Quality Assurance Manager — Hybrid (Aerospace/Defense)

Thales Group; Paço de Arcos; Hybrid; EUR 60,000 - 90,000; Full time

Job summary

Thales Group in Paço de Arcos, Portugal, is seeking a Quality Assurance Manager to lead quality management across bids, projects and products within defence and aerospace domains.

The role emphasizes driving process maturity, governance, and continuous improvement while coaching multidisciplinary teams and reporting to senior management. Fluency in English and strong collaboration across functions are essential.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, Business Management or 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 defense 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; SAFe is a plus.
• Strong analytical, problem-solving and stakeholder management skills.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English.

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

ISO 9001

SAFe

Agile

Stakeholder management

Analytical thinking

English communication

Team collaboration

Quality reviews

Defense standards

Education

Engineering/CS/Business degree

Tools

Quality Management Systems

Auditing tools

Job description

Thales Group in Paço de Arcos, Portugal, is seeking a Quality Assurance Manager to lead quality management across bids, projects and products within defence and aerospace domains.

The role emphasizes driving process maturity, governance, and continuous improvement while coaching multidisciplinary teams and reporting to senior management. Fluency in English and strong collaboration across functions are essential.