Job description for Operations Manager

Are you fascinated by Submarines? They are our life! Come and join us at the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA) as an Operations Manager and be at the heart of our mission.

You can be based at our offices in BAE Systems, Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria. LA14 1AF or Rosyth Royal Dockyard, Rosyth, Fife. KY11 2YD. Please indicate your preferred location.

You will manage the delivery of a capability, equipment, or service to meet our defence clients’ requirements, leveraging your expertise in supply and demand, and project management.

Your primary focus will be visiting other UK MOD sites and suppliers, playing a key role in managing and leading supplier engagements to enhance delivery, quality, and financial risk management.

You’ll identify, monitor, and deliver agreed actions, demonstrating improvements through metrics, and provide concise, regular updates and reporting to the leadership team using the Key Supplier Management (KSM) tool.

Building effective relationships with a diverse range of stakeholders is crucial, ensuring your efforts support military front-line operations. With a pro-active approach and a commitment to continuous improvement, you’ll interpret management information to offer valuable insights, helping us perform better, together.

The role involves significant travel within the United Kingdom, including possible overnight stays with allowances for travel and subsistence.

When not travelling, regular in-office attendance is required at your chosen site, to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance.

In return, we offer great benefits including – a market leading employer pension contribution, performance-based bonuses, a flexible working environment, together with training and professional qualification development opportunities to enable you to build a career in SDA. We also have a wide range of staff networks, where you can meet new people, share perspectives, and celebrate differences, too. You can be sure that when you join us, you’ll be joining a real community.

Due to security requirements for the position, it is open to sole UK national only.

What you’ll be doing

• Driving the team in the delivery of support for in-service capability within area of responsibility, according to the customer requirements, delivery plan, support solution, key performance indicators (KPIs), and subsequent governance and reporting requirements.
• Implementing appropriate governance arrangements for the delivery of the service, aligned with SDA, Contract and Customer requirements.
• Monitoring service delivery progress and delivery against customer KPIs utilising Management Information, reporting monthly through reporting drumbeat. Interprets data to identify trends, risks and issues, and continuous improvement opportunities.
• Liaising with suppliers, monitoring, and controlling performance against agreed KPIs,
• Leading the development of delivery plans, delivery approaches and procurement strategies.
• Mitigating risk and leveraging opportunities. Leading on risk management activities, accurately assessing impact and likelihood, developing risk responses as well as prioritising, monitoring, reporting and escalating risks, as necessary.
• Managing assumptions and dependencies, effectively communicating changes with stakeholders.

Person specification

To be successful with your application, you’ll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:

• Strong demonstrable experience of undertaking Operations Management work or associated disciplines (Project Management, Supply Chain).
• Evidence of stakeholder and relationship management.
• Experience of delivering continuous improvement activity.
• Experience in interpreting and using management information and data.
• Proficiency in the use of Microsoft Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, Teams).

In addition to the responsibilities above, the following technical competences and behaviours will be assessed at interview:

• Stakeholder Management – Practitioner level
• Continuous Improvement for Optimised Support – Practitioner level
• Leadership – CSBC3
• Communicating and influencing – CSBC3

Benefits

Alongside your salary of £43,700, Ministry of Defence contributes £12,659 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme. Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides.

• 25 days’ annual leave +1 day a year up to 30 days, 8 bank holidays and a day off for the King’s birthday
• Flexible and hybrid working options
• Market-leading average employer pension contribution of 28.97%
• Annual performance-based bonus and recognition awards
• Access to specialist training and funded qualifications
• Support for progression
• Huge range of discounts
• Volunteering days
• Enhanced parental leave schemes

Improving innovation and enriching our culture, diversity of thought is vital to our success. So whether you’re looking for a new opportunity, a next step, or a helping hand as you return from a career break, bring your experiences and help deliver for the defence of tomorrow. Here you’ll find a supportive, family-friendly organisation to be a part of – and if you need any assistance with your application, just let us know.

Further Information

• Candidate Information Pack: http://bit.ly/SDA–Candidate-Information-Pack
• Terms and Conditions: https://bit.ly/DES-SDA-Terms-and-Conditions

Selection process details

Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:

1. Pre-sift – We will check that you meet any essential or eligibility criteria that are listed in the Person Specification section of this advert. On your CV, please clearly show how you meet the essential criteria.
2. Sift – Your CV will be assessed against the following categories, using a simple numerical scoring system: Key Achievements; Relevant Experience; Applied Knowledge and Skills. Please follow our guidance on CV writingfor best chance of success.
3. Interview – If you’re invited to interview, you’ll be assessed against the Sift categories listed above, as well as the Technical Competences and Behaviours listed in the Person Specification section of this advert.

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.