Director of Defence Sector: Business Development and Programme Delivery

We are looking for a Director of Defence Sectors to join our Operations team based in Coventry. This role is a permanent contract.

The Director of Defence Sectors is a senior leadership position responsible for the delivery of the sector portfolio, ensuring each sector delivers their corporate objectives which include new and  current business development pipeline, order intake, turnover and project delivery and customer satisfaction.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main duties of the Director of Defence will be:

• Develop Sector specific strategy plan in order to maximise the relevance and impact the MTC has in its chosen industry sector.
• Drive sustainable sector growth.
• Oversee the development and maintenance of sector technology roadmaps to ensure alignment between industry sector needs (pull) and MTC capabilities (push).
• Manage the Sector P&L performance in line with budget and forecast expectations, along with highlighting downside risks / upside opportunities and plans to address them.
• Provide strategic business development leadership in order to build and sustain key relationships across the sector and clients.
• Understand our client’s problems and how MTC can support their resolution.
• Provide expert insight into the end customers’ requirements.
• To contextualise that knowledge in order to provide the MTC leadership team with specialist counsel
• Provide effective governance over sector programmes and projects to ensure effective and efficient delivery across all parameters (quality/technical, cost, schedule and customer satisfaction).
• Provide leadership for the sector team and work with the functional leads to manage performance.
• To represent the MTC on relevant industry sector associations and bodies.
• Establish and maintain strong relationships with customers, and other stakeholders.
• Lead a team of Sector Directors responsible for executing the Sector specific plan ensuring the clients needs are met and are inline with contractual stipulations.
• This role will work closely with the MTC operational leadership team to ensure the strategy is aligned and executed effectively.
• Foster strong customer and third-party relationships at a senior level to facilitate growth opportunities, including partners and trade bodies.
• Working alongside counterparts to ensure resources are in line with business requirements.
• Aware of latest industry trends, emerging technologies, and best practices across UK Manufacturing and how this influences, shapes sector strategy.
• Ensure pricing and margin across all areas to ensure efficient growth and profitability.
• Ensure compliance with legal and financial requirements.
• Working with current senior customers / members or identifying new customers to identify opportunities.
• Lead participation in trade fairs, conferences, and product presentations.
• Developing and executing successful business strategies. This involves understanding the company's goals and objectives, analysing the market and industry trends, and identifying opportunities for growth
• Ensuring any longer term obligations with funding bodies are managed and opportunities sought
• Manage pricing and margin across all sales markets to ensure efficient growth and profitability.
• Ensure effective flow down of objectives across the sector team aligned with the business and sector targets. This requires building and maintaining a high-performance team culture, setting clear goals and expectations, providing feedback and coaching, and developing talent.

Person Specification

We are looking for a candidate who:

• A strategic, collaborative, and results-oriented leader with a deep understanding of the technology industry
• Strong leadership skills, with the ability to build and lead high-performance teams, inspire others, and drive results.
• Ability to inspire and motivate large groups of people at various levels of the organisation.
• Experience in a manufacturing industry and MOD organisations; developing and deploying operational technology
• Leading large scale or complex programmes
• Ability to operate in a matrix organisation and work effectively with different stakeholders (internal and external) including sales, operations, marketing, technology, finance, and IT. This involves building relationships, communicating effectively, and understanding the perspectives and needs of different stakeholders.
• Experience of working in an innovation, research and development environment
• Management of P&L’s from pipeline management, contract negotiation through to delivery of programmes.
• Ability to think independently and contribute ideas and look for new ways to help achieve these objectives.
• Working with classified information.
• Strong attention to detail and excellent written and verbal communication skills, able to craft a compelling narrative and inspire people to partake in the journey.
• Ability to represent the MTC professionally at all times. Inspires other industry members to engage with the MTC.

To find out more please view the job description attached.