Salary: £220000 per year.
Cradlefin Concultants are recruiting for a Managing Director in Defence. The successful candidate will need to be a highly motivated, collaborative leader who can drive both a team and a wider range of stakeholders at pace. Robust technical leadership, ideally with experience of highly-regulated sectors will be essential to that. Strong people skills, strategic thinking and clear communication are also key attributes. The post holder will need to represent the warhead programme within MOD and wider government.
Key Responsibilities:
- Motivate, enable and empower a team of c350 people in DNO and play a key role in the DNE senior leadership team.
- Implement and maintain the Warhead Group Operating Model to define clear roles and responsibilities between DNO and AWE for
efficient and effective working between the two organisations. - Ensure focus on cultural change to create an inclusive, high-performing environment, setting a vision for the future.
- Develop a strong relationship with the Chief Executive Officer of AWE. Set clear demand signals and work with the organisation to
create the conditions for successful delivery. - Strategic leadership of the multi-billion pound Warhead portfolio of programmes, which are spread across all stages of the
lifecycle. Oversee delivery of current programmes and develop a pipeline of activity for future ones, whilst simultaneously
ensuring that all programmes have the enablers and supporting functions for successful delivery and operation. - Lead a multi-billion pound programme of work to establish the conditions to deliver the Replacement Warhead programme on time
and on budget. - Oversee four programmes in the Government Major Projects Portfolio (Astraea, Mensa, Future Materials Campus and Teutates)
and act as the controlling mind for an integrated, affordable and deliverable approach to warhead stockpile management, ensuring
warheads are available at all times to meet operational requirements. - Work closely with international partners to maintain access to shared technologies and capabilities. Identify opportunities to
burden share and deepen those partnerships. - Oversee the finances for the warhead portfolio to ensure that programmes remain within their approved limits. Ensure ongoing
finance discussion between DNO and AWE and provide advice to the Chief of Defence Nuclear on future budgets and programme
costs. - Ensure the warhead portfolio is operated in a safe and secure environment, with the support of the regulatory community.
Person Specifications:
- A strong and effective leader who has demonstrable experience of leading large and complex organisations, business units or
teams. - Extensive history of stakeholder engagement and management, with the proven aptitude to manage interested parties from
across the private and public sectors, as well as at an international level. - A track record of creating and delivering portfolios of interdependent, complex, multibillion pound programmes.
- An excellent professional reputation gained at a senior executive level, with a history of accountability for the delivery of major
portfolios, programmes and projects. - Ability to provide oversight and challenge across safety critical businesses and programmes.
- A highly strategic thinker with the ability to set, oversee, and implement demand signals, and ensure leadership accountability by effectively challenging deviations when necessary.
Job Features
Job Category | Business Specialist |