Head of Programme Delivery

We are looking for an experienced and motivated Head of Programme Delivery. This is a key leadership role within Bright Ascension, responsible for shaping and overseeing the successful delivery of our portfolio of customer projects, HELIX product development, R&D programmes and internal transformation initiatives.

Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the Head of Programme Delivery provides a single, integrated view of priorities, resources, risks, dependencies and delivery performance across the organisation. Working closely with leaders across Engineering, Quality, Customer Experience, Infrastructure and IT, this role ensure programmes are aligned to business objectives and delivered effectively.

The role leads and develops the project management community, establishes scalable governance and delivery standards, and provides clear insight to support informed decision-making. By identifying risks early and ensuring effective planning and coordination, the Head of Programme Delivery plays a critical role in enabling successful outcomes for our customers, products and business.

We see this role as being full time, although this is negotiable. Ideally, we would like this role to be based in Edinburgh, on a hybrid basis to allow for regular interaction with the wider business and colleagues in other departments.

What you will do

As a key member of the team your responsibilities would be:

Portfolio leadership and integration

• Manage an integrated portfolio across Customer Services, HELIX, R&D and internal projects.
• Identify dependencies and risks, recommending priorities and sequencing to senior leadership.

Governance and delivery assurance

• Establish and maintain effective project and programme governance, including RAID, dependencies, decisions and change control.
• Lead regular project and portfolio reviews, providing clear reporting, assurance and early escalation of risks.

Financial control and benefits

• Manage budgets, forecasts, resource costs and benefits across the portfolio.
• Monitor financial performance and commercial exposure, ensuring projects have clear scope, funding and value.

Resource and capacity coordination

• Maintain an integrated view of demand, capacity and resource requirements across Product Engineering, Services, R&D, QA, Customer Experience, Support, Infrastructure and IT.
• Work with functional leaders to resolve resource conflicts and support informed decisions on prioritisation, recruitment, outsourcing and make-or-buy.
• Lead, coach and develop project managers, establishing clear roles, responsibilities and accountabilities across project teams.
• Develop consistent project management standards and a practical community of practice, while allowing flexibility across different project types.

Stakeholder communication and continuous improvement

• Provide clear, decision-focused reporting and build strong relationships with senior leaders, Finance, Commercial, Product and project sponsors.
• Improve project data, reporting tools and dashboards to provide reliable insight and drive continuous improvement in project delivery.

Essential skills & experience

We see experience with the following as essential to the job:

• Ability to create clear executive dashboards and turn incomplete delivery and financial data into actionable insight. Substantial experience leading complex, interdependent programmes or portfolios in a software, engineering or technology-led organisation.
• Proven experience integrating customer delivery, product development, R&D or business change work that shares specialist resources.
• Strong command of programme and portfolio planning, dependency management, RAID, change control, governance, assurance and benefits realisation.
• Demonstrable financial management experience including budgets, forecasts, estimate to complete, revenue, margin, cost control and variance analysis.
• Experience of demand and capacity planning, portfolio prioritisation and resolution of cross-functional resource conflicts.
• Experience establishing or maturing a PMO or programme office without creating unnecessary bureaucracy.
• Strong understanding of software development lifecycles and agile, iterative and predictive delivery approaches.
• Relevant programme or project management qualification such as MSP, APM PMQ or ChPP, PRINCE2 Practitioner, PMP or equivalent practical experience.

Personal skills

We’re especially looking for someone who is:

• A credible, collaborative leader able to influence peers and senior stakeholders without relying solely on formal authority.
• Commercially astute and confident challenging assumptions, weak evidence and competing commitments constructively.
• Highly structured and analytical, with the judgement to distinguish material controls from administrative overhead.
• Calm under pressure and able to bring clarity to ambiguity, conflict and changing priorities.
• Clear and concise communicator who can explain complex delivery, resource and financial issues to technical and non-technical audiences.
• Outcome focused, accountable and persistent in following decisions and actions through to completion.
• Committed to coaching, knowledge sharing and raising project management capability across the organisation.

We think that the following skills would definitely be valuable in this role:

• Experience in a scaling a SME, space, aerospace, defence or other mission-critical engineering environment.
• Experience of grant-funded R&D programmes and associated financial and reporting controls.
• Experience leading project managers across both customer-facing and internal portfolios.
• Experience implementing portfolio management tooling, integrated reporting or resource planning systems.
• Experience supporting board or investor reporting and strategic planning.
• Knowledge of product operating models, platform delivery and shared software architectures.

What we can offer you

• A competitive salary in the range of £60k-£80k pro rata depending on experience, with regular reviews.
• A fantastic opportunity to join a growing, innovative, employee-centred business pushing boundaries in the space industry.
• Flexible hours and hybrid working, enabling you to create your ideal work life balance.
• 36 days paid holiday per annum.
• Enhanced Company Sick Pay and Long-Term Sickness cover.
• A Health Cash Plan to cover costs such as dental, physio and optical.
• Life Assurance cover (x4 salary).
• Enhanced maternity, paternity and adoption pay.
• Opportunities for international travel for exhibitions and trade shows.
• Investment in you and your skill development and the opportunity to attend relevant events and conferences to aid career / skill development.
• Company events and regular activities for social engagement and team building.
• An open, supportive, inclusive environment where you can explore your ideas and make a big difference to the product and business.

About Bright Ascension

We are a fast growing, innovative company changing the way that software is developed in the space industry. With customers across the world, ranging from universities and space agencies, to commercial organisations and start-ups, our core technologies enable our customers to develop and operate space-based systems and services faster, more cost effectively and more reliably.

Innovation is at the heart of what we do and it is our team which drives that innovation; this is reflected in our commitment to employee ownership, which gives all of us a voice, and a stake, in our current and future success. With offices in Dundee, Edinburgh and Bristol we now have more than 60 members of staff and plans to expand significantly over the next 12 months. We are at a very exciting time in our ambitious growth plans and have fantastic opportunities for talented individuals to join our team.

Our Values

We worked together to identify and shape the values that underpin everything we do, our actions, our vision and all things Bright Ascension.

Enjoy what you do and have fun. Be curious and be fearless. Unconventional ideas and passion are the paths to true innovation.

Sharing knowledge helps the team thrive. Start a dialogue and win through teamwork. Success comes through collaboration and support.

Respect & Integrity

Recognise differences and accept opinions. Integrity, respect and high standards create unbreakable trust and builds reputation.

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