Principal Supply Chain Development Manager

awepeople; United States; Hybrid; USD 84,000 - 113,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

9-day working fortnight

Pension scheme (contributory)

Family-friendly policies

Professional career development

Employee assistance programme

Life assurance

Discounts

Volunteer leave

Job summary

AWE is seeking a Principal Supply Chain Development Manager in Reading to lead the Commercial Enablement Supply Chain Development function and shape enterprise-wide strategy for supplier governance, market intelligence and resilience across major programmes.

Reporting to the Commercial Enablement Director, you will build relationships with senior stakeholders, drive sustainable procurement, and develop governance standards, tools and processes to deliver measurable business value while advancing

Qualifications

• Proven professional experience in supply chain development or related field.
• Experience leading strategy with supplier governance and SRM.

Responsibilities

• Define and deliver enterprise supply chain development strategy aligned with executive objectives.
• Embed robust supplier governance, SRM, and performance frameworks across the organisation.
• Provide strategic supplier and market intelligence to inform decision-making and long-term planning.
• Identify and manage strategic supply chain risks and resilience challenges across key markets.
• Develop and maintain the Client of Choice strategy to secure supplier commitment and capacity.
• Embed sustainability, ESG, SME participation, and social value objectives across activities.
• Engage senior stakeholders, government bodies, industry partners, and strategic suppliers.
• Ensure consistent supply chain standards, tools, and governance are applied across the function.
• Lead and integrate Supply Chain Development and Supply Chain Intelligence into a high-performing unit.

Job description

Principal Supply Chain Development Manager

Package: £63,270 to £85k (depending on experience)

Location: Reading, with free onsite parking.

Working pattern: AWE operates a 9-day working fortnight, with every other Friday as a non-working day. This role is eligible for hybrid working, meaning employees typically spend three days on site in a long week and two days on site in a short week. We support flexible working where possible, including part-time and varied working hours, so please let us know if you would like us to consider an alternative working arrangement when you apply.

Ready to play your part?

At AWE, it's not just a job, it's far more than that. Our shared purpose is to help keep the nation safe. Could this role be the opportunity for you to play your part?

The Principal Supply Chain Development Manager leads the Commercial Enablement Supply Chain Development function and is accountable for defining and delivering AWE's enterprise-wide supply chain development strategy.

The role provides strategic leadership across supplier and market intelligence, supplier relationship management and supplier governance methodologies, sustainability and supplier engagement activities. Through leadership of the Senior Supply Chain Development and Supply Chain Intelligence teams, the role ensures AWE has the insight, frameworks, relationships, and capabilities required to support major programmes, mitigate supply chain risk, strengthen supplier performance, and position AWE as a Client of Choice across key markets.

The role will report into the Commercial Enablement Director.

Key Accountabilities:

• Accountable for establishing and delivering the enterprise Supply Chain Development strategy, working with Exec and SLT to align to organisational, programme, and commercial objectives.

• Accountable for ensuring robust supplier governance, supplier relationship management, and supplier performance frameworks are embedded across the organisation.

• Accountable for providing strategic supplier and market intelligence that informs executive decision-making, commercial strategy, sourcing activity, and long-term capability planning.

• Accountable for identifying, assessing, and managing strategic supply chain risks and resilience challenges across critical supply markets and supplier networks.

• Accountable for developing and maintaining the organisation's Client of Choice strategy to secure supplier commitment, innovation, and long-term capacity.

• Accountable for embedding sustainability, ESG, SME participation, supplier diversity, and social value objectives throughout supply chain development activities.

• Accountable for building effective relationships with senior internal stakeholders, government bodies, industry partners, and strategic suppliers.

• Accountable for ensuring a level of coordinated control on all strategic market engagement, driving innovation and investment in the supply chain.

• Accountable for ensuring the development and application of consistent supply chain standards, methodologies, tools, policies, and governance arrangements.

• Accountable for leading and integrating the Supply Chain Development and Supply Chain Intelligence capabilities into a coherent, high-performing function that drives continuous improvement and measurable business value.

Whilst not to be considered a tick list, we’d like you to have experience in some of the following:

• Compliance withrelevantlegislation and regulations.

• Must haveproven professional experience.

• Proven experience in developing strategy with specific experience in supply chain creation and development.

• Experience in development SME strategies that work cohesively with wider Supply Chain Development strategies.

• Experience in leading teams and driving cross-team working.

• Experience of working collaboratively with and influencing senior business stakeholders.

• Experience of mitigating external and internal risks and issues.

• Experience and understanding of delivering procurement, SRM and contract management strategies with a specific expertise in supply chain management and development.

• Natural strategic thinker, able to draw out insights and be seen as a key advisor to the business on supply chain development activity and interaction with wider supply chain practices.

• Strong communicator with the ability to influence at all levels.

• Articulate and persuasive, able to relay commercial strategy to a non-specialist audience and garner support for difficult or complex commercial decisions.

• Skilled in senior stakeholder management, with ability to deploy effective tools and strategies to create business alignment and influence decision-making.

• Strong relationship management skills with key internal colleagues, external customers and stakeholders.

• Highly developed facilitation, presentational, leadership and interpersonal skills.

• Strong organisational and analytical skills and effectiveness to manage conflicting priorities in a multi-task role delivering to challenging timescales.

• Ability to work effectively in a complex and ambiguous environment.

• Strong understanding of a wide range of technical issues as pertains to market development and SRM in a regulated environment.

• Role model for innovation and continuous improvement.

Work hard, be rewarded:

We ask a lot and set the bar high because our work truly matters. In return we offer balance, with award winning benefits including:

• 9-day working fortnight - meaning you get every other Friday off work, in addition to 270 hours of annual leave.

• Market leading contributory pension scheme (we will pay between 9% and 13% of your pensionable pay depending on your contributions).

• Family friendly policies: Maternity Leave - 39 Weeks Full Pay and Paternity Leave - 4 Weeks Full Pay.

• Opportunities for Professional Career Development including funding for annual membership of a relevant professional body.

• Employee Assistance Programme and Occupational Health Services.

• Life Assurance (4 x annual salary).

• Discounts - access to savings on a wide range of everyday spending.

• Special Leave Policy including paid time off for volunteering, public service (including reserve forces) and caring.

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Next steps:

Important things you need to know:

• You will need to obtain and maintain the necessary security clearance for the role. This will be funded by AWE. The nature of our work does mean you need to be a British Citizen who has been resident in the UK for the past 5 years in order to apply for SC clearance and 10 years for DV.

• We want you to feel comfortable and able to shine during our recruitment process. Please let us know on your application form if you need any adjustments/accommodations during the process.

• Our interviews typically take place over Teams and for most roles are a 1 stage process.

Our ambition is to create workplaces where we recognise and celebrate differences, encourage diverse contributions and our employees feel able to be themselves at work. We strive to create a genuine culture of openness and inclusion and encourage diverse applicants. Any inclusion information you provide will be stored in accordance with GDPR and kept separate from your application form and CV, and the information will not be shared with anyone involved in interviewing or making hiring decisions.

Please note that you must be a British Citizen to apply for a role with us.