Risk & Programme Controls Lead – Aerospace & Defence

Jobtailor; West of England; On-site; GBP 65,000 - 95,000; Full time

Job summary

Jobtailor is seeking a dedicated risk and programme controls professional to establish and lead the Risk and Opportunity function within a Defence/Aerospace project. You will apply advanced risk methodologies, govern risk scoring, and drive mitigation across engineering, safety, commercial, and supply chain domains.

Key responsibilities include reporting to senior boards, maintaining audit-ready risk documentation, and coordinating cross-functional risk activities across UK and international

Qualifications

• Relevant professional experience in risk management, programme controls or project management within defence, aerospace or a comparable complex engineering sector.
• Formal risk management qualification (e.g. APM Risk, M_o_R, IRM) or equivalent.
• Undergraduate degree or equivalent professional experience in a relevant discipline.
• Proven experience establishing and running a risk on a complex programme, including risk identification, scoring, mitigation tracking and escalation.
• Experience reporting risk to senior governance boards and external customers/authorities.
• Experience with UK MOD or equivalent Defence procurement and governance.
• Experience on UAS, ISR or aerospace programmes involving multi-entity Design Authority arrangements.
• Understanding of risk management frameworks and tools, including risk registers, probability/impact scoring and RAID logs.

Responsibilities

• Establish, own and maintain the Risk and Opportunity function.
• Apply risk methodology and scoring to classify and actively manage risks.
• Facilitate risk identification workshops across programme, engineering, safety, commercial, supply chain and training functions.
• Track mitigation actions to closure and escalation risks exceeding tolerance thresholds.
• Own risk and opportunity reporting for Performance Review Meetings, Programme Boards and Authority reporting cycles.
• Maintain the Decision Log and supporting risk documentation with a clear audit trail.
• Support programme controls by ensuring cost, schedule and quality risk are reflected in integrated schedules and budgets.
• Provide risk input across functional business areas.
• Coordinate engineering, safety and certification risk, including SAIL/OSO compliance, MRP adherence and Design Organisation conformity across the UK/Portugal boundary.
• Track integration, security, supply chain, production, commercial and IP risks.
• Work with Programme, Engineering, Safety, Supply Chain, Manufacturing, Assembly & Integration and Commercial leads.
• Support the Programme Director/SRO in preparing risk positions for Authority engagement and negotiation.
• Coach risk owners across the Delivery team.
• Support work outside core responsibilities as business priorities require

Skills

Risk Management

Programme Controls

Risk Identification

Defence Procurement

Risk Reporting

Education

Undergraduate degree or equivalent in relevant discipline

APM Risk / M_o_R / IRM qualification

Tools

Decision Log

Risk Documentation

Integrated Schedules

Budgets

Job description

Jobtailor is seeking a dedicated risk and programme controls professional to establish and lead the Risk and Opportunity function within a Defence/Aerospace project. You will apply advanced risk methodologies, govern risk scoring, and drive mitigation across engineering, safety, commercial, and supply chain domains.

Key responsibilities include reporting to senior boards, maintaining audit-ready risk documentation, and coordinating cross-functional risk activities across UK and international