Senior Project Controls Manager – Major Capital Infrastructure Programme

Senior Project Controls Manager – Major Capital Infrastructure Programme

Rolls‑Royce Submarines is looking for a Senior Project Controls Manager to join their Major Infrastructure Programme in Derby.

At Rolls‑Royce, we are committed to being a force for progress, powering, protecting, and connecting people worldwide. Join us and work on world-class solutions in a culture that values individuality and diverse perspectives to drive innovation.

The Role

This is an exciting opportunity to be the functional authority for Project Controls within the Rolls‑Royce Submarines Major Infrastructure Programme. This programme is delivering a significant portfolio of complex infrastructure projects essential for the future capability of the Submarines business. Effective Project Controls are fundamental to ensuring transparency, insight, and confidence for successful investment delivery.

As the Senior Project Controls Manager, you will own and continuously improve the Project Controls framework, standards, processes, and expectations, ensuring consistent application across Major Projects. You will provide functional leadership to Project Controls Managers embedded within individual projects, setting clear standards for performance, assuring effective application, and developing capability across the programme.

This influential senior leadership role requires strong Project Controls expertise, sound judgment, and the credibility to constructively challenge project leadership while fostering a collaborative Project Controls community. You will integrate information from across Major Projects to provide the Senior Leadership Team with independent, forward-looking insight into programme performance, identifying trends, risks, dependencies, and potential interventions to support effective decision-making.

Key Accountabilities

• Act as the functional authority for Project Controls across the Major Capital Infrastructure Programme, owning and continuously improving the Project Controls framework, standards, processes, and ways of working.
• Set clear expectations for Project Controls Managers embedded within the Major Projects, ensuring consistent and proportionate application of controls across the programme.
• Define and oversee an integrated approach to planning and scheduling, cost management, risk and opportunity, change control, forecasting, Earned Value Management, performance measurement, and reporting.
• Ensure Major Projects establish and maintain robust and integrated performance baselines across scope, schedule, and cost, providing a credible basis for measuring progress, understanding variance, and forecasting outcomes.
• Provide functional leadership, coaching, and professional development to the Project Controls community, building capability and fostering knowledge sharing.
• Establish an effective assurance framework for Project Controls, undertaking maturity assessments, health checks, and targeted reviews.
• Provide constructive challenge where Project Controls standards or project performance fall below expectations, working with project leadership to drive improvement actions.
• Integrate and interpret controls information to provide the Senior Leadership Team with clear, evidence-based, and forward-looking insight into programme performance.
• Identify cross-programme trends, systemic issues, dependencies, emerging risks, and opportunities, ensuring appropriate escalation for timely leadership intervention.
• Establish reporting and performance-management requirements for a consistent view of project and programme health, focusing on insight and decision support.
• Ensure appropriate use of Earned Value Management, critical path analysis, forecasting, trend analysis, and scenario assessment.
• Collaborate closely with Project Directors, Project Managers, and senior leaders across Engineering, Commercial, Finance, Supply Chain, and Risk to integrate Project Controls information into decision-making.
• Ensure Project Controls processes effectively support projects delivered within NEC contractual environments.
• Work collaboratively with Commercial and Project teams to ensure changes and emerging issues are identified, assessed, and reflected appropriately within project controls, forecasts, and performance baselines.
• Drive continuous improvement in Project Controls processes, systems, data, and capability.
• Support Project Controls resource and capability planning.
• Represent Project Controls within appropriate governance and leadership forums, providing specialist advice.

Key Experiences and Qualifications

• Significant Project Controls leadership experience within large, complex capital projects, programmes, or portfolios, ideally in infrastructure, nuclear, defence, engineering, or a highly regulated environment.
• Extensive knowledge and practical experience across integrated Project Controls, including planning, scheduling, cost management, risk/opportunity management, change control, forecasting, performance measurement, and reporting.
• Strong practical understanding of Earned Value Management, integrated performance baselines, critical path analysis, schedule/cost forecasting, trend analysis, and performance measurement.
• Demonstrable experience of establishing, implementing, and improving Project Controls frameworks, standards, governance, and ways of working across multiple projects.
• Strong knowledge and practical understanding of NEC contracts and their implications for Project Controls.
• Experience providing independent assurance and constructive challenge to major projects and senior project leadership teams.
• Ability to interpret complex project information and translate it into clear, concise, and actionable insight for senior leaders.
• Strong leadership and influencing skills, with the credibility to set expectations and drive consistent standards across teams without direct line-management accountability.
• Experience coaching, mentoring, and developing Project Controls professionals and building capability.
• Excellent communication and stakeholder-management skills.
• Strong commercial and financial awareness.
• Experience operating effectively within complex matrix organisations and across multidisciplinary teams.
• A continuous-improvement mindset with evidence of improving Project Controls maturity.
• Relevant professional qualification or membership (e.g., APM) is advantageous.

The Impact You Will Have

This role offers the opportunity to shape Project Controls across one of Rolls‑Royce Submarines' most significant programmes. You will create the standards and environment that enable Project Controls Managers to succeed and provide programme leadership with confidence in critical decision-making information. Success will be demonstrated through consistent and mature controls, credible forecasts, effective change management, early identification of issues, and high-quality insight enabling informed decisions and improved delivery outcomes.

Benefits

• Generous Annual Leave
• Retirement Savings through the Rolls‑Royce Retirement Savings Trust
• Group Life Assurance
• Group Income Protection
• Your Shares: Matched – Buy one share, get one free!

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

To work for Rolls‑Royce Submarines, individuals must hold a Security Check clearance. Rolls‑Royce will support the application for Security Clearance if you do not currently have this. Due to the nature of the business, only UK nationals or, in MoD approved cases, dual nationals can be progressed. Online assessments may be part of the selection process.