Engineering Project Manager - Contract

Volantes Technical Recruitment is looking for an experienced Engineering Project Manager to take end-to-end ownership of significant aircraft base maintenance inputs – major scheduled checks, structural inspections, modifications, repairs and return-to-service activity.

You'll lead multidisciplinary teams to deliver the approved work package to scope, turnaround time, cost and quality, without ever compromising safety, airworthiness or regulatory compliance. This is a hands-on delivery role for someone who lives in Microsoft Project: building, baselining, resourcing and controlling integrated maintenance schedules and driving the critical path day to day.

Key Information

Role: Engineering Project Manager

Sector: Aircraft Base Maintenance | MRO | UK Civil & Military Regulated

Reports to: Engineering Delivery Manager

Dotted line to: Chief Engineer

Works closely with: Maintenance Planners

Direct reports: None

Security: Must be able to obtain and maintain SC clearance

What You'll Be Doing

Project Leadership & Governance

• Lead engineering projects from initiation and definition through delivery, acceptance, transition and closure.
• Define and control scope, objectives, deliverables and acceptance criteria in agreement with sponsors and customers.
• Set up proportionate governance, reporting routines and decision forums, with clear accountability and timely escalation.
• Build and maintain an integrated base-maintenance schedule in Microsoft Project – WBS, task logic, milestones, access and inspection sequences, resources, material and tooling dependencies, customer decision points, testing and return-to-service requirements.

Delivery Planning & Control

• Own performance against scope, turnaround time, cost, quality, technical and safety baselines – spot variance early and drive recovery.
• Manage dependencies, constraints, resources, baselines, progress, float and the critical path in MS Project, producing reliable updates and recovery scenarios.
• Confirm work-package readiness before aircraft input: task cards, engineering instructions, manpower, hangar capacity, tooling, materials, components and technical data.
• Control the input from induction and access through inspection, rectification, modification, reassembly, functional test, records completion, release and return to service.
• Rapidly assess emergent findings and additional work for technical, material, resource, cost and schedule impact, and integrate approved work into the plan.
• Manage risks, issues, assumptions and dependencies with clear owners, dates, mitigations and escalation routes.
• Run effective change control, assessing impact on airworthiness, scope, TAT, resources, cost and contractual commitments.
• Keep accurate project records, daily progress data, forecasts and decisions in the relevant maintenance and project-control systems.

Stakeholder, Commercial & Supplier Management

• Act as the primary project point of contact, giving clear, evidence-based progress reporting to customers, sponsors and senior leadership.
• Lead project reviews and cross-functional meetings, aligning engineering, operations, quality, safety, finance, procurement and supply chain.
• Support commercial and contractual management – estimates, business cases, statements of work, supplier deliverables and acceptance of outputs.
• Monitor supplier and subcontractor performance so external dependencies stay aligned with the integrated plan.

Safety, Compliance & Continuous Improvement

• Ensure delivery complies with UK CAA, UK MAA and EASA requirements, the organisation's exposition, quality system and SMS.
• Make sure project decisions never compromise airworthiness, safety, security or quality, and report potential unsafe conditions promptly.
• Drive timely closure of audit findings, non-conformances and investigation actions using sound root-cause and corrective-action methods.
• Lead lessons-learned reviews and embed lasting improvements in project delivery.

Key Deliverables

• Significant base-maintenance inputs delivered safely to contracted scope, planned TAT, budget and quality standard.
• A logic-linked, resource-informed, baselined MS Project schedule with a credible critical path, daily progress position and forecast return-to-service date.
• Completed aircraft-input readiness reviews with work package, facilities, manpower, tooling, material and technical data confirmed.
• Emergent findings and additional work controlled through timely assessment, customer approval, schedule integration and cost visibility.
• Clear daily and weekly reporting on progress, critical-path threats, resource constraints, risks, decisions and recovery actions.

What You'll Need

Experience & Qualifications

• Proven experience project managing significant aircraft inputs, heavy checks, major modifications or comparable complex MRO activity. (Essential)
• Advanced, hands-on Microsoft Project capability – logic-linked schedules, baselines, dependencies, resources, progress updates, critical-path analysis, variance reporting and recovery planning. (Essential)
• Demonstrable control of work scope, TAT, cost, resources, material and tooling dependencies, risks, findings and change. (Essential)
• Experience leading multidisciplinary maintenance, engineering, planning, quality and supply-chain teams in a live aircraft-input environment. (Essential)
• Relevant aircraft maintenance, engineering or technical qualification, or equivalent substantial aviation experience. (Essential)
• Able to obtain and maintain SC-level security clearance. (Essential)
• Recognised PM qualification (APM PMQ, PRINCE2 Practitioner or PMP), or willingness to attain one. (Advantageous)
• Working knowledge of UK CAA, UK MAA or EASA maintenance regulations, SMS and quality-management principles. (Advantageous)
• Commercial awareness – estimates, budgets, quotations, additional-work approval, procurement or contract management. (Advantageous)

Personal Skills & Attributes

• Strong leadership, ownership and sound judgement in complex, time-critical situations.
• Excellent communication, influencing, negotiation and presentation skills with technical and non-technical audiences.
• Analytical and commercially aware – uses performance data to make timely decisions.
• Highly organised and resilient, comfortable with competing priorities and ambiguity.
• Collaborative, building effective relationships across organisational and contractual boundaries.
• Highly proficient in MS Project; competent in MS Office, maintenance information systems and project-control tools.

Interested?

For a confidential conversation about this role, contact Billy McDougall at Volantes Technical Recruitment.