Programme Delivery Manager (3 posts) in the UK Ministry of Defence's new Defence Housing Service, leading complex programmes and portfolio governance — planning, risk, reporting and stakeholder management — for a £9.2bn Armed Forces housing transformation. Requires a practitioner-level PM qualification (PRINCE2, MSP, APM or equivalent).
Compensation
£61.6K / yr
Location
London, Lichfield, Bristol, Andover, Wyton. Other locations may be considered but not guaranteed.
Work setup
Hybrid
Seniority
Not specified
Employment
Part time
Experience
Not specified
Category
Project management
Posted
Skills
corrective-action
stakeholder-management
Must have
Significant experience leading complex programmes, projects or business change initiatives from inception to implementation with measurable benefits
Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills with senior leaders, multidisciplinary teams, delivery partners and external organisations
Proven ability to translate strategic priorities/policy objectives into structured delivery plans, milestones and achievable outcomes
Demonstrable experience operating within or leading programme, project or portfolio management functions across multiple concurrent initiatives
Strong experience establishing governance, reporting and assurance frameworks supporting decision-making and accountability
Proven ability to identify, manage and mitigate risks, issues and dependencies in complex organisational environments
Recognised practitioner-level project/programme management qualification (PRINCE2, MSP, APM or equivalent)
Must undergo security check (standard/equivalent criminal record check) and meet nationality requirements
Full description
Job grade: Grade 7
Contract type: Permanent
Business area: MOD - National Armaments Directorate - Infrastructure - Defence Housing
Type of role: Project Delivery, Property
Working pattern: Flexible working, Full-time, Job share, Part-time
Number of jobs available: 3
Location
London, Lichfield, Bristol, Andover, Wyton. Other locations may be considered but not guaranteed.
About the job
Job summary
Do you want to work on one or the most exciting transformation projects in the public sector?
The Defence Housing Service (DHS) is being created through the Armed Forces Bill to deliver a step-change in housing for the UK’s Armed Forces and their families following the publication of the Defence Housing Strategy on 3 November 2025, which marked the most significant change to Armed Forces housing in over 50 years. DHS will bring a dedicated focus to improving the homes, communities and lived experience of Service personnel, placing families firmly at the heart of everything it does.
This is one of the most ambitious housing transformation programmes in the UK today. Backed by a £9.2 billion investment, DHS will modernise tens of thousands of homes, introduce a more proactive and customer-focused approach to maintenance, and unlock new opportunities to develop housing on Defence land. DHS will have the focus and agility to deliver change at pace, combining public service values with greater flexibility to build the skills, systems and partnerships needed for the future.
This is a rare opportunity to be part of shaping its culture, influencing how it works, and helping deliver lasting improvements for Service families across the UK.
The Defence Housing team is currently part of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), who respond to the evolving needs of our military personnel, and the ways in which they live, work, train and deploy. We are proud to be the expert partner Defence needs for all their infrastructure requirements. From large scale infrastructure projects such as runways for the F35 fighter jets to net carbon-zero accommodation for our Service families, our activities focus relentlessly on our customers, and our outputs are unique in the UK and across the globe! DIO , What we deliver every day.
The future delivery model for this team is currently under review and may change as part of potential organisational developments. This could include the team or function transferring to a different employer or organisational structure in the future. Should activities transfer out of the Ministry of Defence existing employees transferring with those activities will maintain the same or substantially the same terms and conditions of employment.
Job description
Programme Delivery Manager (x3) at Ministry of Defence (London, Lichfield, Bristol, Andover, Wyton. Other locations may be considered but not guaranteed.) — aijobsearch
We are looking to recruit 3 Programme Delivery Managers to work in the following teams:
Continuous Improvement; leading the Improvement Portfolio Office
Strategy, Policy and Partnerships; leading strategic stakeholder engagement, sponsorship relationships and policy coordination
Operational Delivery; leading the delivery of performance improvements and customer outcomes across a large, geographically dispersed UK housing portfolio, enhancing the lived experience of Service personnel and their families.
As a Programme Delivery Manager, you will lead the successful delivery of complex programmes, projects and improvement initiatives, ensuring they achieve intended outcomes and deliver measurable benefits.
Working across a diverse portfolio of programmes, projects and change initiatives, you will provide governance, assurance and delivery oversight to support successful outcomes across the Defence Housing Service (DHS). You will work closely with senior leaders, delivery teams and external partners to monitor progress, manage risks and dependencies, and ensure strategic priorities are translated into effective, deliverable plans.
Combining hands-on programme and project delivery with portfolio management responsibilities, you will play a key role in driving organisational performance and continuous improvement. The role requires strong stakeholder management, excellent organisational skills and the ability to influence decision-making in a complex environment, while promoting best practice and strengthening delivery capability across DHS.
What you’ll be doing;
Lead the successful delivery of programmes, projects and priority workstreams from initiation through to implementation, benefits realisation and closure.
Translate strategic priorities and business objectives into clear delivery plans, milestones, outcomes and measurable benefits.
Manage programme and project delivery against agreed scope, timelines, quality standards and outcomes, taking corrective action where required.
Coordinate multidisciplinary teams, suppliers and stakeholders to maintain delivery momentum and remove barriers to progress.
Develop and maintain key delivery documentation, including business cases, plans, risk registers, dependency logs and benefits tracking.
Maintain oversight of programme, project and change activity across the portfolio, ensuring accurate reporting on progress, risks and performance.
Provide senior leaders with timely portfolio insights, performance updates and evidence-based recommendations to support decision-making.
Identify, manage and escalate risks, issues, dependencies and constraints that could impact successful delivery.
Design and maintain effective governance and assurance arrangements that support robust oversight and control of delivery activity.
Prepare and present high-quality information, reporting and briefing materials for governance boards and senior leadership forums.
Provide guidance, challenge and support to programme and project teams, promoting consistent delivery standards and best practice.
Build and maintain strong relationships with internal and external stakeholders, delivery partners and suppliers to enable coordinated delivery.
Engage with senior stakeholders to resolve competing priorities, secure decisions and ensure alignment with organisational objectives.
Drive continuous improvement by capturing lessons learned, promoting innovation and embedding effective portfolio, programme and project management practices.
Support the successful transition of new policies, services and improvements into operational delivery, ensuring readiness and sustainable outcomes.
Whilst this role is advertised as a full-time position of 37 hours per week, we recognise the benefits of flexible working and are open to discussing part-time hours, job share arrangements, or other flexible working patterns with suitable candidates. Regular in person attendance is required (this is expected to be approximately 60% of your working week) to promote the benefits of face-to-face collaboration alongside flexibility of hours to support work-life balance and business need. Initially, you may be expected to attend more frequently to familiarise yourselves with the site, the team, and your role.
Person specification
We would welcome applications from candidates with experience in housing, infrastructure, programme delivery, PMO leadership, governance or stakeholder management.
To be successful with your application, you'll need to show that you meet the following essential criteria:
Significant experience leading complex programmes, projects or business change initiatives from inception through to implementation, ensuring delivery of agreed outcomes and measurable benefits.
Excellent stakeholder management and influencing skills, with experience building productive relationships and securing commitment from senior leaders, multidisciplinary teams, delivery partners and external organisations.
Proven ability to translate strategic priorities, policy objectives or organisational requirements into structured delivery plans, milestones and achievable outcomes.
Demonstrable experience operating within, or leading, programme, project or portfolio management functions, providing effective oversight across multiple concurrent initiatives.
Strong experience of establishing and maintaining governance, reporting and assurance frameworks that support effective decision-making, accountability and delivery confidence.
Proven ability to identify, manage and mitigate risks, issues, dependencies and delivery challenges within complex organisational environments.
Travel will be expected in all roles and in line with business need.
Qualifications
You must hold a recognised practitioner level project or programme management qualification, such as PRINCE2, MSP, APM or an equivalent.
Behaviours
We'll assess you against these behaviours during the selection process:
Making Effective Decisions
Working Together
Technical skills
We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:
Requirements management - Working
Planning - Practitioner
Stakeholder engagement - Practitioner
Benefits
Alongside your salary of £61,630, Ministry of Defence contributes £17,854 towards you being a member of the Civil Service Defined Benefit Pension scheme.
Find out what benefits a Civil Service Pension provides (opens in a new window).
25 days’ annual leave plus one day a year up to 30 days after five years, and eight bank holidays
An extra day off to honour the sovereign’s birthday
Flexible and hybrid working wherever possible to support your work-life balance - attending site a few days each week will be required and encouraged, depending on your role and team.
Market-leading employer pension contribution of around 28.97%
Enhanced parental leave schemes
Recognition awards
Access to specialist training and funded professional qualifications
Support for progression
Huge range of discounts – plus more!
Things you need to know
Artificial intelligence
Artificial intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action. Please see our candidate guidance (opens in a new window) for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.
Selection process details
This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Behaviours, Experience and Technical skills.
Your application will go through the following stages of assessment:
At sift stage, applicants will be required to provide:
A CV in the Job History section, ensuring it clearly demonstrates how you meet the essential criteria outlined in the person specification. We encourage you to use specific evidence from your experience to illustrate your suitability for the role.
A personal statement (no more than 500 words) providing specific examples of how you meet the two most critical criteria for the role. Further guidance is given within the Personal Statement section of the application.
Applications will be assessed against the essential criteria, with each criterion scored on a scale of 1 to 7. An overall score will then be calculated using the average of all criterion scores. To progress beyond the sift stage, applicants must achieve a minimum score of 4 on every essential criterion. This means that even if your overall average score is 4 or higher, you will not progress if you score below 4 on any individual essential criterion.
Please note that, in the event of a high volume of applications, the selection panel reserves the right to increase the overall pass mark.
At interview, you will be assessed against the following Technical skills and Behaviours:
Technical: Requirements management - Working
Technical: Stakeholder engagement - Practitioner
Behaviour: Making effective decisions
Technical: Planning - Practitioner
Behaviour: Working Together
Please review the following Project Delivery Capability Framework (PDCF) for more information on the Technical skills: Programme Manager G7 - Government Project Delivery
In the event of a tie at interview, candidates will be ranked according to their scores in the assessed behaviours, in the order listed above.
We will try and offer as much flexibility as we can, but it may not be possible to offer alternative dates or locations for interviews.
Whilst candidate preferences will be taken into account, successful candidates will be matched to the role that best aligns with their skills and experience, in line with the order of merit.
Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.
Security
Successful candidates must undergo a standard (or equivalent) criminal record check.
Successful candidates must meet the security requirements before they can be appointed. The level of security needed is security check (opens in a new window).
See our vetting charter (opens in a new window).
People working with government assets must complete baseline personnel security standard (opens in new window) checks.
Nationality requirements
This job is broadly open to the following groups:
UK nationals
nationals of the Republic of Ireland
nationals of Commonwealth countries who have the right to work in the UK
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities with settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS) (opens in a new window)
nationals of the EU, Switzerland, Norway, Iceland or Liechtenstein and family members of those nationalities who have made a valid application for settled or pre-settled status under the European Union Settlement Scheme (EUSS)
individuals with limited leave to remain or indefinite leave to remain who were eligible to apply for EUSS on or before 31 December 2020
Turkish nationals, and certain family members of Turkish nationals, who have accrued the right to work in the Civil Service
Further information on nationality requirements (opens in a new window)
Working for the Civil Service
The Civil Service Code (opens in a new window) sets out the standards of behaviour expected of civil servants.
We recruit by merit on the basis of fair and open competition, as outlined in the Civil Service Commission's recruitment principles (opens in a new window).
The Civil Service embraces diversity and promotes equal opportunities. As such, we run a Disability Confident Scheme (DCS) for candidates with disabilities who meet the minimum selection criteria.
The Civil Service also offers a Redeployment Interview Scheme to civil servants who are at risk of redundancy, and who meet the minimum requirements for the advertised vacancy.
Diversity and Inclusion
The Civil Service is committed to attract, retain and invest in talent wherever it is found. To learn more please see the
Civil Service People Plan (opens in a new window) and the
Civil Service Diversity and Inclusion Strategy (opens in a new window).
Apply and further information
This vacancy is part of the Great Place to Work for Veterans (opens in a new window) initiative.
The Civil Service welcomes applications from people who have recently left prison or have an unspent conviction. Read more about prison leaver recruitment (opens in new window).
Once this job has closed, the job advert will no longer be available. You may want to save a copy for your records.
Contact point for applicants
Job contact :
Name : NAD Talent Acquisition Team
Email : NAD-TalentAcquisition@mod.gov.uk
Recruitment team
Email : NAD-TalentAcquisition@mod.gov.uk
Further information
If you feel that your application has not been treated in accordance with the Recruitment Principles and you wish to make a complaint, in the first instance you should contact department via email: NAD-Recruitment-Complaints@mod.gov.uk. If you are not satisfied with the response you receive from the Department, you can contact the Civil Service Commission.
Attachments
External Candidate Information 2026 Opens in new window (docx, 25kB) Ministry of Defence Terms and Conditions Opens in new window (docx, 31kB) Defence Civil Servant Offer Opens in new window (pdf, 1561kB)