Head of Project and Programme Management - R&D & Engineering

Working arrangements

Please note this role does offer hybrid working, our model sets out a 60% onsite / 40% home working split but this can be discussed on a case by case basis.

Overview

Join us to help enable Tokamak Energy’s ambitious strategy to bring clean energy through fusion and develop related business applications to position the company as a leader in sustainable energy.

This role will sit at the heart of Tokamak Energy in delivering our strategy, on behalf of the Leadership Team, ensuring the organisation is able to articulate value delivered and return on investment to partners/investors and its clear line of sight to our strategy. This role influences across the business and is a key interlocutor with the Leadership Team to build and deliver a centre of excellence for assessing benefits and value delivered across the portfolio, project delivery good practice, data management, governance and lessons learned.

This role will lead and further shape our journey to establish the optimum Portfolio, Programme and Project office (P3MO) and enhance the strong P3M construct in place to deliver our growing portfolio to ensure holistic delivery across the business to drive agility, technologies, productivity and a strong delivery ethic in our programmes, projects and product development.

Key deliverables will be:

1. Deliver our Portfolio build, selection and prioritisation - ensuring that investments, programmes and projects support delivery of the organisation's strategy, influencing strategy and decisions around bids/proposals etc to ensure alignment with overall objectives.
2. Design our delivery practice, instilling a continuous improvement mindset and align business evolution within the portfolio.
3. Inform and challenge the LT to ensure we stay on track to deliver across multiple projects and programmes - as well as keeping an eye on BAU including financial reporting, cost tracking and forecasting on the portfolio.
4. Lead in recruiting, coaching and developing Project Managers, build and manage a delivery team function – 5-10 Project and Programme Managers, supporting them with personal growth and career development.
5. Design and implement new and innovative delivery approaches and processes for the right context, while at the same time instilling rigorous and excellent portfolio governance.
6. Drive the resource management and capability planning to balance resources across the portfolio; manage weekly resource planning. Work with the People team to develop workforce planning.
7. Develop and own the Portfolio risk profile ensuring programme risks and issues are consolidated and escalated with clear mitigations noted.
8. Lead on the development of, and thereafter act as the holder of and Leadership advisor on, milestones, KPIs and benefits delivery.

The role holder will also have an opportunity to shape the deliverables as part of the development of the role.

You will

1. Bring a proven background in delivery or Programme or Portfolio Management or strategy/Chief of Staff roles.
2. Be a skillful communicator and facilitator - creating transparency and ensuring there is progress awareness at Leadership level and company-wide, managing stakeholders and escalating risk, issues and conflicts to be resolved where necessary.
3. Bring experience operating in a matrixed environment (using influence to achieve results through others rather than through direct management) and keeping things moving through efficiency of systems and processes and facilitation.
4. Have a grasp of business agility, and how to improve them company wide and understands agile and product management practices.
5. Be able to take a holistic view organisation-wide, be able to influence internal and external stakeholders.
6. Be comfortable with problem solving and ambiguous situations and can quickly learn and evolve as needed.
7. Be passionate about your own team, as well as passionate about driving planning rigour and ways of working competence across the organisation.
8. Be first and foremost a team player and willing to jump in where needed as both the strategist and doer.

Qualifications & Experience

Essential

1. Emotional intelligence with demonstrable people management competence, ideally of project/programme delivery professionals working in a matrix environment.
2. Qualified in any of the following: PRINCE 2, APM, MSP, MoP, MoR, Agile Project Management or P3O.
3. Substantial experience of management of large projects (>£100M) and programme delivery.
4. Experience of interfacing with scientific and engineering teams.
5. Experience of financial management of significant (£MM’s) budget.
6. Is comfortable with problem solving and ambiguous situations and can quickly learn and evolve as needed.

Requirements and attributes we value:

1. Adaptable and agile – the company strategy is to seek new opportunities to develop fusion and other related technologies; the company moves at pace, and you will need to quickly adapt both the portfolio and its ways of operating.
2. Personally, agility and adaptability will be a strong attribute as the role could adapt and change.
3. Excellent communication skills (verbal and written) and the ability to draw thoughts and ideas from others. Must be able to relate to others, be empathetic.
4. Demonstrable ability to analyse data.
5. Professional behaviours that live the company values.
6. Demonstrate educated decision-making, problem-solving, planning and organising skills.
7. Work with agility and manage conflicting priorities.

About Us

What if there was a limitless, safe, clean, low-cost energy source, providing much needed global energy security? What if that energy source could also help reduce climate change? We believe that’s fusion energy. Tokamak Energy is a leading global commercial fusion energy company based near Oxford, UK. We have an unrivalled track record designing and operating spherical tokamaks; the optimal route to commercial fusion energy.

In addition to fusion energy, Tokamak Energy is recognised as the leader in High Temperature Superconductor (HTS) magnet, design, numerical modelling, and prototyping. Our dedicated HTS magnet team, in collaboration with key manufacturing partners, is focused on becoming the leading supplier of HTS magnets to multiple markets.

The company, founded in 2009 as a spin-off from the UK’s Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, currently employs a growing team of over 250 people with experts from the UK and around the world. It combines world leading scientific, engineering, industrial and commercial capabilities. The company has 70 families of patent applications and has raised $250 million, comprising $200m from private investors and $50m from the UK and US governments. Our US subsidiary, Tokamak Energy Inc, was established in 2019.

Come and be a part of a dynamic and innovative team who are striving to provide a solution to one of humanity’s greatest challenges: clean and sustainable energy for all.

Important information

Please note that any personal data submitted to Tokamak Energy will be processed in accordance with the GDPR and related UK data protection legislation.

If you do not meet all the listed criteria for this position, we would still welcome your application.

Entry into employment with Tokamak Energy and progression within employment will be determined only by personal merit and the application of criteria which are related to the duties of each post and the relevant salary structure. In all cases, ability to perform the job will be the primary consideration.

No applicant or member of staff shall be discriminated against because of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage or civil partnership, pregnancy or maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, or sexual orientation.