Project Manager

Portal Londrinatur; City Of London; On-site; GBP 50,000 - 70,000; Full time

Job summary

A global aerospace manufacturer in the UK is seeking an experienced project manager to lead satellite propulsion projects. The ideal candidate will have a track record of delivering complex projects and managing relationships with stakeholders, ensuring quality and financial performance. The role offers an inclusive culture and flexibility to support work-life balance in a dynamic environment.

Benefits

Flexible working hours

Career development opportunities

Support for diverse applicants

Qualifications

• Extensive experience in managing complex projects.
• Ability to coach and develop junior project managers.
• Comprehensive understanding of generic project management processes.

Responsibilities

• Lead projects for satellites propulsion systems.
• Deliver project results including sales and margins.
• Ensure compliance with project governance and quality standards.

Skills

Project management

Negotiation

Stakeholder management

Analytical skills

Interpersonal communication

Job description

A Joint Venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), Thales Alenia Space is a global space manufacturer delivering, for more than 40 years, high‑tech solutions for telecommunications, navigation, Earth Observation, environmental management, exploration, science and orbital infrastructures. Thanks to our diversity of skills, talents and cultures, our customers (governments, institutions, space agencies, telecommunications operators), therefore have Space to Connect, Secure & Defend, Observe & Protect, Explore, Travel & Navigate. Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across the major industries of Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space. Your health and well‑being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you; whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.

Working closely with the Engineering and Industrial teams in Harwell and Belfast, the successful candidate will be leading projects for satellites propulsion systems within Thales Alenia Space, and drive positive change in the organisation.

The role will include delivering projects and bids, and supporting sales in capturing future business opportunities.

This role is based primarily in Harwell, Oxfordshire; and will require visits to our Propulsion manufacturing centre in Belfast.

What The Role Has To Offer

• An influential position; leading a team to deliver on our project commitments to time, quality and budget.
• Challenging and diverse work.
• Your work and that of your team will ensure we deliver on our financial results.
• Designing and executing your strategy for two key Propulsion Product Lines.

Primary Purpose Of The Role

The purpose of this job is to ensure the successful development and delivery of one or more space propulsion projects. It requires the excellent management of the relationships with internal and external customers, and the use of highly developed networking and influencing skills to ensure that TAS UK delivers the right project outcomes at the right time and to the right cost and quality. The role also requires the identification and management of project management capabilities, and the application of best practices. This will involve providing coaching and direct support to less experienced project team members. It also requires professional project management capabilities (that are founded on significant experience of managing complex projects) to be applied – giving rigour to change control, commercial awareness and stakeholder management.

Principal Relationships

• Senior members of the Project Management community (e.g. other Portfolio / Programme / Project Managers)
• Senior members of the Engineering team;
• Finance;
• Bid Managers
• Capture Lead/Sales
• Product Line Manager
• PCC Director and Industrial Manager
• Programme Management Office
• External stakeholders (e.g. customers, suppliers)
• Liaison with other business functions, including Quality, Finance, Commercial, Legal, HR, IS/IT Quality, Health & Safety

Key Responsibilities And Tasks

Undertake the activities that will ensure the successful delivery of the projects. This will typically include (but is not limited to) the following:

• Deliver the key results and performance metrics for the projects, including order intake, sales, gross margin and cash
• Lead the project team, including the provision of tools, direct coaching and your personal support to ensure they are motivated and equipped to be effective in their roles.
• Creation of the initial Project Plan during the bid or Demand phase of the lifecycle through requirement capture, work definition, estimating and scheduling that will include all Milestones, activities, resources and any other feature that will require to be delivered.
• Project Governance (the Gate and Stage Processes) over the bid and project delivery activities to ensure project, technical, procurement and support processes are applied and are effective in controlling risks.
• Ensure all business planning and reporting is published in accordance with Business directives e.g. Monthly Project Reviews (MPR), Operational Management Meetings / Performance Reviews, and On Time Delivery (OTD)
• Drive Quality, Cost & Delivery performance through close working with other functions
• Balance competing priorities and manage all project stakeholders to make a real impact on delivery performance, ensuring strong communications are established and maintained
• Ensure that members of the project team are actively managing Risk and Opportunities, and have a robust Project Management Plan
• Ensure data integrity of all project information including financials and schedule. Use the Oracle and Primavera toolset to hold all financial, schedule and resource information.
• Ensure all Project activities undertaken comply with the relevant Thales Chorus processes
• Ensure Lessons Learned Management is applied to all projects, entailing application of lessons from other projects, and capturing lessons learned on specific projects under your control.
• Creating and fostering a continuous improvement culture encouraging innovation, promoting best practice, and ensuring lessons are learned and changes are implemented where required.
• Travel to TAS/Thales sites, and customers/suppliers offices in the UK and overseas, are part of the role

Key Performance Indicators

Achievement of Business Performance objectives, in particular OTD, EBIT, Cash and Sales.

Skills

• Excellent, professional project management skills.
• The ability to directly successfully manage project teams (including the coaching of project managers)
• Excellent negotiation skills with the ability to deal with customers, partners, suppliers and other parts of the business (stakeholder management skills).
• Strong interpersonal and verbal communication skills with written presentation and report writing skills.
• Strong, organisational, managerial and team working skills
• Analytical skills aligned with the need to carry out detailed investigation of cost variance(s) and publishing of financial information directly into Company financial reports
• Commercial, financial and business acumen.

Experience

Essential

• An extensive track record of delivering successful complex projects in contexts relevant to Thales.
• Working in a complex, multidisciplinary, multi‑site organisation.
• Full business lifecycle management, including capture, qualification and developing capture plans and winning strategies
• Evidence of the ability to provide coaching and development for less‑experienced project managers.
• Extensive client and stakeholder management
• Comprehensive understanding of generic processes and techniques used to schedule project activities (for example; WBS, OBS, milestones, dependencies , EVM)
• Comprehensive experience and understanding of the Project Management process (including Change Control, Risk Management and Information Management).
• Comprehensive experience and knowledge of the project life cycle for complex projects through delivery of Development, Implementation, Closure and Support activity.
• Experience of working across boundaries, including knowledge of commercial management, best practice supply chain and finance functions.

In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier‑free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro‑diverse applicants or those with a disability or long‑term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment, if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.

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