Director Nuclear & Defence

Mesh-AI Limited; Warwick; On-site; GBP 75,000 - GBP 100,000; Full time

Job summary

A leading engineering firm is seeking a Director for its Nuclear & Defence (South) portfolio in Warwick. This strategic role requires a seasoned leader with extensive experience in the nuclear and defence sectors, focusing on client engagement and operational oversight. Responsibilities include managing P&L performance and driving business growth across major programmes. The ideal candidate will have strong commercial acumen, relationship-building skills, and experience in managing large teams. This position offers exceptional salary and benefits within a collaborative environment.

Benefits

Company car or cash allowance

Up to 6% matched contributory pension plan

25 days annual leave plus ability to buy additional leave

Discount scheme (including gym membership)

Family friendly policies

Employee assistance

Qualifications

• Extensive senior leadership experience in nuclear, defence, or major infrastructure sectors.
• Ability to manage large, multidisciplinary teams.
• Skills in client engagement, P&L management, and shaping business strategies.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic, commercial, and operational leadership for the Nuclear & Defence (South) portfolio.
• Drive business growth and strengthen client partnerships.
• Oversee delivery of major programmes ensuring all KPIs and quality standards are met.

Skills

Commercially astute leadership

Strategic relationship building

Operational performance management

Delivery excellence

Education

Degree in technical, engineering, or project-related discipline

Job description

Overview

BakerHicks has a long-established reputation for delivering major, highly regulated programmes across the UK’s nuclear and defence sectors. As our project portfolio expands, we are strengthening our leadership team with the appointment of a Director – Nuclear & Defence (South).

This is a pivotal strategic role, responsible for driving commercial performance, shaping long-term business growth, and ensuring the successful delivery of some of the most complex and nationally significant programmes in our portfolio. You will play a central role in client engagement, operational oversight, commercial strategy, and the development of high-performing teams across the region.

We are looking for a leader who is commercially astute, delivery-focused, and passionate about building strong relationships—someone who thrives in a fast-paced, regulated environment and can bring vision, adaptability, and strategic clarity to a growing division.

At BakerHicks, we value balance, collaboration, and continuous improvement, with opportunities to contribute to both national strategy and local leadership communities.

About You

You will bring credibility and a strong track record within the nuclear, defence, major infrastructure, or engineering sectors, supported by experience managing and developing large, multidisciplinary teams and managing major frameworks or programmes.

You will be capable of:

• Building and maintaining trusted relationships with senior clients, partners, regulators, and internal and external stakeholders.
• Providing strong strategic leadership while managing operational performance across multiple programmes.
• Managing commercial strategy, owning full P&L, and driving year-on-year revenue and margin growth.
• Ensuring delivery excellence across large, complex, high-value projects, with a strong focus on quality, governance, and regulatory compliance.
• Shaping and executing business development strategies to secure new and repeat opportunities.
• Inspiring, mentoring, and developing teams to build capability, resilience, and long-term succession.

You will be degree-qualified (or equivalent) in a technical, engineering, or project-related discipline, with extensive senior leadership experience and exceptional communication, influencing, and relationship-building skill.

Key Purpose

• Provide strategic, commercial, and operational leadership for the Nuclear & Defence (South) portfolio.
• Drive business growth, strengthen client partnerships, and position BakerHicks as a partner of choice.
• Own and deliver strong P&L performance across the region, ensuring robust forecasting, budgeting, and margin management.
• Oversee the delivery of major programmes, ensuring all KPIs, governance requirements, and quality standards are met.

About BakerHicks

We’ve been innovating in design, engineering and project delivery since 1957 and operate from 14 locations for a truly European reach. For more about our company story, see: About | BakerHicks.

Many of the positions within our company are subject to security clearance. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by various factors. The successful candidate must be able to achieve and maintain security clearance for this role as required by our clients and sectors.

Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).

Benefits

Whatever your discipline, you’ll be alongside some of the most talented people in the industry. Our network of offices are appealing, friendly and comfortable spaces, easily accessible by car or public transport. And our salary and benefits packages are some of the best in the industry.

What you get will depend on what you do, with personal performance-related rewards also on offer in addition to:

• Company car or cash allowance
• Up to 6% matched contributory pension plan
• 25 days annual leave plus ability to buy additional leave
• Discount scheme (including gym membership, mobile phones etc)
• Family friendly policies
• Employee assistance

BakerHicks is an equal opportunity employer. We care about creating an inclusive atmosphere and are committed to promoting diversity and inclusion throughout.

BakerHicks is an inclusive organisation welcoming talent from all backgrounds. Applicants are assessed on the basis of personal merit and qualifications.

UK Demographic Questions

To help us promote diversity, equity, and inclusion within our workplace, we invite you to provide some optional demographic information. This data helps us understand the diversity of our applicants and improve our recruitment practices. This information is completely voluntary and confidential. Providing this information will not affect your application or hiring process in any way. If you prefer not to answer any of the questions, you may select “Prefer not to say.”

Thank you for your support in helping us create a more inclusive workplace.