meet you, we look for, excellent organisational and facilitation skills, a clear and confident communicator able to engage colleagues at all levels and someone able to operate in a dynamic environment with multiple priorities.

Why This Role?

• Help secure the future success of the NCC’s Defence portfolio — through structured, collaborative campaign delivery.
• Shape how we pursue and win major opportunities, working with a diverse and committed team.
• Develop your business development and campaign leadership experience in a supportive environment.
• Operate at the heart of a growing Defence Delivery Team, contributing to its culture of excellence, inclusion and continuous learning.

We welcome applicants from all backgrounds and communities, and we’re committed to building a team that reflects the diversity of the Defence sector and wider society. If you meet most but not all of these criteria, and are excited by the opportunity, we encourage you to apply — we value diverse perspectives and experiences.

Not sure you meet all the requirements? Let us decide! Research shows that women and members of other underrepresented groups tend not to apply for jobs if they think they may not meet every qualification, when in fact they often do. At the NCC we are committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and strongly encourage you to apply.

We ensure that all hiring decisions are made without regard to age, race, national origin, sex, disability, gender, gender identity, religion, or any other protected characteristics, and will treat all applications with the strictest confidence. We’re always open to hearing how we can support flexible working in different ways, including part-time work. Please don’t be afraid to ask about what we can do to support your needs. All requests will be carefully and fairly considered. We wish you every success in your job search.

Why the NCC?

We see our success in yours. The future of composites manufacturing relies on the NCC, and we rely on the right individuals to make it happen, whether they’re engineers or not!

Diverse challenges – the NCC isn’t just about aerospace. We’re working with over 16 sectors and a variety of customers, from private ventures to the global tier 1 companies, providing variety to your experience.

Innovation – a world-leading research and development centre, the work we do brings novel and innovative solutions to industry, with the future firmly in mind. So we need innovating thinking not just in Engineering, but across all support functions.

Development in composites, and you – if the scope of exciting work isn’t enough to sway you, our ethos of continued learning and development and flexible working patterns will.

We look forward to hearing from you. #fulltime