Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.

Optronics & Missile Electronics (OME)

We help forces to find the right information at the right time to make the right decision. For over 130 years we’ve proudly led the development of Optronics for military, scientific and commercial use. We cover three sectors: Air, Land and Sea.

OME Engineering Bid Lead

An exciting opportunity has arisen for an Engineering Bid Lead within Thales Optronics and Missile Electronics. This role will be working across the OME business leading, coordinating and producing the Engineering estimates for all bids.

As the Engineering Bid Lead you will work in collaboration with the Bid Managers, the Project and Product Design Authorities, the Portfolio Engineering Delivery Managers, the Engineering Heads of Discipline, the Head of Engineering Delivery and the wider engineering team to ensure delivery of the engineering estimates for bids.

In this role you will be responsible for:

• Definition of the engineering delivery strategy to bound the engineering estimates to be structured within this strategy
• Lead the generation of the Engineering Estimates, surrounding the respective Solution Architecture, to provide a competitive offering to our prospective customers
• Lead the production of the Assumptions, Exclusions and Dependencies that shape and constrain the engineering bid estimates ensuring consistency across all engineering functions
• Ensure that the bid resource demand for engineering is planned and achievable
• Bring consistency to the engineering estimation approach through use of agreed Thales tools and estimation techniques (e.g. True Planning)
• Ensure tasks are estimated by the correct function (i.e. Engineering, Test, Product Support, ILS, Config etc.)
• Drive the Engineering bids to completion with an appropriate level of detail and collaboration through the Bid SOR process and Bid Gate Reviews
• Work with the appropriate Portfolio EDMs, Product Line Architects, and Heads of Disciplines to maximise the following:
  • Product line re-use
  • Engineering Building Blocks
  • M/T/B Strategy
  • Engineering Outsourcing
  • Engineering Competency Centres
• Plan the engineering activities and resources in order to get projects to completion; meeting quality schedule and budgetary requirements
• Identify risks and opportunities that will have an impact on the project development
• Ensure the project deliverables and estimates align with the customer's requirements, contract specification and price to win
• Day to day management of the engineering bid team’s activities ensuring proactive management of issues, opportunities and risks
• Lead the generation of process improvements to the Engineering bid and estimation approach
• Communicate effectively, professionally and in a timely manner with internal personnel, external customers, consultants and subcontractors

The successful candidate will have a strong background in engineering with experience in successfully defining and leading the delivery of multi-disciplinary engineering projects.

You will be highly customer focused with excellent communication skills and have the ability to work in a fast moving environment with multiple parallel objectives. Knowledge and experience of naval products would be beneficial to this role.

You will also be able to demonstrate the following, aligned to the Thales Leadership Behavioural Model:

• acting with agility to ensure that the business objectives remain in focus
• dealing with multiple strands of complexity to achieve business objectives
• engaging with stakeholders to achieve a common goal
• creating a competitive advantage by managing risk, identifying opportunities and fostering continuous improvement
• supporting the development of others to ensure we continuously improve for our customers

Benefits:

• Performance-related bonus
• Half day every Friday, usually finishing around 13:00
• 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) with opportunity to buy up to 40 hours/year (pro rata)
• 24 hours volunteering paid for
• Private healthcare
• Pension scheme
• Life cover
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Program and access to mental wellbeing app
• Employee discount shopping schemes on major brands and retailers
• Gym membership discounts

Security Clearance Requirement:

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, many of our roles are subject to security restrictions. This role requires Security Clearance (SC). It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant undergo, achieve, and maintain SC Clearance prior to commencing employment. 

To be eligible for full SC, you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years. In some circumstances, a minimum of 3 years’ residence in the UK over the last 5 years may be accepted, with additional overseas checks.

Please visit the UKSV website for further guidance: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels

At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role. Read more about our benefits here.
 

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring. Discover more about our programmes, employee networks, wellbeing policies, and inclusive features here.

If this role isn’t quite right for you, we encourage you to join our talent community where your details will be shared with our recruitment teams for other potential opportunities. Join the Talent Community here.

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