Senior Project Controls Engineer Defence

Overview

As a Senior Project Controls Engineer, you lead cross-disciplinary controls teams on medium-scale projects within defense and other regulated sectors, shaping scope, baselines, and governance. You connect project controls disciplines to deliver reliable performance insights and informed decisions. You work with the Integrated Project Team and suppliers to ensure schedule, cost, and risk alignment, driving delivery with a proactive, collaborative approach. This role offers on-site collaboration and exposure to high-impact UK defence programmes.

Pay / Benefits

• flexible working environment
• focus on work-life balance
• inclusion and diversity networks
• supportive learning and development culture
• equal opportunity employer
• opportunities to work on high-profile defence programmes

Responsibilities

• Lead cross-discipline Project Controls teams on medium risk/complexity/value projects or join higher-risk engagements
• Define scope using exclusions, assumptions, interfaces, and dependencies; decompose to form Work Breakdown Structure
• Establish robust Performance Measurement Baseline and manage change control
• Collaborate with suppliers to integrate performance data per contractual requirements
• Ensure alignment of scope, cost, risk and schedule
• Analyse performance data including Earned Value Management to inform delivery decisions
• Liaise with Finance to generate Cost and Cash Estimate to Complete and Estimate At Complete profiles
• Ensure effective risk management through identification, quantification, treatment and oversight of project risk
• Support Project Managers in deploying resources aligned with resource-loaded schedules
• Establish governance processes for auditable decision making
• Assure quality, accuracy and integrity of Project Controls outputs
• Build strong relationships to enable delivery recovery planning
• Communicate and contextualise delivery performance to stakeholders; promote learning from experience and process improvements
• Mentor and coach team members to grow capability

Key requirements

• Proven track record delivering projects in defence or infrastructure within highly regulated sectors
• Experience across a significant portion of the project lifecycle in Project Controls
• Experience with two or more Project Controls disciplines (Planning and Scheduling, Cost Estimation, Cost Control, Risk Management, Performance Reporting) and related software/tools
• Strong understanding of how Integrated Project Controls disciplines operate
• Proactive, curious, can-do attitude; comfortable in uncertain project environments
• Strong communication and influencing skills
• Promotes empowerment and team contribution; builds community beyond delivery role
• Undergraduate degree in a relevant technical or management field or suitable equivalent qualifications and experience
• Member of a relevant professional body (e.g., APM, PMI)
• Ability to make risk-based decisions with unclear parameters; adaptable leadership style
• Competence in software/tools required for the role
• Willingness to work across sectors and with various clients

• communication and influencing
• collaboration and teamwork
• proactivity and adaptability
• Planning and Scheduling
• Cost Estimation
• Cost Control

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