Senior Manufacturing Programme Manager
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 12, 2026. First seen by Alion on Oct 7, 2026. MBDA UK scores B on the Alion truth index.
An opportunity has become available for someone to compose and lead a team, managing and delivering STRATUS LO Programme.
Salary: Circa £70,000 depending on experience
Dynamic (hybrid) working: 3/4 days per week on-site, due to workload classification and team collaboration
Security Clearance: British Citizen or a Dual UK national with British citizenship.
Restrictions and/or limitations relating to nationality and/or rights to work may apply. As a minimum and after offer stage, all successful candidates will need to undergo HMG Basic Personnel Security Standard checks (BPSS), which are managed by the MBDA Personnel Security Team.
What we can offer you:
- Company Bonus: Bonus of up to 30% of base salary
- Car Allowance
- Pension: maximum total (employer and employee) contribution of up to 14%
- Flexible working: We welcome applicants who are looking for flexible working arrangements
- Enhanced parental leave: offers up to 26 weeks for maternity, adoption and shared parental leave -enhancements are available for paternity leave, neonatal leave and fertility testing and treatments
- Facilities: Fantastic site facilities including subsidised meals, free car parking and much more…
- Private Medical Insurance: Eligible employees are enrolled as standard into the company funded Private Medical Insurance benefit.
This role leads the STRATUS LO Manufacturing Programme Management team for the delivery of a strategically significant portfolio of contracts within the Strike Programmes Sector. Reporting to the Chief Manufacturing Systems Engineer, the successful candidate will demonstrate both a broad and deep set of project management and leadership skills to lead and deliver manufacturing projects in a complex environment.
What we’re looking for from you:
- Leadership, influencing and relationship management skills required to establish and maintain strong internal and external relationships.
- Demonstrable resilience; driving to remove ambiguity and work in a dynamic part of the product life cycle.
- Able to understand the engineering aspects of challenges faced and be able to lead teams through these challenges to resolution whilst protecting the cost and schedule of projects as well as the customer relationship.
- A pragmatic approach to delivery of key milestones and changing priorities.
- The ability to quickly understand process or legislative issues and be able to critically think of solutions to work within these and deliver successful outcomes.
- You will need to have a high degree of self-motivation and drive with the ability to work independently and as part of a team.
- Accomplished people manager in a leadership role with the skillset to coach a growing team of project managers and interface effectively with a growing engineering team.
- You will have effective interpersonal and communications skills and an open, confident and clear leadership style, with the ability to engage effectively across all levels of the business.
- Some previous experience of Project Management for Manufacturing, in including Sales and Operations Planning (S&OP) processes and Materials Requirements Planning (MRP) is preferred but not essential.
- An ability to work across NatCos on a tri-lateral programme.
- Eligibility to hold DV clearance.
Note: This role will require time to be spent in both Bolton and Stevenage as a result regular travel between the sites is essential.
Our Team:
The STRATUS LO Manufacturing team play an important role at the heart of a strategically important programme; with a commitment to deliver critical milestones across a complex geo-political landscape. Joining a growing team, you will play a vital role in creating a culture of passion and delivery in an exciting part of the product life cycle. The role offers the opportunity to work across a complex stakeholder map, both domestically and across our partner nations in France and Italy. You’ll be part of a team that values expertise and teamwork while making a tangible contribution to a programme of national and international significance.
Our company: Peace is not a given, Freedom is not a given, Sovereignty is not a given
MBDA is a leading defence organisation. We are proud of the role we play in supporting the Armed Forces who protect our nations. We partner with governments to work together towards a common goal, defending our freedom.
We are proud of our employee-led networks, examples include: Gender Equality, Pride, Menopause Matters, Parents and Carers, Armed Forces, Ethnic Diversity, Neurodiversity, Disability and more…
We recognise that everyone is unique, and we encourage you to speak to us should you require any advice, support or adjustments throughout our recruitment process.
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