Integrated Bid Team - Senior Programme Manager

Draken; Lower Blandford St Mary; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Draken is recruiting a Senior Programme Manager to join the Integrated Bid Team (IBT) in Bournemouth. The role will support bid development, produce programme and project documentation, and engage SMEs to ensure delivery aligns with bid objectives.

You will manage plans, track milestones, and report progress, while leading teams and stakeholders to resolve issues and maintain schedule integrity in a 37-hour onsite week.

Qualifications

• Programme management experience, ideally within bid development.
• Understanding of aircraft operations, engineering or systems engineering lifecycles.
• Ability to lead SMEs to build compliant, realistic schedules.

Responsibilities

• Work with the IBT to produce the required programme deliverables such as schedule, risk register and a full suite of programme documentation as appropriate.
• Maintain the plan and track the status of the developing programme and project deliverables and milestones through engagement with the programme team and SMEs.
• Take ownership of day-to-day priorities and delivery to support IDT and IBT requirements.
• Identify and manage actions to address shortcomings with stakeholders and elevate issues if necessary.
• Ensure conflicting priorities, risks and issues are managed proactively.
• Promote engagement across all stakeholders through excellent leadership, communication and promoting collaboration.
• Monitor status of progress, co‑ordinate and produce an appropriate level of reporting as required.
• Be able to proactively manage barriers to progress, collaborating with teams to identify options and solutions, and be able to determine when to elevate.
• Ensure continuous alignment with overall bid and programme needs and priorities in consultation with key stakeholders.

Skills

Planning & Organisation

Change & Configuration Management

Leadership & Teamwork

Tools & Systems

Knowledge & Experience

Tools

MS Project

Microsoft 365

Job description

Integrated Bid Team - Senior Programme Manager

• Integrated Bid Team - Senior Programme Manager

The Role

Location: Bournemouth

Working pattern: Monday – Thursday 08:30 – 16:30, Friday 08:30 – 16:00 - 37 hours per week, onsite.

Draken believes in fair reward and recognition for our employees. As such, we offer competitive salaries and a comprehensive benefits package including up to 12% matching pension contributions, bonus incentives, discounted PMI, electric car scheme, tech vouchers, wellbeing programmes and much more.

The Role

Draken delivers mission‑critical aviation solutions for government and defence customers, combining advanced technology, a diverse fleet, and highly skilled people to support operational readiness.

We are recruiting a Senior Programme Manager to support our Integrated Bid Team (IBT). You will be responsible for representing the Integrated Delivery Team (IDT) Director on bids, ensuring the required programme and project management outputs are produced in support of the IBT objectives. The role requires the ability to engage and lead Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), facilitate the development of deliverable solutions, and ensure a full suite of programme and project documentation is produced to articulate how the solution will be mobilised and managed.

Responsibilities vary but will include creating, managing, and updating plans and documentation, tracking and reporting performance, dealing with day‑to‑day issues and actions, and monitoring and managing governance. You will work closely with Senior Stakeholders and SMEs to continuously develop and progress the programme deliverables into the IBT. Experience of supporting bids is essential. Ideally, you will have technical experience across areas such as Engineering, Aviation, Electronic Warfare Systems, Defence, and Aircraft Platform Systems.

You will play a proactive role in supporting the application of Draken standard programme and project management frameworks, controls and tools to support the IBT and business to deliver the outcomes required of the bid.

Key Responsibilities

• Work with the IBT to produce the required programme deliverables such as schedule, risk register and a full suite of programme documentation as appropriate.
• Maintain the plan and track the status of the developing programme and project deliverables and milestones through engagement with the programme team and SMEs.
• Take ownership of day‑to‑day priorities and delivery to support IDT and IBT requirements.
• Identify and manage actions to address shortcomings with stakeholders and elevate issues if necessary.
• Ensure conflicting priorities, risks and issues are managed proactively.
• Promote engagement across all stakeholders through excellent leadership, communication and promoting collaboration.
• Monitor status of progress, co‑ordinate and produce an appropriate level of reporting as required.
• Be able to proactively manage barriers to progress, collaborating with teams to identify options and solutions, and be able to determine when to elevate.
• Ensure continuous alignment with overall bid and programme needs and priorities in consultation with key stakeholders.

What You’ll Bring

Planning & Organisation

• Ability to lead SMEs to build compliant, realistic schedules and keep delivery on track.
• Strong collaboration skills to remove barriers and maintain progress toward objectives.
• Competence in estimating, planning and scheduling, with flexibility to adjust plans when needed.
• Willingness to share knowledge and best practice.
• Clear, confident communication using a range of methods.
• Commitment to a positive, collaborative team environment and a proactive service mindset.

Change & Configuration Management

• Ability to respond quickly to change requests and assess their impact.
• Understanding of requirements traceability, change control and version‑controlled documentation.

Leadership & Teamwork

• Strong relationship‑building skills and respect for diverse perspectives.
• A supportive team approach and positive role‑model behaviour.
• Adaptability to changing needs and expectations.

Tools & Systems

• Proficiency in MS Project or similar tools and the full Microsoft 365 suite.

Knowledge & Experience

• Programme management experience, ideally within bid development.
• Beneficial understanding of aircraft operations, engineering or systems engineering lifecycles.

Our employee values

Draken is committed to eliminating unlawful and unfair discrimination and we celebrate the differences that a diverse workforce brings. A range of perspective and talent supports our values and drives our success, with a mix of voices generating better discussions, business decisions and outcomes for all.

At all our sites internationally, every member of the Draken team is accountable to ensure that we are all treated fairly and with respect.

We are also an Armed Forces friendly organisation, and as part of our commitment to the Armed Forces Covenant, welcome applications from veterans and services spouses and partners who met the criteria in our job specifications.

In line with our Disability Confident Commitments, we provide reasonable adjustments to facilitate our interview process, please liaise with us if any reasonable adjustments are required.

About Us

Whether it is adversarial support, electronic attack or customised rotary‑wing training, we offer the most accurate and advanced readiness training in the industry. Our vast, differentiated fleet, cutting edge hardware and experienced instructors are engaged to help your mission take off.

Being ready is not only a matter of when. But where. We provide services in the UK, US and across the NATO countries. Making sure that our allies can manoeuvre around defeat and prepare to prevail.