Project Manager

Thales Group; Cheadle; Hybrid; GBP 65,000 - 90,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Private medical insurance

Cycle to work

Stocks and shares

Annual bonus

Job summary

Thales Group in the UK is seeking a Project Manager to lead the CUES development for the Astute class submarines, based in Cheadle with a hybrid on-site work arrangement. You will steer delivery across the full lifecycle and lead cross-functional teams including engineering, procurement, and industry partners.

This high-profile role requires strong leadership, proactive risk management, and governance participation.

Qualifications

• Proven track record delivering complex projects.
• Experience in large, multi-site organisations.
• Experience managing customer and supplier relationships.

Responsibilities

• Lead the work-package team and individuals within the Project Team.
• Model the Thales Leadership Model behaviours and drive delivery accountability.
• Manage stakeholders with open dialogue and leverage engineering, industry, and procurement.
• Define execution strategies and create baselines and structures for work packages.
• Maintain robust baselines through the lifecycle and forecast against baselines.
• Establish KPIs and apply project controls to ensure on-time delivery.
• Represent the project at governance reviews and drive quality, cost & delivery.
• Manage scope change with bid governance and cross-disciplinary collaboration.
• Capture and apply lessons learned to benefit the business.
• Ensure compliance with Thales Chorus 2 process.

Skills

Leadership

Stakeholder Mgmt

Project controls

Risk management

Cross-functional

Job description

Location: Cheadle, 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.

Project Manager – CUES

Based Cheadle(preferred location) or Templecombe - Hybrid working arrangement: 3 days per week on site (based on full time hours )

What the role has to offer:

• Great opportunity for career development
• Great opportunity to join a growing business where you can really add value to business growth

Our Opportunity

We are looking for a Project Manager to join Thales Underwater Systems (UWS) supporting CUES which is a Critical Project to develop and manufacture a new sonar type for the Astute class submarines.

You will be responsible for the successful project and work-package delivery across the full development project lifecycle and will be accountable for the delivery of a large element of the project scope and will be a central part of the core leadership team influencing all aspects of the project governance and implementation. The role will be attractive to strong leaders that seek to demonstrate and develop their skills and capability within a high-profile challenging project environment.

The role requires strong leadership, enthusiasm, professional project management expertise, excellent stakeholder management, team building skills, and a proactive approach to identifying and managing risks and opportunities.

Some the Key Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Leadership and management – motivating and supporting the work-package team and individuals within the Project Team
• Role modelling the Thales Leadership Model behaviours, embedding a strong sense of delivery accountability and a proactive risk and opportunity management culture at all levels of the team
• Managing stakeholders – building trust and confidence through open dialogue and leveraging adjacent functions as appropriate e.g. engineering, industry, procurement.
• Defining execution strategies and leading the creation of schedule baselines and structures for various work packages
• Ensuring that each work-package maintains a robust baseline at all times through the execution phase of the lifecycle and that forecasts against the baseline are accurate
• Ensuring that appropriate KPIs are established and controlled for planned outcomes E.g. On Time Delivery and to support confidence in forecasts/Ensuring robust project controls are deployed and effective
• Representing the project at governance reviews/Liaison with contributing functions to drive quality, cost & delivery performance
• Management of change to baselined scope including the application of associated bid governance, leading and coordinating multi-disciplinary teams and the supply chain to develop proposals and ensuring that integrity of the project baseline is maintained at all times
• Ensuring lessons from previous work are learned and incorporated; contributing lessons for the wider benefit of the business
• Ensuring that all activities comply with the relevant Thales Chorus 2 process

Experience & Skills:

You will have a proven track record of delivering successful projects in a context relevant to Thales and experience working in a complex, multi-site organisation, together with the following:-

• Managing customer and supplier relationships
• Leading the process of structuring and planning projects and the tailored deployment of best practice project controls
• Directing project activities with reference to the baseline and critical path, with a focus on proactive risk and opportunity management and controlling variance to time/cost/quality
• Project financial and contractual management
• Demand/business planning principles in a project context with a focus on the reliable forecasting of resource requirements (including critical skills) and working with adjacent functions to schedule those appropriately
• Representing projects through established governance, giving an evidence-based account of progress and distilling key risks/opportunities/support needed for Senior Management

Under Water Systems (UWS)

Our purpose is to be the leading provider of underwater sensors and decision superiority, helping navies across the world keep our friends, families and all of us safe. We cover four sectors: Mine Counter Measures, Anti-Submarine warfare, Services and Future Capabilities.

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

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.