Project Manager – Mission Systems Engineering

We’re creating the UK’s next-generation engineering powerhouse, delivering critical technology that strengthens national security and resilience.

We turn advances in sensing, AI and communications into operational capability at the edge, where connectivity may be limited or unavailable. Our work accelerates technology deployment, improves frontline decision-making, and protects people and critical assets in demanding environments.

Based in Bristol, Rowden employs around 200 people and operates more than 20,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing facilities. With a growing international presence, we are one of Europe’s fastest-growing engineering businesses.

The role

We are seeking an experienced, delivery-focused Project Manager to play a pivotal role in the leadership, delivery, and governance of a complex systems integration project. This role requires an individual who is highly self-directed, exceptionally proactive, and comfortable operating at pace in a dynamic, ambiguous and complex stakeholder environment.

This role is not for someone who requires tightly defined tasks or close direction to operate effectively.

You’ll be joining a high-impact team working with passionate colleagues to deliver a step change in capability for our customer. The role offers the chance to see the direct impact of your work, collaborating closely with end users to solve real problems.

Key areas of responsibility

What you’ll be doing

• Own the day-to-day delivery of a complex systems integration project, ensuring progress against agreed milestones, budgets, and outcomes. This is not a helicopter role, you'll be getting stuck in with your team to ensure delivery is successful.
• Own contract scope and manage the commercial landscape across the project. Your team will look to you to ensure we are operating within the commercial boundaries whilst maximising delivery impact.
• Translate high-level project outcomes into actionable delivery plans, workstreams, and outputs whilst identifying and communicating both internal and external dependencies.
• Drive alignment across business, engineering, and third-party delivery teams with differing priorities and perspectives, managing interdependencies.
• Anticipate and identify delivery risks and issues early, proactively shaping mitigation strategies rather than reacting late.
• Establish and run effective project governance, including steering forums, status reporting, RAID management, and decision tracking.
• Produce clear, concise, and decision-oriented reporting for senior stakeholders and sponsors.
• Maintain strong financial and delivery discipline, ensuring scope, cost, and timelines are actively controlled.
• Organise and mobilise busy senior stakeholders, ensuring the right conversations happen at the right time.
• Escalate issues, concerns and risks to the appropriate level at the right time. This includes knowing when to ask for direction and guidance.
• Act as a trusted delivery partner to sponsors, providing clear recommendations and honest assessments of progress and risk.
• Bring structure to ambiguity and create clarity where requirements, ownership, or sequencing are not yet fully defined.
• Push momentum, challenge inertia, and keep delivery moving forward in complex environments.

This role is based at our Bristol HQ with hybrid working. Expect frequent travel around the UK and some overseas travel. Candidates must be eligible for SC clearance.

Candidates must be eligible for SC Clearance.

More information about security clearance is available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels

Key skills, experience and behaviours

• You’ll have significant experience delivering complex technology or systems integration projects preferably within Defence / CNI settings.
• You’ll have demonstrable project management capability, beyond single-stream project delivery with an expectation of leading multi-year, multi-million pound projects / programmes.
• You’ll have experience operating within formal governance frameworks while still enabling pace and pragmatism.
• A proven track record of coordinating across multiple stakeholders, teams, and vendors.
• Proven experience of leading multi-disciplined technical teams including systems engineers, software engineers, infrastructure engineers alongside safety and security experts.

You may have initiated, designed, governed and led:

• Large-scale, complex systems design and integrations or digital platform transformations
• Data, cloud, or infrastructure modernisation or delivery projects/programmes
• Technology integration or business transformation initiatives in a complex stakeholder environment
• Projects / programmes in multi-vendor or outsourced procurement / delivery environments
• Complex multi-year / multi-million-pound projects / programmes within Defence or other similar government led organisations.

Who you might be

You’ll be comfortable in environments where requirements evolve and adapt. Bringing your experts together to make informed decisions should be your natural MO.

You are highly organised with strong attention to detail, without losing sight of the bigger picture. You’re an exceptional communicator and you can distil complexity into clear, actionable messages.

You have confidence to engage and influence your stakeholders with a focus on building and maintaining strong, strategic relationships.

While you thrive as a member of a team, you do need to be comfortable operating autonomously and taking ownership of delivery. To do this, you’ll be a strong problem-solver, who anticipates issues rather than escalates when it’s too late.

We’ve outlined what an ideal candidate looks like, but we don’t expect you to meet every requirement. If this role excites you and you bring most of the experience we’re looking for, we’d still encourage you to apply.

Working at Rowden

We are committed to building a flexible, inclusive, and enabling company. Our aim is to create a diverse team of talented people with unique skills, experience, and backgrounds, so please apply and come as you are!

We also recognise the importance of flexible working and support this wherever we can. We typically operate a flexible, hybrid-working model, with an average 3 days in the office each week (dependent on the role). We welcome the opportunity to discuss flexibility, part-time working requirements and/or workplace adjustments with all our applicants.

Rowden is a Disability Confident Committed company, and we actively encourage people with disabilities and health conditions to apply for our roles. Please let us know your requirements early on so that we can make sure you have everything you need up front to help make the recruitment process and experience as easy as possible.

Finally, if you feel that you don’t meet all the criteria included above but have transferable skills and relevant experience, we’d still love to hear from you!