EVP – Strategy and Portfolio — Mission-Systems Portfolio

The mandate

A mission-systems portfolio comprises programmes whose delivery depends on maturing certification, integration and customer evidence in parallel. Shared test assets, software assurance capability and authorised technical staff must now be allocated across competing plans. A newly created EVP – Strategy and Portfolio will decide which programmes to accelerate, redesign, partner or defer, ensuring the portfolio sequence reflects available capacity and technical readiness.

Approximately 1,375 employees and material partners span strategy, engineering, certification, programme, operations, supply and customer teams from Washington, DC across the wider region. The EVP owns portfolio strategy, investment, external partnerships, scenarios and board recommendations, reporting to the Group Chief Executive or nominated sponsor. Certification, security and customer acceptance remain with authorised authorities.

The first portfolio map will connect each programme's mission need, customer commitment, technical maturity, certification basis, capacity and economics. Attractive market potential cannot offset an undefined approval route. The EVP will identify which evidence is missing and the decision date by which it must exist.

Certification strategy needs early integration. Airworthiness, safety, cybersecurity, spectrum or mission assurance may require different evidence and independent review. The portfolio will distinguish common artefacts from programme-specific proof. Reuse claims need configuration and applicability, not resemblance.

Delivery capacity must be modelled through bottlenecks. Systems engineers, safety specialists, secure software teams, test ranges and environmental facilities are scarce. The EVP will show the consequence of allocating each constraint, making displacement visible when an executive requests acceleration.

Technical maturity will use objective evidence. Reviews, prototypes, interface closure, test results and defect trends should support readiness. A programme cannot remain green because documentation milestones were met while core uncertainty persists.

Customer strategy will separate fixed commitments from negotiable sequence. Some customers may value an incremental capability or revised certification path more than delayed full scope. The EVP will develop options with programme and commercial leaders, preserving trust and contractual evidence.

Investment cases will include the full certification and delivery burden. Engineering, test assets, independent assurance, supplier qualification and field support should appear. Programmes that look profitable only before these costs need repricing, redesign or exit.

External partnerships can solve capability gaps. Test houses, technology providers, primes and government laboratories may contribute assets or authority, but partnerships need data, security, intellectual property, responsibility and schedule clarity. Reliance on a partner without reserved capacity is not an executable plan.

Supplier choices affect approval. Component substitution, obsolescence or alternate manufacture may trigger design and certification change. Strategy will include these consequences before assuming procurement recovery. The cheapest available source may move delivery further away.

Portfolio options will be structured deliberately. Technology demonstration, limited production, customer-funded extension, licence or divestment may preserve value. The EVP will compare cash, control, mission relevance and future rights rather than default to internal completion.

The strategy office will maintain an assumption and dependency register. When certification evidence, customer priority or test availability changes, investment and schedule should update. Different functions may hold different scenarios, but the board version must reconcile them transparently.

Programme closure is part of portfolio discipline. Stopped work must secure controlled data, customer obligations, equipment, suppliers and technical learning. Teams deserve a clear evidence-based explanation. Keeping programmes nominally alive to avoid a difficult decision consumes scarce assurance capacity.

The role will remain small and decisive. Strategy owns thesis, alternatives and decision triggers; line leaders execute. If new evidence contradicts the choice, the EVP will reopen it rather than defend a prior presentation.

What you will own

• Mission-systems portfolio and investment thesis.
• Certification, technical and capacity scenarios.
• Customer sequence and programme options.
• External partnerships and capability strategy.
• Supplier and obsolescence portfolio consequence.
• Board assumptions, triggers and capital choices.
• Responsible programme closure and knowledge disposition.
• Strategy talent and succession.

The first 12 months

Within 45 days, map certification and delivery evidence across priority programmes, identify impossible shared-capacity assumptions and freeze unsupported commitments. Present portfolio alternatives.

By month six, reallocate scarce assurance and test capacity, agree customer sequence and execute selected partnership or redesign decisions. Close lower-conviction work responsibly.

At twelve months, move 20% of discretionary capital towards higher-confidence programmes, reduce certification-driven schedule risk by 35% and complete every board decision within 30 days of its evidence trigger. All retained programmes should have an authorised certification route, reserved critical capacity and explicit downside option.

What the sponsor will examine

• Market opportunity bounded by approval feasibility.
• Certification reuse supported by applicability.
• Capacity allocation showing displaced work.
• Customer sequence shaped before default delay.
• Supplier substitutions including approval consequence.
• Stopped programmes securing controlled knowledge.

The person

You bring 22–28 years in aerospace, defence or mission-systems strategy, engineering or programme leadership. Your record includes portfolio capital, certification, government customers, partnerships and decisions across multiple major programmes in the United States.

Candidates must show a programme they narrowed or stopped because assurance evidence failed and a partnership that unlocked real capacity. The permanent role is onsite in Washington, DC, with secure programme and customer engagement. Required clearances and export eligibility apply.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is USD 360,000–480,000 plus annual incentive and long-term participation linked to portfolio value, certification confidence, capital, customer decisions and leadership. The permanent onsite Washington, DC appointment reports to the Group Chief Executive or nominated executive-committee sponsor. The unplanned search is urgent.

Confidentiality

The portfolio, programmes, customers, certification bases, technologies, partners and strategic choices remain confidential. More information follows eligibility, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not approach defence customers or contractors to identify the client.