Assistant Head of Supply Chain – Defence Nuclear Organisation

Job summary

Welcome message from Rob Holland, Head of DNE Commercial Function

This is an important time to join the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO) within the Ministry of Defence (MOD). You will be at the heart of critical defence issues, delivering against one of the Department’s top priorities.

Established in 2016, the DNO oversees all nuclear activity across the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE), working with partners including the Royal Navy, UK Strategic Command, Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Sheffield Forgemasters and key industry suppliers such as BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Babcock.

An opportunity to work in DNO Commercial has arisen within the Markets and Suppliers team, a dynamic and talented team working at the heart of the DNE to identify and mitigate supply chain risks, strengthening resilience, and driving collaboration across the DNE, MOD and wider Government. The role will include leading commercial activity across supply chain resilience and supplier fragility, using evidence and insight to assess exposure, mobilise mitigations, and coordinate timely interventions with delivery teams and partners. You’ll help shift the enterprise from a reactive posture to a more proactive, intelligence-led approach. Alongside this, you will manage the customer sponsor role for sponsored organisations—helping to provide a clearer demand signal, supporting cross-MOD business development, and ensuring robust governance and value-for-money oversight where the Department has a sponsor/ownership interest.

The candidate will need to demonstrate strong internal and external stakeholder management skills, excellent analytical and relational skills, and enjoy operating in complex environments and working across organizational boundaries. Successful candidates will access opportunities for commercial and professional development within the Defence Nuclear Enterprise.

The role will be based in London with regular weekly attendance in office and will require travel between the sites (London, Bristol, and Reading), and, with notice, some wider UK and international travel. The role will also require CIPS or working towards accreditation within two years of appointment plus an additional commitment to additional professional development as required.

This position will require individuals to hold DV or be willing to undergo the process of obtaining it before an appointment is made.

Job description

• Become an active member of DNO Commercial’s Senior Management Team.
• Lead an intelligence-led approach to identifying and mitigating supply chain risk, drawing on enterprise-level products and insights (e.g., risk & resilience dashboards and related analytics).
• Drive improved visibility and mapping of supply chains (including sub-tier dependencies), ensuring insights are usable for decision-making and interventions
• Support the formation and running of case groups, ensuring clear triage, action tracking, and proportionate escalation where senior/Ministerial decisions are required
• Build strong working relationships across MOD and wider Government to share intelligence and coordinate actions on shared supplier concerns
• Lead the customer relationship for sponsored organisations to help them become “best-for-enterprise” suppliers—working with the organisation, its major customers, partners, and MOD programme teams.
• Build commercial capability across the DNE Commercial function, working closely with the Commercial teams based in the National Armaments Directorate.

Desirable

• Demonstrate working knowledge of Single Source Contracting Regulations and Intellectual Property Rights, and the Procurement Act 2023.

Locations
The successful candidate(s) will be able to agree a contractual workplace from those locations listed in this advert. When selecting your location listed in this job advert please be aware that this will be your contractual base location with a requirement to spend a minimum of 60% of your working time in this organisational workplace.

Your time spent on official duties at workplace locations other than your contractual office such as supplier, customer or partner locations required to perform your role is included in the 60% attendance.

This requirement will however take into consideration any reasonable adjustments agreed upon appointment for people with a disability, flexibilities agreed for those with specific caring responsibilities, or other similar temporary flexibilities.

Person specification

The successful candidate will be expected to:

• Operate effectively in a high-pressure national security environment and delivering against the UK’s most critical defence priorities.
• Build senior level credibility, with demonstrated effectiveness engaging at Board, Permanent Secretary, and Ministerial levels, and navigating complex stakeholder environments to secure decisions and approvals.
• Assess complex supplier and supply chain risks, weighing evidence from multiple sources and making proportionate recommendations.
• Act as a credible commercial practitioner who can lead cross-functional activity, drive outcomes, and operate effectively with senior stakeholders.
• Work with industry stakeholders with an understanding of the wider national security context relevant to the programme.
• Show data-to-decision capability – comfortable turning imperfect information into structured assessments (exposure, severity, options, and mitigations) and communicating it clearly
• Manage competing priorities, land actions at pace, and keep interventions moving through governance and reporting routes.

Eligibility and requirements and important information

• This role is reserved for British nationals and requires Developed Vetting (DV) and additional security clearances, including read-on to classified communities. Existing Civil Servants may take up the post with SC clearance and CV obtained whilst in post. External candidates must obtain full DV before taking up the post.
• The role holder will be expected to attend stakeholder sites(London, Reading or Bristol)two days per week to support classified programmes.
• Willingness to travel internationally to engage with suppliers and visit manufacturing sites, typically US and France

Technical skills

We'll assess you against these technical skills during the selection process:

• Leads identification and management of complex risks. Uses data, judgement and scenario analysis to prioritise interventions, balances risk with delivery demands, and enables timely, evidence-based decisions.
• Analyses complex commercial and supply chain data to generate actionable insight on risk, performance and value. Integrates multiple data sources to inform strategic decisions, identify issues and drive target interventions
• Applies strong commercial judgement to complex programmes, balancing risk, value & delivery. Understands market dynamics, shapes commercial strategies & balances cost, risk & performance to secure long-term value in complex & sensitive environments.
• Mentally agile and resilient, you will have a demonstrable ability to deliver results at pace in a demanding situation or environment.
• Communicates clearly and with impact across diverse audiences, shaping decisions and securing buy-in. Influences stakeholders across government, industry and multidisciplinary teams to deliver successful outcomes.
• Able to build strong, trusted and constructive relationships at the most senior levels, gaining credibility with senior government and industry stakeholders.