Compliance & Equipment Specialist

You make Xtend UK provably compliant, audit-ready, and trusted by primes and MOD - without slowing the company down. This is not a bureaucratic compliance role; it is a pragmatic builder role. You design and operate the export control, quality, and equipment infrastructure that unlocks the next tier of contracts. The standard is real compliance, delivered at the pace the business requires.

Core responsibilities

• Own export control end-to-end: SPIRE / ECJU licensing, ITAR awareness, dual-use, record-keeping. Build it lean, make it audit-proof.
• Drive ISO 9001 implementation and the roadmap to AS9100 / ISO 27001. Practical, evidence-based, and operationally useful - not shelfware.
• Own MOD audit and assurance readiness - DSPF, JSP 440 awareness, supplier assurance questionnaires.
• Run equipment configuration control, serialisation, calibration, and traceability for all UK-held assets.
• Maintain the UK quality manual, supplier approved list, and non-conformance register - all live and operationally useful.
• Act as the compliance lead inside bids - convert 'how do we prove it' into a credible evidence pack on deadline.
• Build the trust signal customers and primes need to see before they commit to larger contracts.

• 4+ years compliance, quality, or export-control experience in UK defence, aerospace, or regulated manufacturing - ideally with end-to-end ownership of the regime.
• Working command of ECJU / SPIRE and the UK strategic export control regime.
• Hands-on ISO 9001 (AS9100 a plus) and direct experience of MOD supplier assurance.
• Pragmatic, not bureaucratic. You know when sufficient and delivered beats perfect and stalled.
• Detail-oriented under pressure; comfortable owning an audit and the evidence behind it.
• Fluent English; right to work in the UK.
• Strong advantage: prior experience inside a UK defence prime, MOD, or cleared SME; familiarity with UAV / unmanned systems regulation (CAA, Article 16).

Environment and expectations

• Xtend UK is a fast-growing defence-tech company. Pace is high, structure is being built, and ownership is real.
• You will be expected to contribute beyond the formal scope of your role. Team members support each other to execute the mission successfully.
• Mission-first mentality. We are building capability that ends up in the hands of operators - that comes before process and hierarchy.
• This role lives at the balance point between compliance rigour and startup agility. The candidate who thrives here understands when to apply full process and when to streamline.
• Compliance infrastructure here is being built, not inherited. You will set the standards and the artefacts that the rest of the business operates against.
• Engagement with bids, customers, and primes is constant - compliance is a commercial enabler, not a back-office function.
• Execution speed matters. We operate with urgency, high ownership, and a strong bias toward action.