Programme Support Officer (IPT) - GKN in East Cowes

GKN Aerospace is reimagining air travel: going further, faster and greener! Fuelled by great people whose expertise and creativity sets the standards in our industry, we’re inspired by the opportunities to innovate and break boundaries. We’re proud to play a part in protecting the world’s democracies. And we’re committed to putting sustainability at the centre of everything we do, opening up and protecting our planet. With over 16,000 employees across 32 manufacturing sites in 12 countries we serve over 90% of the world’s aircraft and engine manufacturers and achieved sales of £3.6bn in 2025.

Based in our East Cowes Facilities, and reporting into one of our Programme Managers, an exciting opportunity has arisen in our Integrated Programme Team (IPT) for two Programme Support Officers. In these roles, the post holders will be responsible for supporting the day to day programme operations of the business, and be responsible for the administration and activities associated with control and monitoring of progress, scope, cost and resource management for two high-profile defence programmes.

These will be extremely busy roles, so it's vital that you have bags of energy, the ability to multi-task, first class organisational skills, and a genuine flair for communicating with, and influencing, stakeholders (both internal and external). It is very likely that these roles will be highly customer-facing, so previous demonstrable experience of building and nurturing such relationships is a must. The ability to travel (infrequent, but very likely overseas) is also a key requisite.

Job Responsibilities

• Compiling and following up work breakdown structure (WBS), organisation breakdown structure (OBS), and cost breakdown structure (CBS) schedules/ plans for the programme.
• Control and monitoring on progress, scope, costs and resource management and allocation for the program.
• Based on analysis, initiating of improvements/ recoveries on on-time delivery (OTD) and quality (Q) from Customer Scorecards / delivery schedule adherence (DSA) / Q etc in close collaboration with the responsible disciplines.
• Preparing and maintaining the customer outlook for budgeting purposes.
• Preparing the demand for operations, including required performance measures and preparing the handshake agreements with the performance site.
• Supporting Risk and Opportunity Management activities, and managing the risk register to control and mitigate the risk exposure.
• Establishing and controlling robust document management in the IPT and towards/ from the customer.
• Support creation, coordination and delivery of (change) proposals to customer requests.
• Preparing and analysing the Program Performance Summary (PPS), and initiating actions in case of deviations.

Job Qualifications

• Previous experience in a similar, high-pressure, customer-centric role gained within a highly-regulated technical or manufacturing environment;
• First class communication and influencing skills, with the proven ability to build and nurture successful working relationships with (often) demanding customers;
• Commercial and business awareness;
• Strong organisational skills, with heaps of energy and drive;
• Good level of Excel and PowerPoint skills;
• Willingness and ability to travel (potentially overseas) when required;
• Any project management skills or qualifications (PRINCE2 or APM etc.) would be highly desirable.

We’ll offer you fantastic challenges and amazing opportunities. This is your chance to be part of an organisation that has proven itself to be at the cutting edge of our industry; and is committed to pushing the boundaries even further. And with some of the best training on offer in the industry, who knows how far you can go?