Defence Complex Projects: Senior Project Manager

Core Talent Recruitment; Hawton; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Core Talent Recruitment is seeking an experienced Project Manager to deliver a portfolio of complex, high-value defence engineering projects. You will work with customers, multidisciplinary teams and senior management to ensure delivery on time, within budget and to the required quality standards.

The successful candidate will coordinate project activities from concept to production, maintain strong stakeholder relationships and drive continuous improvement across programmes.

Qualifications

• Proven experience managing the full project lifecycle, from concept and development through to production, delivery and in-service support.
• APM qualification (or progress towards one).
• Strong leadership, delegation and teamwork skills, with a collaborative approach to project delivery.
• Excellent communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills at all levels.
• Strong commercial awareness and a clear understanding of customer requirements and business objectives.
• A customer-focused approach, with an ability to identify opportunities for further business and develop long‑term relationships.
• The resilience and sound judgement required to manage complex projects under challenging time, cost and resource constraints.
• Good working knowledge of Microsoft Office.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary engineering projects.
• Experience in systems engineering, systems integration and/or manufacturing would be highly advantageous.
• Previous experience within the maritime, defence or wider advanced engineering sector would be beneficial.
• Willingness and ability to undertake regular UK travel and occasional overseas travel.

Responsibilities

• Act as the primary point of contact for customers throughout the project lifecycle.
• Manage a portfolio of related or technically complex projects, ensuring delivery against agreed scope, schedule, budget and quality requirements.
• Monitor project performance, costs, schedules, risks and deliverables, implementing corrective action where required.
• Conduct regular cost, schedule, performance and risk reviews.
• Identify, prioritise and secure the resources required for successful project delivery, including people, facilities, equipment and tools.
• Provide accurate project cost, resource and schedule information to internal and external stakeholders.
• Lead and motivate multidisciplinary project teams, establishing clear objectives, responsibilities and priorities.
• Manage customer interfaces and communicate effectively with senior management, customers, project teams and wider stakeholders.
• Establish a clear project vision and delivery plan, ensuring all stakeholders have a common understanding of objectives and expectations.
• Develop a collaborative team environment, providing direction, mentoring and support to enable successful project outcomes.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement and contribute to the development of future business and customer relationships.
• Undertake other reasonable duties and responsibilities relevant to the position.

Skills

Full project lifecycle

Leadership

Stakeholder management

Communication

Commercial awareness

Customer focus

Resilience

Microsoft Office

Education

APM qualification or progress towards one

Job description

Core Talent Recruitment is seeking an experienced Project Manager to deliver a portfolio of complex, high-value defence engineering projects. You will work with customers, multidisciplinary teams and senior management to ensure delivery on time, within budget and to the required quality standards.

The successful candidate will coordinate project activities from concept to production, maintain strong stakeholder relationships and drive continuous improvement across programmes.