Project Manager

Project Manager

Location: West Sussex
Salary: £40,000 - £52,000
Working pattern: Hybrid / flexible
Sector: Defence

We’re working exclusively with an established defence organisation to recruit a Project Manager to join their growing Project Management team.

This is an exciting opportunity for an experienced Project Manager with an engineering background to take ownership of a range of technically complex projects, working across engineering, operations, finance and customer-facing teams to deliver against cost, time, quality and technical requirements.

The role will suit someone who enjoys taking ownership, managing multiple stakeholders and driving projects through from initial planning and development to delivery and customer acceptance.

The Role

As Project Manager, you’ll be responsible for the successful execution of assigned projects, ensuring key milestones, contractual deliverables and business objectives are achieved.

You’ll work closely with internal teams and external customers, coordinating resources, managing risks and ensuring projects remain on track commercially, technically and operationally.

Key responsibilities will include:

• Taking ownership of project planning and mobilisation, including schedules, resource plans, stage plans and budgets.
• Managing projects against agreed scope, schedule, cost, quality and technical requirements.
• Building strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders and ensuring expectations, requirements and key decisions are effectively managed.
• Developing and maintaining project plans and key project management documentation.
• Coordinating with Operations to support successful project delivery, including customer acceptance testing and final delivery.
• Working closely with Engineering Leads and department heads to identify critical project requirements, risks and resource needs.
• Ensuring engineering activities and project stage gates are delivered in line with agreed schedules.
• Maintaining action logs and driving the timely closure of outstanding actions.
• Leading project risk management and implementing appropriate mitigation and recovery plans.
• Working with Finance to prepare project reporting, forecasts and financial updates, including revenue, costs and margin.
• Supporting appropriate controls across areas such as production, invoicing, shipping, data management and export requirements.
• Capturing lessons learned and using project feedback to support continuous improvement.
• Supporting wider business improvement initiatives and contributing to the development of project management processes.

What We’re Looking For

We’re looking for a Project Manager with at least three years' experience, ideally gained within an engineering, manufacturing, defence or similarly complex technical environment.

You’ll ideally bring:

• Proven experience managing projects within an engineering or technical environment.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, including experience working with customers and multiple internal functions.
• Experience managing projects from planning through to delivery and close-out.
• The ability to create and maintain project schedules using Microsoft Project or a similar planning tool.
• Experience producing project, management and financial reports.
• Strong understanding of project risk, cost, time and resource management.
• Excellent organisational skills and a methodical approach to project delivery.
• Strong communication, interpersonal and written skills.
• The ability to work independently while collaborating effectively across multidisciplinary teams.
• A resilient, adaptable and proactive approach to managing changing priorities.
• Willingness and ability to travel within the UK and internationally when required.

Desirable

• Experience within the defence, aerospace, engineering or advanced manufacturing sectors.
• Experience working on customer contracts or technically complex development projects.
• Familiarity with engineering development processes and stage-gate environments.
• Experience working within integrated project or multidisciplinary teams.
• Formal project management qualification.

Why Consider This Opportunity?

This is a fantastic opportunity to join an established defence organisation where you’ll have genuine ownership of projects and the opportunity to work across a highly collaborative, technically focused environment.

You’ll be exposed to a broad range of stakeholders and projects, with the opportunity to develop your project management experience while making a direct contribution to successful customer delivery.

The role offers a salary of £40,000–£52,000, alongside company benefits and flexible working arrangements.

Interested?

If you’re an experienced Project Manager looking for your next challenge within the defence and engineering sector, we’d be keen to hear from you.

Apply now or contact us for a confidential conversation about the opportunity.

Please note: due to the nature of the organisation and the work undertaken, successful applicants will be required to meet relevant UK security clearance and residency requirements.