Senior Telecoms Project Manager

National Physical Laboratory; Metropolitan Borough of Solihull; Hybrid; GBP 70,000 - 110,000; Full time

Job summary

UKTL is seeking a Senior Project Manager to lead telecoms programmes, delivering complex 4G/5G initiatives and related infrastructure. You will guide multidisciplinary teams across engineering, research and security, ensuring projects meet deadlines, budgets and quality standards in a fast-paced environment.

You will establish agile practices, manage stakeholders, and collaborate with partners to drive secure and resilient telecoms capabilities, including data centre and cloud-related

Qualifications

• Experience delivering complex technology or telecoms projects in fast-paced, technical environments.
• Strong knowledge of 4G/5G Core networks and RAN principles.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary teams, suppliers and external partners.
• Expertise in project planning, scheduling, budgeting, risk management and governance.
• Experience applying Agile methodologies and facilitating ceremonies.
• Excellent stakeholder management across technical and non-technical audiences.

Responsibilities

• Lead the delivery of telecoms programmes from initiation through deployment, ensuring on-time, on-budget delivery and high quality.
• Manage project scope, budgets, schedules, risks and dependencies; negotiate contracts and change requests for value.
• Lead cross-functional teams and suppliers to deliver mission-critical capabilities.
• Establish and drive agile delivery practices with effective planning and reporting.
• Oversee build/upgrade/deployment of telecoms platforms focusing on 4G/5G Core; support wider RAN and data centre projects.
• Collaborate with engineering, research, security and operations to align delivery with objectives.
• Drive adoption of new technologies, tools and processes to enhance capability and resilience.
• Embed security considerations in delivery and system design.
• Provide clear governance, stakeholder communications and executive reporting.
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement and apply best-practice agile approaches.

Skills

Large-scale project leadership

Telecoms tech knowledge (4G/5G)

Multidisciplinary team management

Project planning & governance

Agile methodologies

Stakeholder management

Commercial awareness

Delivery planning

Job description

About the Role

Lead the delivery of critical telecoms programmes that help shape the future security and resilience of the UK's telecommunications infrastructure.

At UKTL, we're building and evolving a world-class telecoms testing environment that supports government, industry and research partners. As a Senior Project Manager, you'll take ownership of complex telecoms and infrastructure projects, leading multidisciplinary teams to deliver cutting‑edge capabilities across 4G, 5G and future 6G technologies.

This is a unique opportunity to work at the forefront of telecoms innovation, driving high‑impact projects that support the UK's mission to create secure and resilient telecommunications networks.

What you'll be doing

As a Senior Project Manager, you will be responsible for leading the successful delivery of telecoms programmes from initiation through to deployment, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget and to the highest quality standards.

Key responsibilities include:

• Leading the delivery of telecoms systems and infrastructure into UKTL's test environments.
  Managing project scope, budgets, schedules, risks and dependencies to deliver successful outcomes, while negotiating third‑party contracts and change requests to maximise value for money and ensure commercial benefits are realised.
• Leading cross‑functional project teams and suppliers to deliver mission‑critical capabilities.
• Establishing and driving agile delivery practices, ensuring effective planning, prioritisation and reporting.
• Overseeing the build, upgrade, and deployment of telecommunications platforms, with a primary focus on 4G and 5G Core technologies. Supporting wider network and RAN initiatives, while also delivering non‑telecom infrastructure projects, including data centre upgrades and application deployments the UKTL environment uses private cloud.
• Working closely with engineering, research, security and operational stakeholders to align delivery with organisational objectives.
• Driving the adoption of new technologies, tools and processes that enhance capability, resilience and operational efficiency.
• Ensuring security considerations are embedded throughout project delivery and system design.
• Providing clear project governance, stakeholder communications and executive reporting.
• Identifying opportunities for continuous improvement and implementing best practice agile project management approaches.

Successful Applicants must be able to commute to the UKTL offices in Birmingham at least twice a week

We strive to offer a great work life balance - if you are looking for full time, part time or flexible options, we will try to make this work where business possible. This will be dependent on the kind of role you do and part of the business you work in.

About You

What we're looking for: We're seeking an experienced Senior Project Manager with a strong track record of delivering complex technology or telecoms projects in fast‑paced and highly technical environments.

You’ll bring:

• Significant experience leading large-scale technical projects or programmes from inception to delivery.
• Strong knowledge of telecoms technologies, particularly 4G and 5G Core networks, with an understanding of Radio Access Networks (RAN) and telecoms security principles.
• Experience managing multidisciplinary teams, suppliers and external partners.
• Strong expertise in project planning, scheduling, budgeting, risk management and governance.
• Experience applying Agile methodologies to deliver successful outcomes, including facilitating key Agile ceremonies.
• Excellent stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate effectively across technical and non-technical audiences.
• Strong commercial awareness and experience managing supplier performance and value‑for‑money outcomes.
• The ability to quickly understand complex technical challenges and translate them into structured delivery plans.

We actively recruit citizens of all backgrounds, but the nature of our work in this specific area means that nationality, residency and security requirements are more tightly defined than others. To work in this role, you will need to hold an SC clearance with no restrictions. You are welcome to apply without already holding SC clearance; however, you will not be able to start in post until the clearance has been successfully granted.

About Us

UKTL is building leading edge Telecoms testing facilities to keep our telecommunications networks safe, accelerate the roll‑out of new technologies, and grow our world leading telecoms sector to maintain resiliency and security.

Read more about UKTL here!

Successful candidates will join a state‑of‑the‑art facility and be supporting the team conducting testing and research on the latest technologies and innovations in the industry. You will work alongside our infrastructure and Cybersecurity professionals to ensure that the UK’s world class Telecoms infrastructure grows in a resilient and secure manner underpinning growth in other industry sectors.

As a trusted and independent national capability, UKTL interacts with standards bodies, Academia, and Government Departments as well as Communications Service Providers and equipment vendors.

The National Physical Laboratory (NPL) is a world‑leading centre of excellence that provides cutting‑edge measurement science, engineering and technology to underpin prosperity and quality of life in the UK. Find out more about what it is like working here - The measure of us - Overview

NPL and DSIT have strong commitments to diversity and equality of opportunity, and welcome applications from candidates irrespective of their background, gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, or age, providing they meet the required criteria. Applications from women, disabled and black, Asian and minority ethnic candidates in particular are encouraged. All disabled candidates (as defined by the Equality Act 2010) who satisfy the minimum criteria for the role will be guaranteed an interview under the Disability Confident Scheme.

At NPL, we believe our success is a result of the diversity and talent of our people. We strive to nurture and respect individuals to ensure everyone feels valued by treating everyone on the basis of their own individual merits and abilities regardless of their own or perceived identity, as part of our commitment to diversity & inclusion, we ensure we’re creating an environment where all our colleagues feel supported and welcome. More about this on our Diversity & Inclusion page.

We offer a wealth of above industry standard benefits, such as enhanced pension scheme, flexible working, and more that can be found here rewards, benefits and recognition. Our values are at the heart of what we do, and they shape the way we interact, develop our people and celebrate success. To ensure everyone has an equal chance, we’re always willing