Product Safety Manager

Thales; Crawley Down; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Thales Group in Crawley (Hybrid) is hiring a Product Safety Manager to lead safety engineering activities across complex defence/aerospace projects. You will work within UK Safety Team, engaging with MOD programmes and UAS/autonomous platforms, developing safety plans and safety cases while mentoring junior engineers.

You will influence project safety culture, manage budgets and ensure compliance with UK/EU safety frameworks, with opportunities for career progression and structured mentorship.

Qualifications

• Experience of Systems Safety Engineering in a complex, safety-focused and regulated organisation.
• Experience implementing a safety management system at project level.
• Demonstrable experience in managing engineering work packages and budgets.
• Experience planning and delivering safety engineering programmes of work.
• Experience undertaking System Safety activities including FTA, ETA, FMEA, IHA, Hazard Logs, and safety reports.
• Knowledge of legal and regulatory frameworks for safety (UK, EU, MAA, CAA).
• Experience developing and managing safety cases and ALARP arguments.
• Ability to collaborate in an engineering environment to ensure compliance throughout the project life cycle.

Responsibilities

• Supporting bids, generating safety engineering estimates and leading work packages.
• Developing safety plans and ensuring SMS implementation at project level.
• Mentoring junior Product Safety / Systems Safety Engineers.
• Leading and managing systems safety activities and assessments.
• Ensuring products are supported by robust safety cases and evidence.
• Working in multidisciplinary teams to identify hazards and manage risks.

Skills

Safety engineering

Hazard analysis

Safety case development

Regulatory knowledge

Project budgeting

Cross-functional collaboration

Systems Safety Engineering

ALARP arguments

System Fault Tree Analysis

Event Tree Analysis

Education

Relevant subject degree

Job description

Location: Crawley, United Kingdom

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.

Product Safety Manager

Crawley, Bristol or Reading - Hybrid

Thales develop and engineer cutting edge products and technologies such as autonomous platforms (air and maritime), high performance sonar arrays, Air Traffic Management systems, electronic warfare & counter measure systems, to name a few. As part of the UK Safety Team you will have the opportunity to lead safety engineering activities on these complex and challenging projects while continuing to develop your safety engineering knowledge.

We’re recruiting due to a need to grow our subject matter expert Safety Engineering team.

Joining as a Product Safety Manager in this team, you’ll gain experience across multiple niche areas during your time at Thales. You may begin life on a £300m+ programme, working directly with the UK MOD, next you might pivot to UAS and have instrumental involvement in Autonomous UAS development, or maybe you’ll lead safety activities within our world-renowned simulation team.

Safety at Thales means joining an exceptionally skilled team within technical specialities, pursuing unique career paths spanning technical expertise, management and/or programmes. You’ll be supported with mentors, academic links, progression plans, contractual development and treated as a priority for all internal opportunities within the team.

Our Product Safety Managers typically spend their days:

• Supporting bids, generating safety engineering estimates and leading the work packages.
• Developing safety plans & ensuring the implementation of the Thales UK SMS at project level
• Applying and leveraging your knowledge of Systems Safety Engineering to complex systems and supporting/mentoring junior Product Safety / Systems Safety Engineers
• Leading, managing and sometimes undertaking systems safety activities and assessments
• Ensuring that Thales products are supported by robust safety cases and evidence
• Working in multidisciplinary project/product teams to identify and manage hazards and risks

What expertise do we typically need our Product Safety Manager to have:

• A degree, or equivalent qualification, in a relevant subject area
• Experience of Systems Safety Engineering activities in a complex, safety focused and regulated organisation, such as rail, aerospace, nuclear or oil & gas
• Experience of working to a safety management system and implementing it at project level
• Demonstrable experience in the management of engineering work packages & budgets
• Demonstrable experience in planning and delivering safety engineering programmes of work
• Extensive experience of undertaking Systems Safety activities including System Fault Tree Analysis (FTA), Event Tree Analysis (ETA), Common Cause Failure Analysis, Functional Failure Analysis (FFA), Failure Modes Effects and Criticality Analysis (FMECA), Interface Hazard Analysis (IHA), System Hazard Logs, System Hazard Analysis Reports
• Experience in the identification, capture and management of safety requirements
• Extensive knowledge of legal & regulatory frameworks for safety (UK, EU, MAA, CAA etc.)
• Experience of developing & managing safety cases and generating ALARP arguments
• Ability to work collaboratively in an engineering development environment, ensuring Systems Safety compliance is achieved throughout the project life cycle.
• Aware of safety occurrence investigation principles and processes

Security Clearance statement

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, many of our roles are subject to security restrictions.

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. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the National Security Vetting (NSV) Agency - United Kingdom Security Vetting - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

What we can offer

We’re committed to giving you opportunities to be your best. We believe in embracing the passion and potential of our people, and to achieve this we offer market leading training, development and experiences, along with the opportunity to be mentored and coached by some of the smartest minds in the industry. We hire from within as our first priority, so you’ll have a myriad of opportunities within our diverse, global organisation.

Our packages will include bonus, a strong pension contribute plan, private healthcare, development focused targets and relocation support can be provided if required along with a variety of learning, development and career enhancement opportunities.

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.

Join Thales in the UK – Innovate with us and shape the future!