Social Value Lead

Roke, 5th Floor, Space, Woking, Surrey, United Kingdom •

Roke, First Floor Windmill Green, Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom •

Roke, Roke Manor, Romsey, Hampshire, United Kingdom

Posted Tuesday 20 January 2026 at 01:00

Great ideas come from different minds. That’s why we bring together engineers, scientists, analysts, and creatives from every background — and give them the trust, tools, and freedom to make a difference. What connects us is the mission: solving meaningful problems and building capability that protects what matters most.

And as the challenges evolve, so do we — working on the technologies that will shape tomorrow, not just today.

At Roke, we’re committed to delivering meaningful, lasting Social Value across every part of our business. We’re now looking for an experienced
Social Value Lead to drive our strategy, governance, and delivery — ensuring Social Value is embedded into how we operate, bid, deliver, and partner with government and industry.

This is an exciting, high‑impact role for someone passionate about social, environmental and economic outcomes, with the leadership capability to influence at every level.

As our Social Value Lead, you’ll:

• Own and continuously evolve the Social Value Strategy, ensuring alignment with the Government Social Value Model, Chemring ESG Strategy, and Roke’s People, Environment, Places and Ecosystem priorities.
• Chair and coordinate the Social Value ecosystem within our ESG meets EVP Committee, bringing together ERGs, Charities, STEM/outreach teams, Sustainability and JOSCAR Zero activity.
• Lead regular planning cycles to set missions, outcomes and priorities.

• Provide leadership, direction and support to the four Social Value Chairs (Economic Growth, Sustainable Future, Community & Wellbeing, Fair Opportunities for All).
• Track delivery against plans, risks, metrics and outcomes, ensuring clarity and alignment across all work streams.

• Oversee Social Value budgets, including workforce volunteering hours, ERG allocations, recurring programme commitments (e.g., Thrive, JOSCAR Zero) and charity partnerships.
• Evaluate new proposals, build business cases and recommend investment based on impact and alignment.

• Partner with bidding teams to develop compelling, compliant Social Value solutions from early engagement through to submission.
• Produce high‑quality content including MAC‑aligned commitments, delivery approaches, KPIs, and proxy valuations.
• Maintain best‑practice examples, evidence and case‑study libraries, and upskill internal teams on Social Value expectations.

• Act as business owner for the Thrive platform, defining metrics, KPIs, baselines and reporting cycles.
• Produce dashboards and performance reports for Roke Operating Board, Executive Committee and customers.
• Ensure high‑quality, auditable data and consistent reporting across all activity.

• Champion Social Value across the organisation, building understanding and ownership.
• Represent Roke at customer, supplier and industry forums.
• Support ERGs, volunteering, wellbeing and community partnerships.
• Maintain accessible Social Value content across SharePoint and our communication channels.

• Stay ahead of evolving government policy, procurement requirements and customer priorities.
• Lead maturity assessments, lessons learned, and improvement initiatives to keep Roke competitive and compliant.

• Experience delivering or coordinating Social Value within a government‑facing organisation.
• Strong understanding of the Government Social Value Model and related reporting expectations.
• Experience leading cross‑functional groups (e.g., ERGs, ESG, CSR, sustainability).
• Strong organisational and budget management skills.
• Proven ability to develop Social Value content for complex bids.
• Confident influencing at all levels, including senior stakeholders.
• Experience using Social Value measurement platforms (Thrive or similar).
• Background in ESG, procurement, HR/People, supply chain, bidding or programme delivery.
• Understanding of…