Defence Nuclear Organisation - Enterprise Portfolio Team - Enterprise Portfolio Office Definition and Design Lead

This role sits at the heart of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE), responsible for delivering and sustaining the UKs nuclear deterrent and submarine programmes - one of the Governments highest national security priorities. The DNE brings together a unique partnership of organisations across Defence and industry, including the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO), Royal Navy, Strategic Command, Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Submarine Delivery Group (SDG), and key civil partners.

With an annual budget exceeding 10bn (c.20% of the MODs total spend), the DNE is undertaking a once-in-a-generation transformation. Delivering this mission requires multiple complex programmes to be executed in parallel, at unprecedented scale and pace.

As covered in the 2026 DNE Area Plan, the Enterprise is driving significant reform to improve integration, pace and coherence across delivery. Central to this is the creation of a new 2* Enterprise Portfolio Directorate, responsible for overseeing the full DNE portfoliostrengthening grip on interdependencies, improving decision-making through better management information, and embedding a more professional, enterprise-wide approach to programme delivery.

The Enterprise Portfolio Team (EPT) plays a pivotal role within this transformation. It ensures that decisions are taken on a best for enterprise basisoptimising across the six DNE Portfolios to manage risk, maximise value, and translate strategic intent into delivery outcomes.

The EPT delivers this through four core capabilities:

• Enterprise Portfolio Office integrating planning, prioritisation and performance across the portfolio
• Enterprise Analytics and Insight providing data-driven decision support and forward-looking insight
• Project Delivery Function strengthening delivery frameworks and standards
• Project Delivery Profession building capability and professionalism across the workforce.

Together, these capabilities define how the Enterprise plans, delivers and adaptsensuring focus on what matters, when it matters, and why it matters.

This is an opportunity to be at the forefront of one of the UKs most complex and nationally significant portfoliosworking across organisational boundaries to shape delivery at scale.

We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive workforce and encourage applications from all backgrounds.

This post is advertised at 37 hours per week.

This is an exciting opportunity to join the Enterprise Portfolio Team (EPT) at the centre of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE). As Definition and Design Lead, you will play a critical role in shaping how the Enterprise defines, prioritises and manages its portfolioensuring delivery remains aligned to strategic objectives and national priorities.

You will work across organisational boundaries, building strong relationships with senior stakeholders and delivery teams to enable a coherent, enterprise-wide approach. With a collaborative and people-centred leadership style, you will help drive alignment across a highly complex environmentbringing clarity to priorities, strengthening oversight of interdependencies, and ensuring the Enterprise operates with a consistent and effective delivery rhythm.

This role is central to ensuring the DNEs portfolio remains strategically balanced, responsive to change, and positioned to deliver at scale.

Key responsibilities:

• Lead engagement with senior stakeholders to define, prioritise and maintain the Enterprise Portfolio of Record (PoR) and Portfolio of Intent (PoI), ensuring alignment with strategic objectives
• Manage the pipeline of new programmes, supporting entry decisions and providing clear, evidence-based updates to senior governance boards
• Establish and operate a robust change control framework, maintaining the integrity and accuracy of the enterprise portfolio
• Support the definition and communication of enterprise priorities, ensuring clarity and alignment across portfolios
• Work closely with portfolios to maintain consistency of approach and strengthen coherence across the Enterprise
• Identify and manage interdependencies across organisational boundaries, working with wider government where required to enable alignment and delivery efficiency
• Act as custodian of enterprise assumptions, ensuring they are clearly defined, understood and regularly reviewed
• Develop frameworks to continuously refine enterprise assumptions in response to emerging risks and opportunities
• Collaborate across the EPT to ensure alignment of activity and delivery against strategic objectives
• Contribute to the delivery of the EPT strategy and wider transformation agenda
• Champion Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DE&I) and foster an inclusive, collaborative working environment

This role requires regular engagement in a highly secure environment. Hybrid and flexible working is supported where possible, but regular on-site attendance will be required.

As the post holder will have access to very sensitive information, there are limitations on travelling to a small number of countries and we will undertake additional security checks as part of the recruitment process. Applications from candidates with close connections to certain countries may take considerably longer to process, or in some cases result in a withdrawal of an offer of employment. Further details will be provided at the conditional offer stage.

This is an excellent opportunity for a strategic leader with experience in project delivery and stakeholder engagement.

The ideal candidate will have the following:

Essential Qualifications:

• Hold a recognised Project Delivery qualification such as Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), APM Project Fundamentals, Management of Portfolios and PRINCE2.

Essential Skills:

• Previous experience of project and/or programme delivery, portfolio management or portfolio planning (e.g. experience working in a portfolio office).
• Knowledge and application of portfolio, programme and project management methodologies (e.g. Managing Successful Programmes (MSP), PRINCE 2, Agile).
• Experienced in using Microsoft Office IT and data analysis/project/visualisation/presentation tools (such as Excel, Project and PowerPoint).
• Must be a team player with a proven track record of stakeholder management, collaborative working and engagement with senior leaders, with the ability to influence, change and impact decisions through those relationships to influence decision makers.
• An articulate communicator with the ability to simplify and articulate technical language to influence and communicate across organisational boundaries and at all levels. Communicating insight clearly, through a variety of appropriate methods incl. data visualisation, with senior stakeholders.

Desirable Qualifications:

• Advanced Microsoft 365.
• Government Project Delivery Accreditation.

Desirable Skills:

• Knowledge and experience of Defence.
• Experience preferably aligned to Government Project Delivery Profession or Association of Project Management frameworks.
• Experience working in a cross-government initiative.