Quality Assurance Manager

Thales; Paço de Arcos; On-site; EUR 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Thales Portugal in Paço de Arcos is seeking a Quality Assurance Manager to lead quality assurance across complex defence and aerospace projects. You will drive process maturity, audits and continuous improvement with multidisciplinary teams and government QA representatives.

The role requires strong knowledge of ISO 9001:2015, QA standards used in defence (AQAPs/STANAGs), and experience with Agile/SAFe practices, stakeholder management and excellent English communication.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business Management or a related technical field.
• Experience in Quality Assurance within complex engineering, software or high-tech environments.
• Good knowledge of Quality Management Systems and ISO 9001:2015.
• Familiarity with defence quality standards such as AQAPs and STANAGs is an advantage.
• Understanding of project management, quality planning, reviews, risk management and continuous improvement methodologies.
• Experience with Agile software development practices; knowledge of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a plus.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.
• Proactive, adaptable and collaborative mindset, with the ability to work effectively in multicultural and multidisciplinary environments.

Responsibilities

• Support critical bids, projects and products by ensuring compliance with quality processes, governance and applicable standards;
• Coach and support multidisciplinary teams in applying quality management practices and improving process maturity throughout the project lifecycle;
• Provide independent quality assessments and report operational performance to project and senior management;
• Identify risks, opportunities and improvement actions to strengthen project execution and organisational maturity;
• Collaborate with engineering, project management, product teams, customers and Government Quality Assurance Representatives (GQAR);
• Perform quality reviews, audits and internal assessments, supporting root cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives;
• Promote quality awareness, operational excellence and best practices across the organisation;
• Contribute to the continuous improvement and deployment of the Quality Management System.

Skills

Quality Assurance

Stakeholder management

Agile

SAFe

Analytical thinking

Problem-solving

Written and verbal communication

Multicultural collaboration

Proactive

Education

Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering or related technical field

Tools

ISO 9001:2015

Job description

Location: Paço de Arcos - Q45, Portugal

For more than 35 years, Thales acts in Portugal for global Defence and Aerospace markets and promotes and delivers innovative solutions that enhance its customer’s critical systems' security, on land, sea, air, space and cyberspace, through a technical team of excellence.

Bring your Quality Assurance expertise to the forefront of mission-critical Defence and Aerospace solutions. Join Thales Portugal as a Quality Assurance Manager and help drive quality, operational excellence and continuous improvement across complex projects and products.

Responsibilities

• Support critical bids, projects and products by ensuring compliance with quality processes, governance and applicable standards;
• Coach and support multidisciplinary teams in applying quality management practices and improving process maturity throughout the project lifecycle;
• Provide independent quality assessments and report operational performance to project and senior management;
• Identify risks, opportunities and improvement actions to strengthen project execution and organisational maturity;
• Collaborate with engineering, project management, product teams, customers and Government Quality Assurance Representatives (GQAR);
• Perform quality reviews, audits and internal assessments, supporting root cause analysis and continuous improvement initiatives;
• Promote quality awareness, operational excellence and best practices across the organisation;
• Contribute to the continuous improvement and deployment of the Quality Management System.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business Management or a related technical field;
• Experience in Quality Assurance within complex engineering, software or high-tech environments;
• Good knowledge of Quality Management Systems and international standards, particularly ISO 9001:2015;
• Familiarity with defence quality standards such as AQAPs and STANAGs is an advantage;
• Understanding of project management, quality planning, reviews, risk management and continuous improvement methodologies;
• Experience with Agile software development practices; knowledge of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) is a plus;
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills;
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English;
• Proactive, adaptable and collaborative mindset, with the ability to work effectively in multicultural and multidisciplinary environments.

The Group invests more than €4 billion per year in Research & Development in key areas, particularly for critical environments, such as Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum and cloud technologies.

In 2024, the Group generated sales of €20.6 billion.

For our more than 83,000 employees in 68 countries we open up visionary perspectives, realise individual career paths and enable creative freedom. This is achieved with courage, versatility and the firm intention to make the demanding challenges of our time safer and more inclusive. With our sustainable value-focused management we support diversity actively.

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At times of change our international teams are ready to meet the complexity of today with the industry-leading technologies of tomorrow. Will you be part of it?