Head of Enterprise Applications

Job Introduction

Job Description for Head of Enterprise Applications:

There’s never been a more exciting time to be part of the nuclear sector. New opportunities are being created all the time. At UKNNL, you’ll be in the ideal place to capitalise on this momentum, face new challenges and develop a long, successful and meaningful career. 

We’re an organisation that’s here to experiment and push the limits of what’s possible. So, if you’re keen to excel in your chosen field, this is the place to do it. Because at UKNNL, anything is possible.

The Head of Enterprise Applications & Data is accountable for the strategic direction, operational performance, and value optimisation of all enterprise applications and data platforms across the organisation.

Operating within a heavily regulated environment, the role ensures that the application and data landscape is secure, compliant, resilient, and aligned to business priorities. A key focus is maximising the value of existing applications, reducing complexity and duplication, and ensuring that the sourcing and onboarding of new applications demonstrably adds business value and complies with regulatory, security, and architectural standards.

The role works closely with business leaders, risk and compliance functions, and external suppliers to enable digital capability while maintaining strong governance and control.

Main Responsibilities for Head of Enterprise Applications:

• Application Portfolio Management
  
  • Own the end-to-end lifecycle of enterprise applications, including core business systems, line-of-business applications, and supporting platforms.
    
  • Lead application rationalisation to reduce duplication, technical debt, and cost while improving usability and value.
    
  • Establish clear principles for application selection, configuration, customisation and retirement.
• Value Optimisation
  • Maximise return on investment from existing applications through improved adoption, configuration optimisation, and process alignment.
  • Define and track benefits realisation for application investments, working with business owners to ensure value is delivered and sustained.
  • Challenge demand for new applications where existing capabilities can meet business needs.
• Sourcing & Onboarding of New Applications
  • Lead the evaluation, sourcing, and onboarding of new applications, ensuring a robust business case and clear value proposition.
  • Ensure all new applications meet architectural standards, data requirements, security controls, and regulatory expectations.
  • Oversee due diligence of suppliers, including financial stability, data protection, resilience, and exit arrangements.
• Data Ownership & Governance
  • Provide senior accountability for enterprise data platforms and data management practices.
  • Work with data owners, governance bodies, and compliance teams to ensure data quality, integrity, availability, and appropriate use.
  • Support the effective use of data and analytics to drive insight and decision-making, within regulatory constraints.
• Risk, Security & Compliance
  • Ensure applications and data platforms comply with regulatory, legal, and internal policy requirements.
  • Partner with risk, security, and assurance functions to manage operational, cyber, and third-party risks.
  • Lead remediation of application and data risks, including audit findings and regulatory actions.
• Stakeholder & Supplier Management
  • Build strong relationships with senior business stakeholders, acting as a trusted advisor on application and data capabilities.
  • Manage strategic supplier relationships, contracts, and performance, ensuring value for money and service quality.
  • Represent the application and data domain in governance forums, investment boards, and regulatory interactions as required.

Essential Criteria for Head of Enterprise Applications:

• Senior leadership experience managing enterprise applications and/or data in a complex, regulated organisation.
• Must have direct leadership experienced of developing a business case and then subsequently implementing a new ERP (or re-implementing the old with new processes and controls) in a large organisation.
• Proven experience of application portfolio management, including rationalisation and value optimisation.
• Strong understanding of application sourcing models (SaaS, COTS, bespoke, cloud) and associated risks.
• Experience operating within regulatory, risk, and compliance frameworks.
• Demonstrable ability to translate business strategy into technology outcomes.
• Strong stakeholder management skills, with experience influencing at executive level. 
• Focus on business operations and value drivers as opposed to purely technology focus (people, processes and systems).
• Ability to obtain SC level security clearance (this includes but is not limited to identity, employment, financial and criminal record checks plus 5 years’ worth of UK residency).

Desirable Criteria for Head of Enterprise Applications:

• Experience in sectors such as financial services, utilities, healthcare, public sector, or other regulated industries.
• Familiarity with enterprise architecture principles and data governance frameworks.
• Experience leading geographically distributed teams.
• Exposure to digital transformation or modernisation programmes.

Why join us?

UKNNL isn’t just a place where you can do career-defining work that makes a real-world impact. It’s also a place where you’ll feel appreciated and valued. We’re creating an inclusive workplace where everyone is free to be themselves and feel like they belong. We put your wellbeing first, we push you to reach your potential, and we do everything possible to help you feel safe, supported and inspired.

We also offer a range of employee benefits:

• Sector leading Family-Focused Policies: celebrate life events, including enhanced maternity and paternity leave and a week off for your marriage.
• UKNNL offers attractive pension plans. If you contribute 5%, UKNNL contributes 15%. Alternatively, if you choose not to contribute (0%), UKNNL will still contribute 10%.
• Annual Leave: Benefit from 25.5 days of leave, plus 4 extra days to be taken during Christmas shutdown, plus Bank Holidays.
• Reduced gym membership with discounts of up to 25% from 3,700 gym and leisure providers across the UK
• Company Bonus: Be rewarded for your contributions.
• Learning Opportunities: Enhance your skills through excellent development programmes.
• Employee Assistance: Access support for personal and professional challenges.
• Cycle to Work: Stay active and eco-friendly.
• Life Assurance: Ensure peace of mind for you and your loved ones.
• Enhanced Sick Pay Benefits: Receive support during illness or injury.
• Access to ‘Mydiscounts’ which has a range of special offers and discounts from more than 200 suppliers, including medical insurance and dental insurance. 
• Health Care: Health savings plan which allows you to claim money back on visits to the dentist, optician and/or physiotherapist (limits apply).

About The Company

UKNNL is an incredible place to work. A place where people do things that have never been done before. A place where people push boundaries to further themselves, the business and society as a whole.

This is a place where personal and professional opportunities are limitless. If you want to change the world, if you want to tackle climate change, if you want to help advance medical science, if you want to help put things in space, if you want to answer the big questions, if you want to work with extraordinary materials, if you want to meet great people, learn new skills, challenge yourself, work flexibly, and build a long successful career with the power to make a real impact… you can do it all here.

Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

UKNNL has a vision for Equality, Diversity and Inclusivity (ED&I) where UKNNL aims to be an inclusive workplace that attracts diverse talent through transparent and equal policies and procedures, providing reasonable adjustments as appropriate. We want you and the diverse mix of people that we employ, customers that we service and stakeholders that we influence to feel valued. We encourage a workplace culture where everyone can thrive with a sense of belonging and the ability to access to workplace in a way which works for you.

Recruitment Agency Notice

We operate a strict Preferred Supplier List (PSL) for the provision of recruitment services. Only agencies on our PSL may provide CVs and only when the role is released to them by our recruitment team. We will not accept unsolicited CVs from suppliers not currently on our PSL. We explicitly reserve the right to add candidate details from unsolicited CVs from non-PSL agencies into our own candidate database and to pursue/hire such candidate(s) without any obligation, financial or otherwise, to the agency concerned.

United Kingdom National Nuclear Laboratory