Senior Business Manager

About the Role

Our world-leading Time & Frequency department and NTC Programme are seeking a Senior Business Manager with proven expertise in business administration, continuous improvement, and operating at Chief of Staff level.

This is an exceptional opportunity to join the global authority in precision timing at a defining moment for UK digital infrastructure.

Backed by a government investment of £180 million in the National Timing Centre (NTC) programme, we are developing a world-first resilient time distribution capability that will provide industry with a robust complement to satellite systems (such as GPS) – which are increasingly vulnerable to disruption from solar storms, jamming and spoofing. This will underpin essential services, including

• Telecommunications,
• Online banking,
• Emergency response,
• Transport networks, and
• Wider digital and data-driven operations.

Together, these services form the backbone of modern society - and your leadership will help ensure they remain secure, reliable and robust even if global navigation satellite systems fail.

• Business Operations & Administrative Leadership
  -design and oversee the coordination of administrative activity across teams to enable delivery, quality, and financial control (including on-boarding and off-boarding of permanent and contract staff, laboratory tour management, and knowledge report generation).
• Executive Support & Stakeholder Coordination -deliver and take ownership of executive support to the NTC Programme Director (MD) and Senior Leadership Team (including ownership of diary and inbox management, driving the coordination of senior stakeholder engagements, and prioritisation of internal and external engagement activity).
• Reporting
  - own and deliver NTC and departmental reporting on behalf of the Programme Director (MD) (including consolidating data from projects, work packages, and initiatives to produce structured, high-quality reporting for internal and external board meetings).
• Continuous Business Improvement -drive and implement business improvement initiatives to enhance NTC ways of working, streamlining and standardising processes across teams, embedding best practice and continuous improvement, and owning the delivery of improvement projects (such as business microsites or enabling tools).
• Organisational Interface & Enablement -operate as the central interface and provide direction between the NTC and NPL support functions (including coordination of training / skills development, championing a high-quality candidate and employee experience, and owning and enhancing administrative systems, document control, reporting calendars, and secure information repositories).

To be successful in this role, you will have the following skills, experience, and qualifications:

• Proven experience overseeing and delivering business operations and senior administration across complex, multi‑team environments, ensuring compliant and efficient delivery
• Demonstrable ability to deliver and take ownership of executive support to senior leaders (including complex diary and inbox management, stakeholder engagement, and event coordination)
• Strong experience owning and delivering clear, prioritised reporting, consolidating data from multiple projects and systems for senior audiences
• Demonstrated track record in driving continuous business improvement, streamlining processes and delivering practical improvement initiatives or enabling tools
• Highly developed organisational and communication skills, with the confidence to operate effectively in office and laboratory environments and manage sensitive information with a high degree of discretion

• Experience operating within a scientific, technical, research or regulated environment (such as laboratories, infrastructure, or government‑adjacent programmes)
• Exposure to and experience contributing to programme, portfolio or board‑level reporting, including the preparation of packs or summaries for senior decision‑making forums
• Experience supporting and contributing to organisational growth or change, such as scaling teams, introducing new processes, or establishing new business…