Defence

Overview
Although operating largely behind closed doors, the Defence sector is perhaps more vulnerable to shifts in political and economic policy than any other business area within the public arena. As a consequence, Defence must address the challenge of almost continuous change, and manage its manpower as efficiently and cost-effectively as possible.

Increasingly, Defence organisations are looking to interim management to help them deliver their strategic and operational objectives, on time and on budget. And to help them find the right people, they need a company that has credibility in this sector. A company that has in-depth experience and understanding of its culture: the language, the equipment, the practice and the initiatives. That company is Walker-Cox.

To optimise the many advantages of interim management for our military clients, we try wherever possible to develop close working relationships, ensuring that we have a real understanding of their specific organisations, people and businesses.

Individual interim assignments usually involve a face-to-face briefing, covering the position itself, the skills and experience required, and of course, the objectives, deliverables and time scales. Armed with this information we are able to respond, quickly and efficiently, with a shortlist of the best interim managers currently available from our extensive register of ex-military and civilian candidates.

 

A dedicated resource for the Defence sector
Responsible for the briefing and interim selection process, we have a dedicated team, comprising two ex-military officers, who not only speak your language, but also have recent, first-hand experience of the operational, logistical and administrative demands placed on today’s Defence professionals, and understand the importance of finding the right person for the job. The success of our selection process can be gauged by the amount of repeat business we receive and the preferred supplier lists in which our company features.

We maintain a Register of recent service leavers, actively working with the Careers Transition Partnership to ensure we have appropriate, up to date, capable resources for all SO3, SO2, SO1, one star, two star, three star and four star roles that may be gapped.

However, our service doesn’t stop once an interim manager has been placed. We aim to provide a continuing and proactive service to both our clients and our interim managers, to help ensure that every assignment is completed successfully. Experience has shown that this continuing relationship is particularly useful in the highly dynamic military operations and support environment. 

 

Defence sector experience
Our interim professionals' comprehensive Defence sector interim management experience includes:

  • Specific, recent ex-military interim management professionals at Officer Levels SO3, SO2, SO1, one star, two star, three star and four star
  • Sustainable supply-chain development and management
  • Capacity and project planning
  • IPT specialist support
  • Contract and commercial management
  • Estates/facilities/infrastructure/ grey and white fleet management
  • Asset maintenance
  • Finance, costing and auditing
  • Human resources, including: Lifecycle management of staff,
    PR & recruitment communications, FRI service training
  • Service healthcare delivery and professional managers
  • IT management
  • Layout and space planning
  • Performance management and improvement
  • Procurement, bids, logistics
  • Telecoms & fleet asset management
  • Hard and soft security/IT security
  • Organisation Development

Engaging Walker-Cox
Simplifying the procurement/recruitment process, and ensuring our Defence clients can be confident of receiving a high quality and cost-effective service, Walker-Cox has a Catalist framework agreement with the OGC. We are also an officially recognised supplier of ex-military professional and technical interim resources to the MOD and the Defence Equipment and Support Organisation (DE&S), and provide support to all three Services – Army, Navy and RAF – including 4* (4 star), 3* (3 star), 2* (2 star), 1* (1 star), SO1, SO2 and SO3 gap filling.

 

Opportunities with Walker-Cox
To enable us to maintain a high level of service delivery, we are always interested to hear from ex-military professionals seeking interim management opportunities, and organisations interested in becoming members of the Walker-Cox Consortium.