Aerospace – Director of Quality

Stonewood Group Inc.; Toronto; On-site; CAD 100,000 - 150,000; Full time

Job summary

A Toronto-based world-class designer of advanced microwave components seeks a Director of Programmes. The role includes overseeing program management, ensuring operational success, and leading a multidisciplinary team. Ideal candidates will have extensive experience in aerospace or defense, along with strong leadership and strategic planning skills.

Benefits

Highly entrepreneurial culture

Strong industry and company growth

Opportunity to make a real difference

Qualifications

• 5-10 years of experience in programme management within complex environments.
• Experience in aerospace, defense or high reliability electronics.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead the successful delivery of all programmes/projects.
• Assess current programme management organization and recommend improvements.
• Coordinate multidisciplinary teams and manage resources effectively.

Skills

Program management

Strategic planning

Team leadership

Analytical skills

Customer focus

Problem solving

Education

Bachelor’s degree in a technical or engineering discipline

Postgraduate degree considered an asset

Tools

Microsoft Project

Primavera

Excel

Job description

Our client is a Toronto-based world-class designer and manufacturer of advanced microwave, millimeter-wave and electro-optic components and sub-systems.

Our client was founded in 1992 on a mission to provide high reliability, cutting-edge RF solutions. The company has grown by focusing on customer success and by assembling a fully-integrated, skilled team of experts in high frequency circuits and systems, communication and radar subsystem design, engineering and custom manufacturing.

The firm is uniquely vertically integrated through all key functions including RFIC design in GaAs, GaN, SiGe and CMOS, thin film manufacturing, automated HMIC (Hybrid Microwave Integrated Circuit) Assembly, CNC machining, PC Board population, and system integration and test, allowing responsive, high quality support of customers’ demanding requirements. The firm’s expertise in developing customized RF and electro-optic sensing and communications solutions makes our client a critical partner in commercial aerospace, defense, industrial, medical, space and SatCom markets.

Our client consistently invests heavily in IR&D and boasts a large engineering team with most having advanced degrees in their realms of specialization. In the past few years our client has further augmented its R&D footprint by developing strategic research partnerships at selected universities in Canada and the US.

Our client occupies a 65,000 square foot state-of-the-art engineering and manufacturing facility in Toronto including Class 1000 to 10,000 clean rooms. The firm’s systems maintain compliance to AS9100C and ISO9001:2008 and encompass all the core capabilities needed for end-to-end electronic product development, redesign and life cycle maintenance. The firm also maintains a second facility in Canada.

To best serve US customers with ITAR restrictions, and to provide a 2nd source with identical capability, our client has also established a US-based design and manufacturing facility focused on MMIC and high power device design.

Scope of the Position

Reporting to the President and CEO, the Director of Programmes leads a team responsible for the successful delivery of all our client’s programmes/projects.

The Director of Programmes will on the one hand play a key strategic role in ensuring that our client has the processes and disciplines in place to deliver programme management excellence. They will own the vision for the programme management function ensuring that it is architected in a manner so that programmes are selected, prioritized, linked and executed to satisfy customers’ demand while achieving optimum benefits for the company including a strong profit margin for each programme.

The successful candidate will be responsible for the operational success of all programs, seamless team management and development, program tracking, quality control and evaluation and be the key interface to the primary program stakeholders. They will move projects along holding regular project reviews with his/her team, senior management and the customer.

While managing multiple complex projects, the Director of Programs will track spending, adjust budgets, hire and review employees, look for gaps in work efficiency, communicate with their team and operational colleagues and suggest and execute timely changes to plans as needed.

This is an outstanding opportunity that features:

• Strong industry and company growth
• A successful organization with committed ownership
• Highly entrepreneurial culture
• A highly educated and diverse employee structure
• An opportunity to make a real difference

Responsibilities

• Assess current programme management organization, techniques and tools and make recommendations
• Ensure that the function is architected to deliver and scale
• Apply best practices disciplines across the function
• Coordinate a multidisciplinary team.
• Assess team and ensure that they have the training, tools and support to be successful
• Act as a key interface to selected customers.
• Lead all program reviews both internally and customer-facing.
• Coordinate and manage resource allocation.
• Track program budget and schedule.
• Provide regular program status updates to company management.
• Contribute towards continuous technology and process improvement.
• Escalate when necessary from the project managers and proactively identify challenges with schedules;
• Work with staff to develop objective performance measurements are in place, to ensure consistent, high-quality evaluation and goal setting for all employees;
• Cultivate existing relationships with operational colleagues with the goal of ensuring sufficient resources, and access to services;
• Develop and implement strategies that will maximize the synergies among program areas;
• Establish benchmarks in the operational work plans and review the work on a regular basis and identify issues and adjust the plan when necessary;
• Ensure deliverables are being completed within baseline time scales, cost plans and the expectation of the customer while being aware of net project cash flow;
• Establish and implement a system and tools with which to measure continuous quality improvement projects. Monitor completed projects to ensure expected benefits are fully realized and sustained.
• Report regularly and proactively to senior management on progress and issues that affect successful program execution.

Competency Profile

The following competencies listed below define the role of Director of Programmes:

Role Expertise

Demonstrates critical technical or professional knowledge/skills related to the role. Has thorough knowledge of relevant products, services and methods. Expands technical knowledge/skills and keeps up-to-date in own area of expertise.

Strategic Approach

Develops a strategic plan to realize the vision. Revises strategy in light of changing circumstances. Takes a long-term view of organizational success. Works to clarify long term organizational goals. Able to stand back from immediate problems in order to focus on more far reaching ideas.

Results Orientation

Focuses strongly on achieving agreed upon outcomes and ensures that key objectives are met. Conveys a sense of urgency and drives issues to closure. Aims to improve upon past performance. Establishes aggressive personal targets and strives to achieve them.

Leading Change

Recognizes when change is necessary. Challenges the status quo and champions new initiatives. Acts as a catalyst to change and stimulates others to change. Develops an effective action plan to implement change and monitors results.

Developing & Coaching Others

Accurately assesses strengths and development needs of employees. Challenges others to improve their abilities and actively supports their development. Continually provides timely and constructive feedback, coaching and challenging learning opportunities. Adjusts coaching style based on each employee’s ability and motivation level.

Planning & Objective Setting

Systematic in approach to work. Produces action plans in which objectives are defined and steps for achieving them are clearly specified. Plans by breaking down large task into subtasks. Develops plans that anticipate obstacles. Is realistic about time-scales and builds in appropriate checkpoints, milestones and controls in order to ensure that desired results are realized.

Problem Solving

Draws parallels across situations and contexts. Divides problems into their individual elements. Develops several explanations or alternatives. Separates the core of a problem from its symptoms and can identify cause and effect.

Routinely performs program risk and mitigation analyses.

Drive

Adopts an energetic approach. Works towards goals and willingly tackles demanding tasks. Demonstrates capacity for sustained effort and hard work over long periods of time, even in the face of adversity.

Customer/Client Orientation

Strives to provide customers/clients with personalized and efficient service. Anticipates customers’/clients’ needs. Quickly follows up on customer/client contacts and complaints. Monitors and acts on measures of customer/client satisfaction.

Key Performance Deliverables

In light of the identified responsibilities, the following are the type of deliverables that the position is designed to achieve.

• To be discussed with the successful candidate

Preferred Experience

The following indicates specific industry, and functional experience/qualifications that are important to the successful achievement of the identified responsibilities and performance deliverables.

• Bachelor’s degree, in a technical or engineering discipline. Postgraduate degree considered an asset.
• 5-10 years of experience in programme management within large complex programme environments
• Space, Aerospace or Defense experience is an asset
• Hands-on design experience in one of following areas would an asset: Reliability engineering, Electronic packaging, high reliability electronics manufacturing.
• Strong organizational skills.
• High attention to detail
• Team management role, juggling scarce technical resources across a multidisciplinary, matrixed organization.
• Demonstrated success developing, evaluating and delivering medium/large complex multimillion-dollar programs with challenging customers and international environments.
• Experience with project tracking and productivity tools such as Microsoft Project, Primavera, Excel or other software tools used for tracking multiple projects and competing resources.
• Experience in people management roles with recruitment, selection, hiring, coaching, feedback, employee engagement, and performance management.
• Strong analytical and problem-solving skills; ability to plan, prioritize and organize effectively and to make sound, logical decisions.
• Ability to multi-task and manage a demanding and diverse workload.
• Proven strong business skills with demonstrated strategic and program management experience.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in the English language
• Ability to be approved for Canadian security clearance
• Demonstrated ability to be customer focused
• Experience in growing, mid-sized growth-oriented private manufacturing companies would be an asset.
• Strong team orientation well suited to building consensus
• A bias for action combined with a hands-on approach and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Remuneration

• Highly competitive compensation commensurate with the right candidate.