Senior Programme Lead (Recovery) - SC Cleared

Sanderson Government & Defence; United States; Hybrid; USD 195,000 - 219,000; Full time

Job summary

Sanderson Government & Defence in Reading requires a Senior Programme Lead (Recovery) to own and drive the recovery of a large, complex programme. This hands-on role demands diagnosing causes, resetting baselines, and personally delivering recovery actions to get the project back on track.

The successful candidate will have UK SC clearance, extensive programme leadership experience, and a track record of recovering challenging programmes within defence or related sectors.

Qualifications

• Hands-on lead for recovering large, complex programmes.
• Ability to diagnose root causes and define recovery actions.
• Experience re-baselining plans, milestones, dependencies and resources.
• Active UK SC clearance is essential; sole UK national requirement.

Responsibilities

• Take ownership of the recovery of a large, complex programme.
• Diagnose issues, reset governance and drive actions to completion.
• Engage senior stakeholders and manage delivery teams.
• Provide evidence of personally recovered programmes with measurable outcomes.

Skills

Programme leadership

Recovery of large programmes

Stakeholder management

Hands-on delivery

Security clearance (SC)

UK Defence experience

Job description

Senior Programme Lead (Recovery) - SC Cleared

Location: Reading - 1 day per week in the office
Rate: £800-£900 per day inside IR35
Clearance: Active SC clearance required
Contract: Contract

We are looking for an experienced Senior Programme Lead (Recovery) to take ownership of the recovery of a large, complex programme.

This is a hands‑on programme leadership role for an experienced doer who has personally led programmes through significant challenges and recovery. We are looking for someone who can quickly understand what has gone wrong, establish the facts, reset the programme and personally drive the actions required to get it back on track.

Key requirements

• 8+ years' programme leadership experience.
• Proven experience recovering large, complex and challenged programmes.
• Active UK SC clearance is essential.
• Sole UK national as a minimum requirement.
• Demonstrable experience diagnosing why a programme has gone off track and identifying the actions required to recover it.
• Experience re-baselining programme plans, milestones, dependencies, resources and delivery objectives.
• Proven ability to reset programme governance, reporting and decision‑making structures.
• Strong stakeholder management experience across senior leadership, delivery teams and other key stakeholders.
• A track record of personally driving recovery actions through to completion.
• Recent UK Defence, MOD or major UK Prime experience is highly desirable.

What we're looking for

We need an experienced programme professional who can demonstrate specific examples of programmes they have personally recovered.

When applying, candidates should be able to provide clear, recent examples covering:

• The size, complexity and nature of the programme they recovered.
• What had gone wrong and how they diagnosed the underlying issues.
• How they developed and implemented the recovery strategy.
• How they re-baselined the programme plan and reset expectations.
• How they reset governance and programme controls.
• The specific recovery actions they personally drove.
• The measurable outcomes achieved following the recovery.

Important

Candidates who do not hold active SC clearance and meet the sole UK national requirement will not be considered.

We are looking for genuine hands‑on programme recovery experience. Candidates whose experience is primarily advisory, assurance, review or recommendation‑based, without evidence of personally leading the recovery of complex programmes, will not be considered.

£800-£900 per day | Inside IR35 | Reading | 1 day per week in office | Active SC clearance required

Reasonable Adjustments

Respect and equality are core values to us. We are proud of the diverse and inclusive community we have built, and we welcome applications from people of all backgrounds and perspectives. Our success is driven by our people, united by the spirit of partnership to deliver the best resourcing solutions for our clients.

If you need any help or adjustments during the recruitment process for any reason, please let us know when you apply or talk to the recruiters directly so we can support you.