AMS PSR

On behalf of UKRI, we are looking for a Head of Advanced Connectivity Technologies and Systems (Inside/Outside IR35/PAYE) for a 6 month remote contract with occasional visits to Swindon as the business requires.

Head of Advanced Connectivity Technologies and Systems is a pivotal leadership role at the heart of a strategy to grow the UK as prosperous, safe and vibrant place to live and work. The primary purpose of this role is to provide leadership for your team, work in collaboration with other Heads of roles, and support the Director for Secure and Resilient Growth. The role will actively contribute to the directorate vision to deliver secure and resilient growth for the UK, focusing on the advanced connectivity technologies and systems. You will be responsible for the strategic plan, financial planning, and delivery of interventions required to build capability in foundational technologies that underpin our critical technology supply chains. You will also be responsible to identify, create the business case for, and deliver interventions that connect these capabilities to grow the UK business landscape able to deliver solutions into UK Government's Priority Growth Sectors.

Key Responsibilities and Accountabilities:

Deliver leadership for the Directorate as part of the Director Leadership team. This includes:

Leadership:

• Lead on the benefits realisation for the Directorate objectives to ensure the agreed outputs and outcomes are delivered as defined in agreed business cases in terms of SMART objectives.
• Communicating the vision such that a UK coalition of industrial and political leaders are advocating for, enabling and delivering action.
• Building momentum for and delivering strategic outcomes across the UK from the Directorate interventions. Play a strong role in the Director team by building a strong and influential coalition of partners from industry, academia, and government to deliver transformational change and growth for the UK.
• Communicating wins and approach in line with the Directorate vision and to support the overall business case developments.

Strategic Delivery:

• Providing clear thought leadership for the Communications Technologies and Systems team and your objectives to enable better delivery for the transformational changes required across businesses and industries to achieve growth.
• Accountable for delivering the DSIT Advanced Connectivity Technology and Core intervention strategies for funding research and innovation for approval through Directorate, Innovate UK, DSIT governance structures, including which areas to fund and how best to deliver.
• Developing business cases for future, broader activities aligned with the programme strategy.

Programme Governance:

• Advise and deliver robust, transparent and open programmes that meet audit, public and government scrutiny.
• Manage the day-to-day financial forecasting for the Foundational Technologies programme.

Specific Responsibilities include:

• Maintaining financial forecasts and updates for the various programme activities.
• Managing multiple managed programme interventions.
• Responsibility for the strategic plan and interventions required to identify and build necessary capability within a advanced communication technology and solutions’ sectors and markets.
• Identify, create the business case for, and deliver interventions from connecting capabilities to create a business landscape able to deliver solutions into UK Government's Priority Growth Sectors.
• Ensure any Programme Board and Advisory Group are well informed and enabled to take action through the design of agendas, Terms of Reference and papers and discussion topics at meetings. Ensure that there would be ongoing scrutiny of the Advisory Group, particularly in relation to membership and conflicts of interest.
• Contribute appropriately to the running and future development of the programme including contributing to the development of future activities, developing and enabling delivery of the evaluation, chairing team meetings, participating in the programme catch-ups, and sharing information across the programme.
• Leading on future potential proposals to develop the communication technologies and solutions programmes and interventions.

Essential Experience:

• A deep understanding of multiple technologies and solutions as found in advanced connectivity and systems such as O-RAN.
• A knowledge across technology and solutions in connectivity and semiconductors, as well as a strategic view of how these and related technologies interrelate within the supply chains for UK Government's Priority Growth Sectors.
• Previous experience in industry in at least one of the foundational technology areas, that included working with related businesses within one of the UK Government's Priority Growth Sectors.
• An understanding of government processes and the mechanisms by which to support and influence policy and policy interventions.
• Demonstrable achievement of results through influencing skills rather than direct control.
• Successful management of multiple senior and executive stakeholders with conflicting demands and priorities.
• Effective management of significant budgets, implementing cost-control and forecasting in a tightly controlled environment.
• Experience of innovation or research, business competitiveness and technology policy or delivery.
• A track record of managing programmes and delivering a broad of benefits, across the Public and Private sectors.
• Experience of influencing high-performance teams across multiple locations to deliver exceptional results.

Skills:

• Outstanding communication and engagement capability with authenticity to deliver effective communications.
• Excellent verbal communication and stakeholder management skills delivered consistently.
• Demonstrable emotional intelligence with a high tolerance for ambiguity and uncertainty.
• Self-awareness and excellent personal resilience, as well as a high level of professionalism, discretion and tact.
• A willingness to challenge preconceptions and offer well-reasoned and considered judgements to all levels of stakeholders.
• Highly developed analytical and problem-solving skills, including the ability to quickly understand new and complex issues and to apply creative solutions.
• Strong networking capability, able to demonstrate excellent commercial and political judgement.
• Sound financial acumen with the ability to provide efficiency and value for money.
• Excellent planning and delivery across concurrent projects.

Please be aware that this role can only be worked within the UK and not Overseas.

Disability Confident 

As a member of the Disability Confident Scheme, UKRI guarantees to interview all candidates who have a disability and who meet all the essential criteria for the vacancy. In cases where we have a high volume of candidates who have a disability who meet all the essential criteria, we will interview the best candidates from within that group. This scheme encourages candidates with a disability and/or neurodivergence to apply. In exceptional circumstances, we may also need to apply the desirable criteria in our shortlisting process which may include holding active security clearance.

In applying for this role, you acknowledge the following "this role falls in scope of the Off Payroll Working in the Public Sector legislation. Any rates of payment quoted will reflect the gross rate per day for the assignment and will be subject to appropriate taxes and statutory costs. As such the payment to the intermediary and your income resulting from this contract will be different".