Director of Emerging Technology Delivery

Director of Emerging Technology Delivery

Location: Emersons Green, Bristol, BS16 7FS

Hybrid Working: 2 days on site, 3 days homeworking

Salary: £83,693 to £107,061 per annum, experience dependent + 12.5% employer pension + Package

Security Clearance: Employment is subject to a high level of government security clearance due to the nature of our business.

Closing Date: 16th January 2026 – We reserve the right to close this advert early if required.

Quote: We’re looking for a leader and a visionary, not a day-to-day manager – quote from the CTO.

We’re a national R&D centre – government‑backed, not‑for‑profit, and mission‑driven. We work across 16 sectors and with over 100 partners a year. Our people deliver outcomes that matter, and you’ll be involved in how we support, retain and grow them.

Supporting the development of new and emerging technologies within the Defence sector is critical to UK business and defence initiatives. As our work grows, we have many other UK defence companies that we can expand to support.

This is an exciting role, offering you the opportunity to partially shape the focus and drive the business to achieve.

Reporting to the Chief Technology Officer, you’ll focus on these areas:

• Acting as a visionary leader investigating emerging technology markets and how we can contribute for the benefit of the UK.
• Overseeing our large‑scale technology in defence programmes of work.
• Developing and supporting the NCC’s adoption of further agile/matrix managed project methodologies.

The ideal candidate will demonstrate strong leadership, have good knowledge of relevant emerging technology developments, and the ability to proactively develop and unlock opportunities.

A customer‑focused approach is essential, as is the ability to work in lockstep with government, industry and academia to deliver even greater impact for the UK.

Specific activities could include:

• Setting strategic direction for delivery aspects of technical programmes, taking a partnership approach with clients to accelerate and drive business growth through a portfolio of technology, capability and service offerings.
• Developing a network of senior leaders across innovation, industry, professional services and allied organisations and networks.
• Line management of 3 “head of” level staff and wider responsibility for a department of approximately 40 people.
• Managing budgets, with individual projects ranging from £10 to £100 million.
• Raising NCC’s profile across the stakeholder landscape to ensure its capabilities and expertise are known and understood.
• Expanding NCC’s portfolio of innovative partnership constructs and commercial offerings, informed by latest external analysis and market insight.
• Representing NCC on relevant business and industry initiatives and networks and informing organisational thought leadership.
• Working collaboratively with NCC Directors and teams to inform the development and delivery of impactful, targeted, and customer‑focused external sector campaigns that grow the business and expand its customer pipeline.
• Being committed to developing the talents of the wider organisation.
• Leading day‑to‑day activities, while driving forward high‑priority projects and securing public and private sector funding to deliver them.

What we’re looking for in your application:

• Experience working at Director level, or a very senior “head of” ready to make the move into directorship.
• In‑depth and excellent knowledge of emerging technologies relevant to the manufacturing or defence industries.
• Technology or digital transformation experience, including having developed new target operating models and supported business culture change.
• Successful history overseeing large scale and complex technical projects.
• Defence or manufacturing industry experience, ideally both.
• Willingness and ability to undertake a high level of government security clearance.
• A track record of strong leadership, delivering through others in a matrix organisation and developing high‑performing teams.
• Successful history running projects and good programme management skills, ideally in Agile or Waterfall methods.
• Desirable:
  Experience of supporting companies to grow and scale through…