Head of Delivery - NTQ

The purpose of this role is to lead the national delivery team for all NTQ replacement site activity on the Cornerstone Estate, from identification of sites at risk through to delivery of the on-air replacement solution(s) and decommissioning of the NTQ site. The role holder will provide end-to-end accountability for programme performance, governance, reporting, stakeholder management (customer Steerco) and delivery against customer targets, business plan commitments and profit objectives.

The role will work closely with regional Acquisition, Estates, Legal, Design, Operations, Finance and Procurement teams, as well as external agents, outsource partners, solicitors and customers including VMO2 and Vodafone (and other third-parties), to deliver replacement coverage as quickly and efficiently as possible while maintaining strong governance and customer outcomes.

The Head of NTQ Delivery will define and drive the end-to-end programme plan (including transformation initiatives where required) ensuring clear prioritisation, transparent reporting, effective hand-offs across internal and external stakeholders, and strong control of risks, issues, dependencies, change and budget.

The role also provides leadership across the NTQ programme, influencing at senior level (SLT) to align delivery activity with business priorities, customer expectations, operational capability and financial targets.

This role is accountable for ensuring that NTQ delivery activity is governed effectively, forecast accurately and executed in a way that protects Cornerstone's financial and contractual position while delivering excellence for customers and stakeholders.

Programme Management:

•Lead the transformation of NTQ and execution of strategic implementation
•Lead the national delivery of all NTQ replacement site activity (management of National NTQ Lead), ensuring achievement of programme targets from site identification through to on-air replacement and decommissioning.
•Define, own and maintain the end-to-end NTQ delivery plan, with clear prioritisation of activities, dependencies, risks and critical milestones to support achievement of customer and business targets.
•Work closely with regional Acquisition and Design teams to drive delivery performance, financial outcomes and volume targets, while identifying issues early and putting recovery activity in place where required.
•Ensure programme focus on sites at greatest risk, including those with potential loss of coverage in the next 0-3 months and 3-6 months, and drive improvements that reduce delivery timescales.
•Seek to ensure achievement of targets associated with minimising out of service sites for passive reasons in line with agreed business objectives.
Stakeholder and Supplier Management:
•Build and maintain effective working relationships with internal teams including Acquisition, Estates, Legal, Operations, Finance and Procurement, and with external agents, outsource partners, solicitors and customers.
•Represent Cornerstone credibly at both working and senior stakeholder levels, ensuring delivery priorities, risks, decisions and trade-offs are communicated clearly and managed effectively.
•Drive performance across supplier and partner organisations through clear expectations, effective governance, constructive challenge and strong follow-through on commitments.
•Ensure Cornerstone policy is understood and applied consistently, improving certainty of delivery through realistic planning, effective communication and accountable stakeholder management.

Governance, Reporting, Budgeting and Process:
•Own the governance framework for the NTQ programme, including meetings, workstream reviews, action and issue registers, RAID management, escalation routes and decision-making forums to keep delivery on track.
•Provide clear, regular and transparent reporting to key stakeholders, including progress against plan, risks, budget position, forecast spend and emerging delivery issues.
•Work closely with Legal to secure cost-effective protection of NTQ sites at risk where possible, and with Procurement to support delivery models and supplier contracts that add value to the business.
•Align the operational programme plan to approved business cases, Opex and Capex plans, ensuring budget can be secured and commitment and spend can be forecast and tracked effectively.
•Protect Cornerstone's financial and contractual position through effective commercial control, timely escalation and disciplined management of programme-level risks and issues.

Management of Change:
•Manage change across the programme arising from scope, timescales, cost or quality impacts, ensuring changes are properly assessed, recorded and governed.
•Facilitate impact assessment and approval or rejection of proposed changes, ensuring that scope and business outcome implications are understood and sanctioned by key stakeholders.

People Leadership:
•Structure, lead, manage, develop and motivate the team to ensure personal and functional objectives are achieved in line with company priorities.
•Ensure that all people processes, including recruitment, resourcing, performance management, recognition and reward, are delivered to agreed standards and within published timelines.
•Create an environment where people can thrive, develop capability and deliver strong results, while providing coaching and mentoring to less experienced colleagues.
•Role model high standards of leadership, accountability and continuous improvement across the NTQ delivery function.

Compliance and Security:
•Support and contribute actively to health and safety, environmental, business continuity and information security arrangements that meet Cornerstone's obligations to customers and stakeholders.
•Ensure statutory, regulatory, contractual and group compliance obligations are understood and reflected in programme delivery activity.

Experience (technical, managerial, industry)

•Considerable programme and project management experience within NTQ, estates, acquisition or related telecoms delivery environments.
•Strong functional knowledge of estates management, site acquisition and replacement site delivery, ideally gained within a mobile network operator or network infrastructure sharing environment.
•Demonstrable experience of managing third-party suppliers and delivering results in a complex, high-pressure and changing environment.
•Experience of leading cross-functional programmes with strong governance, reporting, budget control and stakeholder engagement at senior level.

Skills / Knowledge:
•Excellent interpersonal and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to influence across matrix organisations and at multiple levels of seniority.
•Clear and concise communication skills, with the ability to produce strong reporting and present effectively to director level and external stakeholders.
•Strong planning, organisational and prioritisation capability, with a target-driven and results-oriented approach.
•Good commercial awareness and confidence in managing budgets, forecasts, risks, issues and delivery controls. Intermediate Excel skills desirable.

Cornerstone Values:
Operate and uphold Cornerstone's values of delivering excellence, stronger connections, sharper solutions and inspiring transformations.