Project Lead/ Programme Lead Defence

Job Description

Project Lead

Full time

Bristol

Staff Role

Several new and exciting opportunities for Project/Programme Leads have arisen within our Defence business in Bristol. The roles range from our Future Programmes and Early Life Cycle teams to our Mature programme teams.

Why Rolls-Royce?

At Rolls-Royce we are proud to be a business that has truly helped to shape the modern world and are committed to always being a force for progress; powering, protecting and connecting people everywhere.

By joining Rolls-Royce, you'll have the opportunity to work on world-class solutions, supported by a culture that believes individuality is our greatest strength, and all perspectives, experiences and backgrounds help us innovate and enable our high-performance culture.

As a Programme Lead, you will play a pivotal role in supporting the Programme Manager with the coordination of engineering projects. You will collaborate closely with engineering teams and key business stakeholders to drive the successful achievement of programme milestones, directly contributing to the delivery of our Defence strategy. Your responsibilities will encompass project planning, risk management, and budget oversight for your programme areas, as well as leading integrated teams to ensure the effective delivery of your assigned projects.

We’ll provide an environment of caring and belonging where you can be yourself. An inclusive, innovative culture that invests in you, gives you access to an incredible breadth and depth of opportunities where you can grow your career and make a difference.

What we offer

We offer excellent development opportunities, a competitive salary, and exceptional benefits. These include bonus, employee support assistance and employee discounts.

Your needs are as unique as you are. Hybrid working is a way in which our people can balance their time between the office, home, or another remote location. It’s a locally managed and flexed informal discretionary arrangement. As a minimum we’re all expected to attend the workplace for collaboration and other specific reasons, on average three days per week.

What you will be doing

With this attractive opportunity you will get a chance to:

• Be accountable for the successful delivery to cost, specification and time for a defined package of work by implementing project management best practice in line with company management processes
• Act as the focal point for all aspects related to the packages of work and provide information necessary to make management decisions to the key stakeholders
• Establish, develop and maintain the documentation necessary to deliver the package of work
• Develop your project management skills through the creation and management of an integrated set of plans/schedules through to the operation of the project management systems, tools, and methods.

Who we’re looking for:

At Rolls-Royce we put safety first, do the right thing, keep it simple and make a difference. These principles form the behaviours that guide us and are an essential component of our assessment process. They are the fundamental qualities that we seek for all roles.

To be successful in this role you will need to:

• Have excellent interpersonal and leadership skills and have the ability to easily build rapport within all levels of the organisation since networking across business groups and developing key relationships is critical to this role
• Demonstrate a passion and desire to grow within project management in the Defence industry, with project management experience/qualifications highly desirable
• Demonstrate initiative and self-motivation.
• Demonstrate proven experience utilising project management platforms, including Oracle Primavera P6 or Primavera Cloud, and SAP for project planning, tracking, and cost control. Familiarity with Microsoft Office applications is also required

To work for the Rolls-Royce Defence business, an individual must hold a Security Check clearance. Rolls-Royce will support the application for Security Clearance if you do not currently already have this in place. Due to the nature of work the business conducts and the protection of certain assets we can only progress applications from individuals who are a UK national or, in MOD and Government body approved cases, a dual national.

Our vision is to ensure that the excellence and ingenuity that shaped our history continues into our future. Our multi-year transformation programme aims to turn Rolls-Royce into a high-performing, competitive, resilient and growing company. Join us, and it can be your future vision too.

Rolls-Royce are committed to being a respectful, inclusive, and non-discriminatory workplace where individuality is valued, diverse perspectives fuel innovation, and everyone can thrive.

As part of our selection process, candidates in certain locations may be asked to complete an online assessment, which can include cognitive and behavioural aptitude testing relevant to the role. If required, full instructions for the next steps will be provided.

Job Category

Project Management

Posting Date

05 Aug 2026; 00:08

Posting End Date

18 Aug 2026