Engineering Delivery Manager - Crawley

Location: Crawley, United Kingdom

Thales people provide armed forces customers with operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defence mission systems solutions at land, sea, and air. Our platforms extend across the battlespace including Above and Sonar, Electronic Combat, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems.

Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across five major industries; Aerospace, Defence, Ground Transportation, Security and Space. Your health and well-being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

Flexible on Location: Crawley / Bristol / Reading / Portsmouth

Travel: there will be up to 50% national travel and 25% international travel required at a maximum.

Primary Purpose of the Role:

To provide the principle engineering delivery leadership, direction, decision authority and support to the programme or bid.

To direct and manage the Engineering team on project or bid to achieve company objectives in terms of programme schedule, financial and quality targets.

To ensure that the Engineering Processes are applied correctly and appropriately on the project to company, legislative, regulatory and international standards. 

This role will include includes significant Management responsibility for engineering strategy and direction and may have direct line management responsibilities for staff on Project.

Being based in either Crawley, Bristol, Reading or Portsmouth as a Thales homesite, there will be up to 50% national travel and 25% international travel required at a maximum.

Principal Relationships:

As part of the Thales Engineering process you will interact with the following key roles:

• Key Stakeholders / Clients

• Programme Director / Project Manager

• Client Project Engineering leads

• Project Design Authority and discipline Responsible Engineers

• Engineering staff at all levels

• Sales and Marketing Lead, Bid Managers, Capture lead and Bid team members

Project team members including: Installation, Testing, Commercial, Purchasing, Planning Project Management Office, Heath, Safety, Quality, Environment

Other Functional and Operational managers at all levels

Key Responsibilities and Tasks:

The list below is not exhaustive nor will individuals be expected to be able to undertake all of them. They are given as a guide as to the expected duties of the grade.

• Defining and delivering the strategy, plan and implementation of the overall Engineering Solution for the Programme.

• Directing and providing overall technical and engineering leadership to the team assigned to the project to deliver the Engineering solution to time, cost and quality.

• Managing engineering baseline management 

• Ensuring the timely and accurate production of the Requirements for the System and Subsystems and ensuring that sell-off & IVVQ of the requirements is planned, documented and achieved in a progressive and low risk manner.

• Ensuring that the Programme / Project’s Design and other Technical Certification is co-ordinated, complete and coherent with the delivered and installed base and can be provided for Business approval and delivery to the customer;

• Leading the interfacing with the Engineering teams of the client and other external Engineering parties to ensure that the integration and migration of the overall Engineering solution within its infrastructure and associated projects is achieved

• Ensuring that approval through own and appropriatly delegated authority for all Engineering documentation and deliverables including specifications, designs, reports, analysis, code and equipment can be achieved and that all designs developed by the project have been

  • produced by competent designers and subject to competent design check and approval

  • Are free from errors and design defects and flaws

• Supporting the Programme Director in the management of change, variation, risk and opportunity, recovery and acceleration as it affects the delivery of the Engineering solution.

• Overseeing the development of cost and time estimates for project activities to meet business and customer objectives.

• Leading and implementing agreed change and stimulating innovation into the project to improve overall out-turn.

• Validate the engineering delivery progress and support the accurate measurement of progress on the project.

• Participating with other members of the Programme or bid senior management team to ensure that the Programme or bid meets its business and customer objectives.

• Ensuring that any Corrective Actions and Observations related to the engineering delivery and solution are closed in a timely and complete manner.

• Working with the Engineering Functional Teams to ensure that the Programme’s Engineering team are competent, developed to their full potential, mobilised and released in a timely and planned manner.

• Supporting and assisting the Engineering Functional Teams to strengthen the businesses engineering capabilities and competencies.

Key performance Indicators against Responsibilities and Tasks:

This role is continually monitored for performance and as such some of the following typical Key performance indicators (KPI’s) will be used

• Delivery to timescales

• Financial performance of the Engineering team under your control

• Quality of work produced against agreed standards

• Delivery to budget

• Performance against Thales key values

Expected Competence Level:

Skills (underpinning Knowledge)

• Extensive multidisciplinary Engineering expertise, with specific knowledge of the domain, infrastructure, Systems Integration practices and the disciplines utilised on the project.

• Ability to develop innovative and low risk practical engineering strategies to manage a complex project through its lifecycle.

• Strong knowledge and proven application of Engineering Project Delivery and processes across the full project lifecycle. 

• Team leadership – with a proven ability to build and sustain good working relationships with staff, peers and managers, customers and stakeholders.

• Strong analytical skills supporting logical, effective and timely decision making.

• Strong appreciation of Safety and Safety Assurance within the Engineering discipline and Domain.

• Familiarity with Project management and delivery processes and practices, commercial acumen and a robust approach to budget and schedule control.

• Effective personal organisation and an ability to remain composed focused with attention to detail under pressure.

• Can manage a complex project through a defined design process and is able to tailor company processes to project needs.

Experience:

• The Engineering Delivery Manager is the focal point for the Engineering process on large complex projects and must be able to oversee the resolution of all issues, problems, questions and conflicts across the entire system. This requires frequent handling of new and unusual issues therefore a proven record of working across multiple disciplines and in an Engineering Management capacity on projects is required.

• The post holder should have strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate at all levels in the spoken and written word. A professional competent outward appearance, self-motivation and the ability to work under pressure are vital.

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In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment, if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.

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