Assistant Head of Commercial, Scrutiny and Data – Defence Nuclear Organisation

Welcome message from Rob Holland, Interim 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, Submarine Delivery Agency, UK Strategic Command, Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), and key industry suppliers such as BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Babcock.

An opportunity to work in DNO Commercial has arisen to lead the Scrutiny and Data capability of the DNE Commercial Portfolio. This will include leading on procurements, robustly managing contracts, and developing business cases to support the development of the nuclear warhead and submarines as well as developing data governance tools and commercial scrutiny enablement to ensure commercial strategies deliver for the public good. The candidate will need to demonstrate strong internal and external stakeholder management skills, excellent negotiation skills, and be capable of motivating a small but agile team of commercial professionals focused on both procurement and commercial acquisition transactions. Successful candidates will access opportunities for commercial and professional development within the Defence Nuclear Enterprise.

The role will be based across our sites in London, Bristol and Reading with attendance in office up to 3 days/week. The post will require travel between the sites (London, Bristol, and Reading), and, with notice, some wider UK and international travel.

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

DNO Commercial is a dynamic and talented team working at the heart of maintaining the Continuous At Sea Deterrent (CASD) which deals with complex market forces and monitors the supply chain fragility of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE).

We conduct every part of the commercial lifecycle from identifying complex requirements to procuring sensitive material to managing billion-pound contracts and Category A programmes – the work we undertake is at a highly classified level. Throughout our work we manage a wide range of stakeholders with partners across the Defence Nuclear Enterprise ranging from the Submarine Delivery Group (SDG) to the Royal Navy, Babcock, BAE, Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) and Sheffield Forgemasters. We operate with an annual budget of circa. £10BN, working at the heart of government and protecting the UK’s most sensitive national security capabilities.

As a general commercial senior leader, the candidate is expected to operate across DNO Commercial, providing commercial advice to stakeholders, building relationships with delivery organisations and protecting the nuclear supply chain.

You will be an Assistant Head of Commercial, responsible for leading commercial assurance activity across the Defence Nuclear Enterprise, working closely with our Delivery Partners (AWE & SDG) and driving continuous improvement in their commercial capability.

You will lead a team of commercial professionals to provide strategic oversight, commercial assurance and evidence based commercial advice across the multi-billion-pound Defence Nuclear Enterprise portfolio, to assure commercial best practices are being applied, mitigating commercial risk and enable delivery of best value outcomes.

This role has significant strategic exposure, including regular briefings to the most senior leaders in the DNE.

You will be responsible for driving continuous commercial improvement within the DNE Commercial team, collaborating with AWE and SDG to upskill commercial capability across the Defence Nuclear Enterprise (DNE) through sharing of best practice.

You will lead relationship and engagement with AWE Supply Chain team, developing DNO and AWE commercial relationships with commercial colleagues across MOD and wider Government with particular focus on leveraging the commercial benefits of AWE’s transition to a Non-Departmental Public Body

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.

Open to UK nationals only.

This vacancy is using Success Profiles (opens in a new window), and will assess your Experience and Technical skills.

Your application will be reviewed by a panel and should you be successful at sift we will invite you to attend a Virtual commercial Assessment and Development Centre (VADC). The panel will review results of the VADC and determine which candidates will go through to a subsequent final panel interview. Please note: Only candidates that achieve an A grade at ADC will be invited to interview for this role.

Please be advised that the Virtual ADC is taking place on Monday 2nd November 2026 and will require a full day's attendance.

If you are invited to attend a virtual ADC, but for any reason are unable to meet the date outlined then please get in touch with the team on commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk as soon as possible. The ADC is booked and paid for in advance by departments, therefore it is only in certain circumstances we are able to accommodate alternative dates.

For full details of our process, and a likely timeline, please read the attached candidate pack.

Throughout our selection process, we will make decisions about your capability to do the job, based on evidence you provide against the Technical Skills (essential criteria) and your Job History (CV) that you will be asked to provide during the application process. Further help and advice on our application and selection process can be found at this web address https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/gcf-how-to-apply/

Artificial Intelligence can be a useful tool to support your application, however, all examples and statements provided must be truthful, factually accurate and taken directly from your own experience. Where plagiarism has been identified (presenting the ideas and experiences of others, or generated by artificial intelligence, as your own) applications may be withdrawn and internal candidates may be subject to disciplinary action.

Please see our candidate guidance for more information on appropriate and inappropriate use.

https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/artificial-intelligence-and-recruitment/

IMPORTANT: If you do not receive an acknowledgement of your application within 2 working days please contact: commercialresourcinghub@cabinetoffice.gov.uk

Feedback will only be provided if you attend an interview or assessment.