SDA Director of Strategy and Operations

We are looking to appoint a Director of Strategy and Operations to join the senior team who are responsible for delivering available and capable submarines for the Royal Navy in defence of the Nation. 

The new Director of Strategy and Operations will lead a team of approximately 300 individuals, and also provide the “company secretary” function as part of the SDA Executive Committee. In this key Director role you will have a willingness to challenge convention, and draw on a wide range of past experiences to lead from a strategic level and develop and implement new policy.

The role involves the leadership of a number of diverse teams, all who provide essential services to our people and our customers. This includes leading our Project Delivery function, developing professional capability and embedding new tools and a consistent ways of working, whilst driving performance through analysis and insight. 

The Director of Strategy and Operations role offers great professional challenge and an opportunity to drive real change and innovation in an organisation that plays a vital part in the security of the UK. This is an exciting time for SDA. 

As a leader you will be inspiring, supportive of the people around you and constructively challenging, enabling everyone to give their best every single day.  Key to your success will be your ability to engage effectively with our senior stakeholders across Government and our partners in industry at all levels. 

The SDA is a fantastic organisation to work for! The role is exciting, stretching and important, and we will support you to further develop your career. We look forward to receiving your application.

This is the ideal role for a leader who is passionate about the purpose of SDA and wishes to build upon the pride and heritage of the organisation to deliver and continually develop a coherent strategy and enable the Agency to flourish.

As Director of Strategy & Operations you will be responsible for;

• SDA corporate governance including framework document, corporate plan, operation of the board and executive committee, relationship with DNO sponsor, compliance processes, annual report and annual assurance report, performance & risk reviews.
• Project Delivery Technical Centre of Excellence providing our Project Controls tools, processes and portfolio, and programme management.
• Strategy & change implementation developing our Op Model, strategy and our change programmes.
• SDA Information, Security and Resilience team which provides the Chief Information Officer for the Nuclear enterprise, security for our programmes and resilience, as well as providing the IT & data infrastructure and accommodation.
• SDA cohesion and effective operation across all UK and overseas sites.
• Internal and external communications, including Parliamentary and Ministerial business.
• Business Management services across SDA and maintaining and developing our business and key stakeholder relationships with DE&S, Defence Digital, Defence Business Services and Head Office Chief Operating Officer.
• Functional/ Professional management and development of our Project Delivery, Information Management, Security, Business Management and Administration.

To be successful with your application, you’ll need to be able to demonstrate all 6 essential criteria and where applicable the desirable criteria :

ESSENTIAL CRITERIA:

1.  A project professional with significant experience operating in a senior leadership role within a large, diverse and complex organisation with demonstrable evidence of high-quality leadership skills. 

2.  Evidence of a strategic mindset with the ability to translate strategic intent into successful delivery. 

3.  Experience of successfully influencing, negotiating and utilising leadership skills to manage significant change in a large and complex organisation.

4.  Experience of empowering and building trust in teams to deliver against functional priorities.  

5.  Significant experience of successfully managing a diverse range of stakeholders and advising at Board level.

6.  Demonstrable evidence and understanding of a making a positive and committed impact to Equality, Diversity and Inclusion in an organisation. 

DESIRABLE CRITERIA:

• Experience of working in a business environment with significant security and regulatory requirements.

• Learning and development tailored to your role
• An environment with flexible working options
• A culture encouraging inclusion and diversity
• A Civil Service pension with an average employer contribution of 27%

Job contact :

• Name : Jessica Hood
• Email : DESHR-SCSRecruitment@mod.gov.uk

Recruitment team

• Email : jessica.hood103@mod.gov.uk