Flight Avionics Design Authority: Governance Lead

Thales Group; Crawley; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 120,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

private medical insurance

buying or selling annual leave

cycle to work schemes

employee discounts

paid volunteering day

stocks and shares

annual bonus

Job summary

Thales Group in the UK seeks a Design Authority to provide independent technical governance for major aerospace and defence programmes. You will assess architectures, validate risks, and ensure compliance before approval, with no hands-on design.

This role demands influence across engineering, safety, cyber, and commercial functions and leadership of reviews and risk mitigation. Based in Crawley, the role requires UK nationality with SC clearance.

Qualifications

• Experience leading systems engineering in safety-critical aerospace/defence programmes.
• Deep understanding of system architectures and integration trade-offs.
• Experience with regulated environments (DO-178, ARP4754, MIL).
• Strong requirements engineering and risk management background.
• Ability to lead technical reviews and make evidence-based decisions.

Responsibilities

• Provide independent validation of feasibility across architecture, technology, cost, schedule, and risk.
• Approve Design Validation (DVa) and support certification activities including CoD/DDP.
• Ensure compliance with civil and military aerospace regulations, safety standards, and cybersecurity requirements.
• Assess system maturity, integration strategies, and supplier capabilities.
• Oversee risk identification and mitigation planning across bids and programmes.
• Support design reviews, baseline decisions, and critical issue resolution.
• Ensure safety cases are robust and liability exposure is controlled.
• Report on key technical risks and assurance outcomes to senior leadership.
• Coach and support engineering teams, improving decision-making quality.

Skills

Flight avionics

Military communication systems

Navigation or mission management

Job description

Thales Group in the UK seeks a Design Authority to provide independent technical governance for major aerospace and defence programmes. You will assess architectures, validate risks, and ensure compliance before approval, with no hands-on design.

This role demands influence across engineering, safety, cyber, and commercial functions and leadership of reviews and risk mitigation. Based in Crawley, the role requires UK nationality with SC clearance.