Job Title: Continuous Improvement Lead
Location: Plymouth, Devon + Hybrid Working Arrangements
Compensation: £54,019 + Benefits
Role Type: Full time / Permanent
Role ID: SF72760
Strengthen Engineering Capability at the Heart of National Defence
At Babcock we’re working to create a safe and secure world, together, and if you join us, you can play your part as Continuous Improvement Lead at our Devonport Royal Dockyard site.
The role
As Continuous Improvement Lead, you’ll play a pivotal role in shaping and strengthening the facilities engineering capability at HMNB Devonport—one of the most strategically important naval bases in Western Europe. Working within the Engineering Capability Team, you’ll help ensure our engineering organisation has the right processes, governance and capability to support complex ship and submarine sustainment programmes.
Day-to-day, you’ll focus on enhancing engineering processes, driving continuous improvement, and leading change initiatives. You’ll work across teams to ensure our engineering processes are efficient, effective, and aligned to business needs, while also leading projects that deliver measurable improvements.
- Leading the measurement, management and continuous improvement of facilities engineering processes.
- Lead continuous improvement initiatives, identifying inefficiencies and implementing practical solutions
- Deliver process improvement projects from capture through to handover and close
- Reviewing and updating technical and design processes to maintain effective governance.
- Facilitating process working groups and leading the process steering forum.
- Assessing process capability health, identifying risks, inefficiencies and improvement actions.
- Supporting internal and external audits, including ISO9001 compliance activities.
This role is full time, 35 hours per week and provides hybrid working arrangements with a minimum of 2 days in the office/onsite.
Essential experience of the Continuous Improvement Lead
- Proven experience managing or improving engineering or business processes
- Experience delivering continuous improvement or change initiatives
- Strong understanding of business management systems / process frameworks
- Experience analysing processes, identifying vulnerabilities and delivering improvement initiatives.
- Ability to collaborate effectively across multidisciplinary teams and diverse stakeholder groups, including international partners.
- Strong communication skills with the confidence to influence and guide engineering best practice.
Qualifications for the Continuous Improvement Lead
- We’re open to a range of backgrounds and are more interested in your experience and impact than specific qualifications.
Security Clearance
The successful candidate must be a sole UK National who is able to achieve and maintain Naval Nuclear Propulsion Information (NNPPI) / Developed Vetting (DV) security clearance for this role.
Many of the positions within our company are subject to national security clearance and Trade Control restrictions. This means that your eligibility for certain roles may be affected by your place of birth, nationality, current or former citizenship, and any residency you hold or have held. Further details are available at United Kingdom Security Vetting: clearance levels - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk).
What we offer
- Generous holiday allowance
- Matched contribution pension scheme, with life assurance
- Access to a Digital GP, annual health check, and nutritional consultations through Aviva DigiCare+
- Employee share scheme
- Employee shopping savings portal
- Payment of Professional Fees
- Reservists in the armed forces receive 10-days special paid leave
- Holiday Trading is a benefit that allows UK Babcock employees to buy additional leave or to sell up to one working week of annual leave from their annual entitlement. There is an annual Window to request this benefit. ‘Be Kind Day’ enables employees to take one working day's paid leave a year (or equivalent hours) to undertake volunteering work with their chosen organisation or registered charity
- Excellent development opportunities and benefits package including an employee assistance programme supporting physical, mental and financial wellbeing.
Babcock
We’re Babcock — a global FTSE 100 organisation with over 26,000 people working together to make a difference.
Here, you’ll be part of something bigger. From initial design to final decommissioning, your work will contribute to products and services that are essential to national security and public infrastructure. Together, we’re building a future that lasts — not just through the impact we make, but through meaningful careers that respect your work-life balance.
We call that lifetime engineering.
Join us and see how far we can go, together.
We are a disability confident committed employer. If you have a disability or need any reasonable adjustments during the application and selection stages, please email [email protected] with the subject header ‘Reasonable adjustments requirement’. We’re committed to building an inclusive culture where everyone’s free to thrive. We are happy to talk about flexible working – please ask about alternative patterns of work at interview.
Closing date: 11/06/2026
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