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Senior Programme Manager / Programme Director
QinetiQ
Source: Headcount Labs · original listing ↗
Job data: Headcount Labs, ODbL 1.0. Job descriptions belong to their employers.
Source date: 11/7/2026
About this role
Job Title: Senior Programme Manager / Programme Director Global Grade: GG14 Location: Malvern / Farnborough with regular UK-wide travel Role Type: Permanent – Full Time Role ID: 20301 Salary: £100k - c£120k depending on experience Role Purpose A Senior Programme Manager to lead a critical and complex ISTAR Programme with the Ministry of Defence over a multi-year contract, reporting directly to the MD Digital Intelligence. The role would be a mentor among other Senior Programme Managers and add significant value from extensive experience in relevant domains. Fully responsible and accountable to understand and deliver the project/programme vision, objectives and benefits. Lead and motivate Project Managers within the programme to ensure they are embedding health and safety and providing safe practices of work. Ensuring teams are collaborating effectively and working towards the same goal to deliver the outputs and/or outcomes delivering on time, within scope and budget, also adhering to all security requirements. Accountable for overall project/programme performance throughout the lifecycle, including baseline management and delivering within budget ensuring the relevant governance and assurance is undertaken (in line with the BMS and PLF) to deliver successfully to our customers. Key Accountabilities Integrated Planning – Shaping and structuring the project/programme to accomplish the vision by ensuring the related projects are equipped with the appropriate Project Management Plans (PMPs) and have secured the relevant resources to deliver within scope, quality, time and budget. Ensure resource capacity planning is in place, manage and co-ordinate dependencies to ensure issues are resolved early and ensure the programme benefits are identified and fully understood. Owning and defining the Programme Management Plan. Budget & Cost Control - Working closely with the Portfolio Office to ensure programme controls are in place and accurate and timely performance information is available. Understand the importance of proactively managing project/programme performance throughout the project lifecycle. Seek opportunities for cost savings and identify ways to minimise and mitigate the threat of cost increases. Driving delivery excellence for revenue, profit and cash collection. Risk & Issue Management – Proactively, identify and assess risks at assess risks at project/programme level, plan and implement responses to those risks and respond to issues that affect the project/programme. Record and monitor throughout the project lifecycle as per the BMS. Ensuring threats & opportunities are managed in accordance with best practice – overall accountable for using risk information to make informed decisions, escalating to senior leadership where appropriate. This may also include understanding wider business risks that may impact programme delivery. Ensuring that escalation routes are clear. Reviews – Evaluate the performance of projects within the programme to understand the current status of the RAG using performance reporting. Challenge, guide and support Project Managers to achieve successful delivery. Potentially managing by exception (depending on volume of projects). Programme Managers may also be required to act as the “Delegated Authority” on other programmes which they do not manage and be required to “Chair” programme reviews. Reporting progress / status of programme at internal/external reviews to the IDTLs (UK Only), Customer and/or Partner. Stakeholder Management – Fostering a collaborative approach. Engage, influence and collaborate with all stakeholders (internal, including Finance, Commercial, People, Enterprise Services, Portfolio Office, Technical & Supply Chain and external), ensuring on-going commitment. Utilising communication management to exchange relevant and timely information to support successful delivery and inform decision making. Understand customer expectations and ensure we are aligned by building customer relations, listen, act, be reliable, responsive, provide assurance, care, avoid complacency, and seek customer feedback. Focus on customer needs, ensuring that the intended benefits are delivered for both the customer and QinetiQ, whilst identifying opportunities in line with strategic objectives. Commercial Management & Change Control - Lead pre and post contract discussions to shape project scope and collaboratively work with the Commercial function to understand QinetiQ's contractual rights and obligations. Set direction on commercial issues in order to minimise contractual risk and optimise financial reward. Understand project scope, taking action relating to change control internally (project performance) and externally to manage customer changes. Quality Management - Work closely with the relevant Technical Leads. Ensure that project/programme outputs are delivered in accordance with the defined scope and contractual requirements, meet stakeholder expectations and are fit for purpose. Creating an overall Quality Management Plan (QMP) if applicable and ensuring the programme is compliant with internal processes, standards and regulations stipulated in the contract. Requirements Management - Capture, assess and justify stakeholders wants and needs to satisfy the identified programme needs and benefits. Assurance – Attend Decision Point reviews and undertake a Delegated Authority role. Assure other projects/programmes within delegation. Business Development & On Contract Growth – Build and strengthen customer relationships in order to extend existing work (on-contract growth) or bring in new sales opportunities. Seek to understand customer needs and requirements and triage these effectively through Decision Point governance. Support bidding activities, including planning, estimating and writing, as required. Programme Recovery – Support programmes of concern to establish a recovery plan. This may include a baselining activity. Responsible and accountable for leading and delivery of high complexity projects and programmes. QinetiQ values and behaviours must be acted upon at all times. Act in a professional manner with internal/external stakeholders. This involves and not limited to; communication, taking credible action, positive attitude and supporting others. Is an accountable leader who sets the tone for delivery and team discipline, taking responsibility for outcomes and activities. Drives change management using integrative thinking across the programme and business by being a visible role model for setting high standards and hold others to account. Inspires others to enable a high-performance culture. Thinks beyond programme boundaries to benefits and impacts. Key Competencies • Lifecycles • Governance Arrangements • Reviews • Assurance • Supply Chain/Procurement • Commercial • Stakeholder Engagement & Communication Management • Conflict Resolution • Leadership • Team Management • Requirements Management • Quality Management • Integrated Planning • Resource Management • Budgeting & Cost Control including Performance Management • Risk & Issue Management • Change Control • Resource Capacity Planning Experience / Qualifications & Key Capabilities/Knowledge • APM PMQ, ChPP, PMI PgMP or AIPM CPPD, Managing Successful Programmes (MSP) Foundation & Practitioner or demonstrate working towards equivalent certification from accredited body. • Recognised expert in job area typically obtained through advanced education and work experience. Called on by senior leaders for advice and guidance across the business. • Applies detailed/in-depth knowledge of programme management, understanding the full project lifecycle. • Plans and manages programmes and/or processes, working independently with no supervision. Providing guidance and advice to others. • Problems faced are difficult and complex. Strong analytical and problem-solving attributes. • Has detailed/in-depth knowledge of lifecycles and recognised as an expert. • Has typical +10 years’ experience of working within project teams and leading programmes. • Implementing and refining strategies and plans within their area of focus independently whilst collaborating with other relevant stakeholders. • Actively engages with development of new processes, standards or plans that will impact on the achievement of functional results. • Coaching, reviewing and delegating work to lower-level professionals. Mentors' community, supervises and functionally manages lower-level professionals. • Has extensive experience of using project management tools such as Microsoft Project, SAP and/or Oracle. • Very strong time management and organisational skills. • Thrives in a collaborative, fast-paced and goal driven environment. Candidate must have the ability and willingness for MOD DV clearance Why Join QinetiQ? As we continue to grow into new markets around the world, there’s never been a more exciting time to join QinetiQ. The formula for success is our appetite for innovation and having the courage to take on a wide variety of complex challenges. As a QinetiQ employee, you’ll experience a unique working environment where teams from different backgrounds, disciplines and experience enjoy collaborating widely and openly as we undertake this exciting and rewarding journey. Through effective teamwork, and pulling together, you’ll get to experience what happens when we all share different perspectives, blend disciplines, and link technologies; constantly discovering new ways of solving complex problems in a diverse and inclusive environment where you can be authentic, feel valued and realise your full potential. Visit our website to read more about our diverse and inclusive workplace culture. www.qinetiq.com/en/careers/life-at-qinetiq Our Benefits • Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance • Competitive holiday allowance, with the option to purchase additional days • Options to join Health Cash Plan, Private Medical Insurance and Dental Insurance • Employee discount portal: Personal Accident Insurance, Travel Insurance, Restaurants, Cinema Tickets and much more • We are proud to support the Armed Forces community by honouring the Armed Forces Covenant and maintaining our Gold Award standard in the Defence Employer Recognition Scheme • Volunteering Opportunities - helping charities and local community Our Recruitment Process: Please note that applications are reviewed as they are received, so we encourage early applications. This vacancy will be closed when sufficient suitable applications are received. We want to make sure that our recruitment process is as inclusive as possible and we aspire to bring out the best in our candidates by creating an environment where everyone feels value, heard and supported. If you have a disability or health condition that may affect your performance in certain assessment types, please speak to your Recruiter about potential reasonable adjustments. Many roles in QinetiQ are subject to national security vetting being completed, applicants who already hold the appropriate level of vetting may be able to transfer it upon appointment. A number of roles are also subject to additional restrictions, which mean factors such as nationality or previous nationalities may affect the roles that you can be employed in. Please note that all applicants for this role must be eligible for SC clearance, as a minimum. UKSV National Security Vetting Solution: guidance for applicants - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)