Project Manager in Norwich

Project Manager

Reports to: Head of Project Management

Department: Project Management

About Us:

At MSI-Defence Systems Ltd (MSI-DS) we specialise in Remote Weapon Stations for land-based counter drone and naval applications.

With almost 140 years of experience in defence equipment manufacturing, we pride ourselves on our ability to provide unique and cost-effective solutions, optimised to stay ahead of evolving threats and to meet the most stringent operational requirements.

MSI-DS is a major supplier of class-leading defence equipment to the UK Military and over 40 other armed forces around the world, offering unrivalled capability and through-life in-service support.

About the Role:

The Project Manager will act as the primary point of contact for customers and stakeholders, ensuring projects are delivered on time, within budget and to the required quality standards. The role requires an experienced project professional who can work independently and manage projects of increased complexity, value, risk or stakeholder involvement.This role involves managing multiple projects from inception to completion, including complex projects with cross-functional dependencies, demanding customer requirements or significant commercial and contractual considerations.The Project Manager will create and maintain project schedules, manage project financials and resources, identify and mitigate risks, resolve delivery issues and drive continuous improvement in project management practices.

The primary responsibilities will include but are not limited to:

• Leading the delivery of multiple assigned projects, including projects of increased complexity, value, risk or stakeholder involvement, ensuring completion within agreed timelines, budgets, contractual requirements and quality standards
• Acting as the primary liaison with customers and stakeholders to ensure requirements are understood, expectations are managed and complex issues are resolved or escalated appropriately.
• Creating and maintaining integrated project schedules, resource requirements, budgets and project documentation appropriate to the scale and complexity of each project.
• Identifying, assessing and mitigating project risks and opportunities, including technical, commercial, contractual, resource and delivery dependencies.
• Collaborating with cross-functional teams to resolve resource conflicts, technical dependencies and project challenges.
• Tracking project performance, including key metrics and financials, producing accurate forecasts and implementing corrective or recovery actions where required.
• Maintaining accurate and timely project data within project management tools and business systems.
• Leading regular project review meetings internally and with customers to communicate progress, manage expectations and resolve issues.
• Maintaining accurate minutes, decisions and actions from project meetings and distributing them to stakeholders in a timely manner.
• Leading lessons learned activities and contributing to improvements in project delivery practices.
• Supporting bids, proposals, contract reviews and project mobilisation activities by providing experienced input into scope, schedule, resource, risk and delivery assumptions.
• Any other duties that may reasonably be compatible with the nature and scope of the role.

Qualifications/ education

• Project management qualifications (e.g., PRINCE2, PMP)
• Qualified to a minimum of a Level 3 standard (A Levels, apprenticeship or equivalent)

Technical skills/ experience

• Significant experience of independently managing multiple projects, ideally within a defence, engineering, manufacturing or similarly regulated environment.
• Demonstrable experience of managing projects with increased complexity, value, risk, cross-functional dependencies or demanding stakeholder requirements.
• Proven track record of delivering projects within time, budget, contractual and quality constraints, including implementing recovery actions where performance has deviated from plan.
• Strong understanding and practical application of project management methodologies, governance, risk and opportunity management, scheduling, financial control and change control.
• Proficiency in project management tools such as MS Project, Excel and other relevant software, with the ability to analyse performance data and produce credible forecasts

Personal Attributes/Person Specification

• Strong communication, influencing and stakeholder management skills, with the confidence to engage effectively with customers, senior stakeholders and cross-functional teams.
• Ability to perform under pressure, manage competing priorities and make well-reasoned decisions while maintaining high standards of accuracy and quality.
• Strong commercial and contractual acumen, including an understanding of project financial performance, change control and customer obligations.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and project leadership skills, with a collaborative, accountable and results-driven approach.
• Full UK driving licence and a valid passport with no travel restrictions

Desirable

• Experience in defence or manufacturing sectors
• Experience with using ERP or MRP systems

Physical Demands & Work Environment:

• Work as part of a deadline-driven team environment, where there is a requirement to deliver projects with accuracy, on time, within budget and within quality standards
• Desk based role working in a large open plan, well lit, air conditioned office
• Occasional travel to customer sites, including some international travel

Key Working Relationships:

Internal External

• Project Management Team Customers Key Stakeholders
• Engineering and Operations
• Commercial and Finance

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