Graduate Project Management Office & Mobilisation Officer-Armed Forces Recruitment Service

Graduate Project Management Office and Mobilisation Officer

Location: MOD Abbey Wood (Filton), Bristol, with travel across the contract
Salary: £35,000 plus excellent benefits
Schedule: Full time, Monday to Friday, two-year fixed-term graduate contract
Start date: September 2026

Ready to impact a better future?

As a Graduate Project Management Office (PMO) and Mobilisation Officer on the Armed Forces Recruitment Service (AFRS) contract, you’ll step into the heart of one of our most complex, fast-paced contract environments — helping us mobilise new services, strengthen delivery, and prepare large programmes for success from day one.

This role offers hands-on PMO and mobilisation experience, alongside coaching, mentoring, and structured development. You’ll rotate through core PMO activities such as governance, planning, and stakeholder engagement, gaining exposure to the full mobilisation lifecycle in a supportive and fast‑moving operational environment.

You’ll be part of a collaborative team supporting a critical defence contract, working with senior stakeholders both across the AFRS consortium and MOD colleagues in operations and transformation — all while building the foundations for a long-term career in PMO, project delivery or transformation.

What is the Armed Forces Recruitment Service?

The AFRS plays a pivotal role in delivering the UK’s first fully integrated tri‑Service recruitment model — supporting the Royal Navy, British Army and Royal Air Force alongside Strategic Command, through a single, modern, end‑to‑end recruitment solution. Partnering with the Ministry of Defence, we lead a consortium of specialist organisations to provide candidate attraction, assessment, and onboarding onto Phase 1 training across the UK, all underpinned by best‑in‑class digital technology designed to enhance and streamline the candidate experience. This landmark programme marks a major transformation in how the UK recruits its future forces, and as part of the Serco team you’ll be contributing directly to a service that ensures our Armed Forces have the talent, skills and readiness they need for the challenges ahead.

What you’ll do as a Graduate PMO and Mobilisation Officer

Your role blends hands-on project coordination, mobilisation support and core PMO governance. From the outset, you will have real responsibility and visibility across high-profile workstreams. You’ll be trusted to:

• Support PMO governance, tracking milestones, interdependence and deliverables
• Maintain core PMO artefacts — RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) logs, action trackers, decision logs, plans and reporting packs
• Coordinate mobilisation workstreams, helping teams plan, sequence and integrate activities
• Prepare papers, updates and materials for steering groups and governance forums
• Support stakeholder engagement, helping organise meetings, workshops and mobilisation events
• Monitor progress against mobilisation plans, escalating risks or issues when needed
• Produce clear, accurate and timely reports, dashboards and status updates
• Identify opportunities for continuous improvement, enhancing PMO processes and ways of working
• Capture lessons learned and support knowledge transfer across the programme

Does this sound like you?

You don’t need prior PMO experience — just the right mindset and motivation.

• Graduated in the last two years with a 2:2 degree or above in any discipline
• Enjoy organising information, spotting patterns and making sense of complexity
• Communicate clearly and confidently in writing and in person
• Build strong working relationships and enjoy collaborating with others
• Have great attention to detail and pride in high-quality outputs
• Are resilient, adaptable and comfortable working at pace
• Are curious, willing to learn and motivated to develop professionally
• A driving license is desirable but not essential 

Discover all you need to keep growing

As one of the top 1% of international employers, we’re committed to helping you build a long-term career, not just gain short-term experience.  

Once you’ve had time to explore the role and understand where your interests lie, you’ll be supported to choose a funded development pathway aligned to an industry leading body, for example: 

• APM (Association for Project Management) 
• APMG International
• Prosci (Change Management)
• Axelos / PeopleCert, including structured project and agile frameworks 

 
This fixed‑term graduate role is designed to open the door to a wide range of future career opportunities at Serco. Towards the end of the contract, you’ll be encouraged to apply for suitable permanent roles, subject to performance and roles available. 

Our previous graduates have progressed into roles such as Transformation and Change Manager and Transformation PMO Manager. And while this role sits within Defence, Serco is a global organisation — meaning your future opportunities aren’t limited to one sector or business area.

What we offer

• Holidays: 25 days plus bank holidays, with the option to buy up to five additional days each year
• Pension: Up to 6% contributory pension scheme
• Training and development: Over 1,100 internal courses, funded qualifications and apprenticeships, mentoring and strong internal progression pathways
• Health and wellbeing: Employee Assistance Programme, Bupa Anytime HealthLine, wellbeing app, 30% off Serco-managed leisure centres, and 24/7 access to a virtual GP
• Discounts: Savings across around 1,000 retailers, including food, fashion, travel and entertainment
• Charity and community: Paid volunteering day, tax-free charitable giving and the option to donate through the Serco People Fund
• Employee networks: Inclusive networks that support connection, collaboration and belonging – including LGBTQIA+, women, parents and carers, people with disabilities, veterans and multicultural communities

Vetting and checks

You’ll need to be a British National and able to achieve Security Check (SC) clearance, due to the security requirements of this role. All checks are funded and organised by Serco.  
Baseline Personnel Security Standard (BPSS) clearance, including verifying your identity, employment history, nationality and criminal record.  
Depending on projects you work on, you may also need to obtain further clearances such as Counter Terrorist Check (CTC), which include more detailed background checks. UK residency requirements will apply for certain levels of clearance. 

The selection process

• Stage 1: Online application submitted/screening questions completed
• Stage 2: Online assessments to include situational based questions and logical reasoning
• Stage 3: Video Interview assessment 
• Stage 4: Assessment centre to be held in Solihull, West Midlands on 28th April to include competency-based interview, presentation and a group exercise. 

Let’s impact a better future, together. Apply today.

To discover more about our careers in Defence, visit our careers site.

Occasionally we receive a large volume of applications for our roles and when that happens, we sometimes bring the closing date forward, so please apply promptly to avoid disappointment.

At Serco, we see people first and foremost for their performance and potential. We are committed to building a diverse and inclusive organisation that supports the needs of all. As such we will make reasonable adjustments at interview through to employment for our candidates and strongly encourage applications from a diverse candidate pool. We are open to discussions around flexibility and flexible working. As a proud Disability Confident Leader and holder of the Gold Inclusive Employer Standard, disabled applicants who meet the minimum criteria for the job will be given the opportunity to demonstrate their abilities at an interview. 

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