Defence Operations & Compliance Manager

Bedford Introduction Saab Uk; Newton Longville; On-site; GBP 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Saab UK is seeking an Operations Manager for the Bedford area to drive governance, compliance, trials, and cross-functional business coordination. You will lead process improvements and KPI tracking to support the BlueBear initiative and Saab UK integration.

Responsibilities include maintaining quality management standards, coordinating audits, managing risk and continuity, and ensuring export control, health & safety, and security requirements are met.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership and change management experience.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
• Self-motivated with minimal supervision.
• Experience implementing organizational change.
• Experience managing risks and business continuity.
• Familiarity with Quality Management Systems and ISO 9001; ISO 27001 desirable.
• Awareness of export control, health & safety, and environmental management.
• Experience in defence industry and UK MOD desirable.
• Eligibility for National Security Vetting, SC level possible.
• Consent to workforce screening and working rights validation.

Responsibilities

• Drive continuous improvement across the organisation to high standards.
• Be the focal point for process standardisation and compliance with the quality management system.
• Serve as the point of contact for Saab UK functions on export control, health & safety, and security.
• Develop and track KPIs to support the Strategic Business Plan delivery.
• Implement processes for capturing customer feedback and tracking changes.
• Coordinate internal and external audit activities and risk/continuity efforts.

Skills

Leadership

Communication

Change management

Risk management

ISO 9001

Tools

Export controls

Security clearance processes

Job description

Saab UK is seeking an Operations Manager for the Bedford area to drive governance, compliance, trials, and cross-functional business coordination. You will lead process improvements and KPI tracking to support the BlueBear initiative and Saab UK integration.

Responsibilities include maintaining quality management standards, coordinating audits, managing risk and continuity, and ensuring export control, health & safety, and security requirements are met.