Graduate Transformation & Project Management Officer-Defence

Graduate Transformation and Project Management Officer

Location: Midlands – Home based with travel across the portfolio will be required 
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 Transformation and Project Management Officer in our Defence team, you’ll make a real impact from day one, helping shape projects that keep the UK Armed Forces equipped, supported, and ready — while building a meaningful career in a vital sector.

This role offers fast learning and hands-on experience, supported by mentoring, coaching, and structured development. You’ll work on high-profile business transformation initiatives — from large-scale contract mobilisation to change programmes across engineering, aviation, maritime, and critical national infrastructure — all of which strengthen the UK’s defence capability.

Working across our Engineering Asset Management (EAM) portfolio, you’ll help drive projects that boost capability, sharpen processes and empower teams — all within a collaborative environment that thrives on curiosity, fresh thinking and continuous improvement. You’ll also get hands‑on exposure to some of the most exciting and strategically important areas of UK defence: from supporting air mobility and specialist services at Brize Norton, to helping safeguard critical infrastructure such as RAF Fylingdales, to contributing to the availability and resilience of warships and submarines across our naval bases. It’s meaningful, mission‑driven work where every improvement you deliver directly strengthens UK defence capability.

Over time, you’ll gain the skills and confidence to run small projects independently, lead workstreams, and present to senior stakeholders, building a foundation for a long-term career in project management or transformation leadership.

What makes our approach different is the freedom to shape your path. We’ll give you time to understand the discipline, experience real project work, and then you can select a recognised project management, PMO or change certification that best aligns with your strengths, interests and future ambitions.

This hybrid role is mostly home-based, with travel to sites and team locations across the UK as needed (fully expensed), including our Solihull Head Office and RAF Brize Norton. We’re open to conversations about flexible working and encourage candidates to discuss this during the recruitment process.

 

What you’ll do as a Graduate Transformation and Project Management Officer

Your role will blend hands‑on project delivery with core PMO support, giving you real responsibility from day one. You’ll get involved in project planning, risk management, customer meetings and time on site with delivery teams. You’ll be trusted to: 

• Support and deliver project workstreams, helping plan, execute and track progress 
• Run key project activities - meetings, action tracking, schedules, RAID (Risks, Assumptions, Issues, Dependencies) logs and reporting 
• Coordinate PMO processes that keep projects and programmes on track 
• Spot risks early, propose solutions and help teams maintain momentum 
• Work directly with transformation leads to deliver improvements across the EAM portfolio 
• Build strong relationships with colleagues, partners and customers across Serco Defence 
• Develop rapidly, supported by coaching, training and real responsibility 

 
 Does this sound like you? 

• Graduated in the last two years with a 2:2 degree or above in any discipline, or on track to do so 
• Curious about how things work, motivated to improve them, and keen to develop your leadership skills over time  
• Positive mindset and want to grow into a future project professional 
• Comfortable talking to people, asking questions and building strong working relationships 
• Enjoys organising information and spotting patterns and have great attention to detail 
• Adapts well to change and stay focused when things move quickly 
• A driving licence is desirable but not essential 

You don’t need to know everything from the start – but you’ll be keen to learn, get involved and give things a go!

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. 

Please click on the apply button to complete your application. 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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