Strategic Defence Programs Lead – UAE Navy Liaison

EDGE; Abu Dhabi; On-site; AED 600,000 - 900,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Competitive compensation

Tax-free salaries

Family visas

Annual flight tickets

Medical insurance for dependents

Education allowances for children

Job summary

EDGE in Abu Dhabi is seeking a seasoned program manager to lead the end-to-end mobilization of Maestral’s programs, interfacing with the UAE Navy and other strategic stakeholders to deliver contractual commitments, schedule, cost, and quality.

You will own integrated workstreams across partners, govern delivery, and manage risks, budgets and governance forums with executives, while ensuring compliance with UAE defense requirements.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Project Management or a relevant discipline.
• Postgraduate qualification is advantageous.
• PMP, MSP or equivalent program / project management certification preferred.
• 15-20 years in defence, government services, maritime support, MRO or other complex service-contract environments.
• Demonstrated accountability for a large, multidisciplinary program or portfolio.
• Experience managing senior customer and government relationships, preferably involving the UAE Navy and/or Tawazun.
• Evidence of delivering against significant contractual, financial and operational commitments.

Responsibilities

• Translate the contract and the CEO's strategic intent into an executable program plan.
• Establish clear workstreams, milestones, responsibilities, governance forums and resource priorities required to launch and sustain delivery.
• Own the integrated delivery of all program scopes, ensuring dependencies between Fincantieri, ADSB, procurement, contracts, planning, finance and document control are actively managed.
• Serve as the first and principal interface with the UAE Navy and relevant government stakeholders.
• Establish and lead program governance, including performance reviews, steering meetings, decision logs and executive reporting. Maintain a consolidated view of milestones, cost, risks, issues, procurement status, deliverables and customer actions to support timely management decisions.
• Oversee program financial and commercial performance in coordination with the CFO, Chief Commercial Officer and functional leads. Monitor delivery against approved budgets and ceiling values, understand the impact of scope changes and ensure that material commercial exposures are escalated and addressed.
• Ensure the program is delivered in accordance with the main contract, applicable UAE defense requirements and company policies. Own the program-level risk and issue framework, approve mitigation priorities within delegated authority and elevate matters with strategic, financial or reputational impact.
• Provide direction for the management of key partners and suppliers, ensuring that their outputs are aligned with the main contract and customer requirements.

Skills

Stakeholder management

Leadership

Contract management

Risk management

Education

Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, Project Management or a relevant discipline

Postgraduate qualification

Tools

PMP

MSP

Job description

EDGE in Abu Dhabi is seeking a seasoned program manager to lead the end-to-end mobilization of Maestral’s programs, interfacing with the UAE Navy and other strategic stakeholders to deliver contractual commitments, schedule, cost, and quality.

You will own integrated workstreams across partners, govern delivery, and manage risks, budgets and governance forums with executives, while ensuring compliance with UAE defense requirements.