Job summary

Our Defence and National Security client, is looking for a Head of Product to join their team. They are looking for candidates with a wide range of experience and skillsets.

Key skills required for this role

Head of Product, P3M / Product / Service, Data Analysis

Important

Candidates must be willing and eligible to attain SC or DV clearance [Minimum 5 years permanent residency in the UK]

Job description

Our client is a world-class technology and engineering company delivering products, research, engineering, consultancy and managed-services directly to customers across the globe. Target markets include Defence, National Security and Industry.

Continuing to delight our customers is essential, and so the maintenance of very high-levels of delivery confidence and performance is a critical business function.

Likewise our client has a direct responsibility to deliver consistently high-levels of financial performance into its parent organisation. Fully understanding the governing contracts and delivering them confidently and robustly underpins this mission.

Balancing the needs of the customer and the needs of the Business Unit (BU) provides a constant challenge, requiring firm leadership and high-levels of responsiveness to risks and opportunities as they arise.

As Head of Products you will be directly responsible for leading and directing the balance between the needs of the customer and delivering strong financial performance for the Business Unit (BU). You will achieve this by working closely with BU Delivery Leadership, Client Management, Business Operations, Project Management Office and other Delivery Management Teams

Primary Job Purpose

• To take ownership for the delivery of all Products within a Business Portfolio and ensure they deliver to time, cost and quality against stated investment returns;
• To define the investment approach for Products as part of strategic planning aligned to the business strategy and external market;
• To serve as a point of contact for all Product related activities within the Business pulling through Innovation from the centre and support the driving of sales into clients; Coordinating Product Teams (Sales, Project and Technical leads) to achieve desired outcomes;
• To keep the BU Leadership and other key stakeholders appraised of risks, issues and mitigations, escalating appropriately for support;
• To provide high-levels of confidence regarding product safety and compliance to applicable laws and regulations (e.g. CE/UKCA);
• To own transformation and continuous improvements activities for the Products full business life-cycle.

Key Responsibilities

• Maintaining a consistently high-level of delivery confidence across all Product lines - visible to customers and visible within the organisation, quickly identifying and mitigating all significant delivery risks and issues and minimising impact

• Providing consistently accurate financial forecasting for all products & projects - with particular focus on revenue forecasting accuracy (monthly/quarterly/annually); forecasting must include a clear narrative of associated risks and opportunities
• Planning for the needs of the BU (for people, space, IT and Infrastructure, Security, MI and Tooling) in order to have accurate representation within the Integrated Business Planning Process
• Risks and issues are to be prioritised and escalated based on impact (e.g. impacting safety or revenue)
• Continually identifying and exploiting opportunities to increase project profitability/margin
• Continually improving the BU's delivery performance focussing on efficiency and effectiveness, actively managing an up-to-date, prioritised backlog of improvements
• Actively embedding and enforcing compliance with Our Client's Delivery Assurance Policy
• Always fully complying with published policies and procedures
• Undertake such other reasonable duties, commensurate with the job holder's experience and qualifications, as may be required for the smooth operation of the business
  
  

Managing People

• Identifies and implements opportunities to optimise team effectiveness and performance (e.g. through team restructuring)
• Sets clear and ambitious objectives for the team and supports the team in achieving them
• Coaches and mentors staff across the business, provides feedback through regular 1:1 meetings and team meetings to discuss goals set in line with company policies
• Leads employees through the performance management processes including performance conversations, career development and performance improvement programmes
• Facilitates the cascade of business communications to team members, providing context and guidance where required
  
  

Health, Safety and Environment

Keeping everybody safe and protecting the environment is paramount; this role requires active management of all identified Health, Safety & Environmental risks linked to delivery in accordance with Company Health and Safety policies and procedures.

PERSON SPECIFICATION

Education and Qualifications

• Honours Degree
• Appropriate Product/Service/P3M qualifications (P3O, APM, MoP, MSP, Prince2, ITIL)

Knowledge, Skills & Experience

• Minimum of 10 years' Product/P3M experience in a customer facing organisation - successfully working at project, programme, and portfolio levels
• Experienced in initiating and successfully leading business transformation programmes
• Experienced in risk management
• Information and Data Management experience preferred
• Data analysis experience essential