Product Support Engineering Manager

Reporting into Engineering Services (UK) TSE is based primarily at Crawley and is a dedicated team of professional Engineers with many years of accumulated knowledge and experience. The various departments are responsible for designing, building, integrating, maintaining, repairing and spare provisioning for all BUs within Thales UK using a wide range of skills, approaches, techniques and technologies.

The different departments in Through-Life Support Engineering:

• Supportability (ILS) and Modeling


• Product Support Engineering


• Obsolescence and Component Engineering


• Technical Publications & Training


Through-Life Support Engineering (TSE) is a holistic life cycle process through which the combination of management and engineering actions necessary to assure effective and economical through-life support of a system or capability are accomplished as an integral part of the acquisition process.

TSE activities are aimed at ensuring that TSE requirements are managed as an integral part of the whole product life cycle, in order to optimise Life Cycle Cost.

Primary purpose of the role:

The Product Support Engineering Manager has responsibility for the people in their team for direct management including all annual reviews, 1-2-1's, people development and for responding to all people management requirements as they arise.

The Manager supports the Head of Product Support Engineering with resource management, process development and business improvement initiatives and takes responsibility for Product Support Engineering within Through-Life Support Engineering.

The role is dedicated to the strategy and operational delivery of an efficient and effective service provision within your Team. The structure of the team should be regularly reviewed to ensure it offers the most effective performance for Thales UK, including the assurance of a SOCL compliant organisation.

Principal Relationships:

The job holder has responsibility to the Projects for which they are working, though reports directly to the Head of Product Support Engineering.

Day-to-day interactions will occur with many people during the lifecycle of Engineering Equipment within Thales UK (from initial design through build, integration and legacy equipment support).

Primary relations include, but are not specifically limited to:

• Head of Product Support Engineering


• Heads of included departments (as above)


• Building an effective relationship with your selected Deputy


• Team Members


• Project Managers


• Engineering Managers (as appropriate)


• Aligned Heads of Engineering in CBU Businesses


• Head of Site Safety


• Head of Quality, Resource Management:


• To ensure the timely provision of expert resource to the businesses.


• To identify and develop the skills needed for future work highlighted through training needs analysis and resource planning to ensure on-the-job training.


• To pursue and secure additional sources of work (demand) when forward load indicates a future potential under-load.


• To establish and implement cross-Business (RCP, ISR, FLX and any UK) synergies resulting in demonstrable associated savings.


• To support other Heads of Function and the Head of Through-Life Support Engineering to ensure that demand is serviced and that all Thales Businesses with projects (our "customers") are fully satisfied with the service they receive.


People Management:

• To act as the Line Manager for the employees within your direct reporting line.


• To manage and undertake in a timely manner, high quality appraisal sessions (Check-ins) for the Team and Leads who report to you.


• To manage development of skills, competencies and career aspirations in line with business and team needs for yourself and your team-members.


• To support maintenance/update of skills/training matrix reflecting current and future needs.


• Continuously reinforcing and enhancing all team-member's behaviours in line with Thales' Company values.


• To be an exemplar of Thales Behaviours for your team and the Engineering Services (UK) as a whole. Behaviours are detailed in the Leadership Model available in Workday- you are expected to demonstrate the behaviours required by the Leadership Model for Thales.


• To build effective working relationships with a clear ability to address issues openly and constructively, having productive discussions with your team-members.


• To actively participate in Team Briefings and all Team Meetings as an important member of the TSE Team.


• To manage performance issues directly, with clarity, in line with policy and fairly.


• To up-skill your team and help them to deliver to their full potential - identifying and supporting those who are high potential and helping them to grow and deliver for Thales is a key element of the role.


Process, Tools and Technologies:

• To select suitable technologies that support the overall aims of the Through-Life Support Engineering to create modular, scalable and flexible solutions for your customers, building upon good practice allowing us to respond more effectively to emerging requirements.


• To manage carefully and closely, with defined plans and milestones, the replacement and maintenance of any existing equipment or contractual/customer agreements.


• To ensure effective technical development environments/tools for your Team(s).


• To ensure that processes and tools are fit for purpose and to propose justified alternatives where pertinent.


• To ensure adherence to relevant parts of Chorus 2.0 by all members of your team as detailed in any working plans. You may be audited on this and therefore you must adhere to plans and keep records where pertinent.


• To pro-actively support processes developed to support Safety- in-Design; Airworthiness; Environmental and all statutory, regulatory or Thales mandated compliance obligations.


• To always support the maintenance of a safe environment for all Team members, noting your Safety Leadership responsibilities as assigned by the Head of Through-Life Support Engineering.


• To put your great performers forward for reward and recognition.


Finance:

• To estimate carefully and to review estimates produced by your team before submission to Head of Product Support Engineering for review, ensuring that the outputs of your Team are credible when they estimate activities.


• To support the Head of Product Support Engineering and fellow team leaders to ensure the completion of the Cost Centre budget within the MYB timeframes and to ensure all budgetary goals are achieved.


• To carefully manage the Direct Labour Utilisation of your team to ensure that budgets are met, expressing clearly to the team that meeting our budgets ensures our competitiveness and that exceeding our budgets reduces our ability to compete.


Competencies required for this role:


• Estimating


• WP Management


• Team Building and Managing


• Leadership Expertise


• Relevant Technical/Engineering Experience


• PDM (e.g. Palma)


• Adherence. to Process (DDQS/SER)


• Support Solutions


• Peer Review


• Design Safety
  
  HND or equivalent in an electronics engineering subject (or equivalent, including relevant working experience)


• Membership and professional registration with IET (or equivalent)


• Min of 10 years industry experience in a relevant business/engineering role


Personality/Behaviours:


• Excellent communication skills (written and oral) and an ability to work co-operatively with others, creating and harnessing a team spirit within and across other company sites.


• Ability to work as a team player, able to listen and to discuss solutions with other members of the team


• Ability to work under pressure and meet tight deadlines with a high attention to detail


• Develop others in the team through mentoring & sharing knowledge


• Drives to achieve high standards, actively seeks improvement


• Flexible and adaptable to fast paced changing environments


• Attention to detail, a high level of accuracy, self-motivating and the ability to plan and organise own tasks


• Promotes company interests at all times helping to create a positive working environment


• Demonstrate behaviours appropriate to the LR grade and consistent with Thales Key values.
  
  In fast changing markets, customers worldwide rely on Thales. Thales is a business where brilliant people from all over the world come together to share ideas and inspire each other. In aerospace, transportation, defence, security and space, our architects design innovative solutions that make our tomorrow's possible.


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 five major industries; Aerospace, Defence, Ground Transportation, 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., 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.