Head of Quality

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.

Location: Cheadle or Templecombe
Hybrid working: 3 days per week on site (based on full-time hours) regular travel to UK Thales Sites

We are seeking a Head of Quality to lead Quality Assurance across our Underwater Systems (UWS) business.

This senior leadership role is responsible for driving quality excellence across all programmes within the business including the bid, project, design, qualification and manufacturing lifecycles, ensuring governance is upheld and we are in compliance with customer and quality requirements. They will lead quality teams across multiple sites, and delivering continuous improvement initiatives. The successful candidate will also hold accountability for the quality function budget and the ongoing effectiveness of the Quality Management System (QMS).

This is an excellent opportunity to influence business performance, shape quality strategy, and work in a dynamic and innovative environment.

What the role offers

• A key leadership position within a fast-paced, technology-driven business
• The opportunity to shape quality strategy and drive continuous improvement across a complex portfolio

We are looking for someone with the following competencies & attributes:

• Strategic Leadership - Able to strategically lead a large organisation to determine and deliver the quality assurance needs of the domain.
• Team Leadership - Able to engage and empower large diverse teams and create a positive, inclusive, and psychologically safe working environment.
• Building Relationships - The ability to influence key stakeholders and gain commitment to the quality vision.
• Decision Making - Able to make judgement calls and discern when to firmly uphold core quality assurance principles and when and how to adapt flexibly to evolving circumstances.
• Appreciation for Operational Process - Able to understand wider business needs and consider appropriate strategies to collaboratively drive business goals.
• Integrity - Demonstrates integrity by upholding organisational values in line with the Thales Ethics Policy.

Key Responsibilities:

• Lead the functional team across three key sites to deliver all aspects of Quality Assurance within bids, projects, design and development lifecycles, system validation, supply chain, manufacturing, and customer acceptance across all domain programmes.
• Lead the team to ensure consistent application of governance that upholds quality standards across all process gates, milestones, and lifecycle events, including those attended by customers on-site and off-site.
• Implement and ensure the application of the Quality Policy and adherence to, and governance of, the organisation's QMS, championing its benefits.
• Represent Quality Assurance within senior leadership reviews, presenting material as appropriate to meet the needs of the business and functional strategy.
• Ensure functional attendance at formal project reviews and the provision of independent Quality reporting to senior programme stakeholders.
• Ensure customer requirements are understood, embedded, and delivered, with customer needs and perspectives considered throughout delivery.
• Ensure effective escalation of quality issues and use of alerting and veto processes for major quality system breakdowns, ensuring actions are taken at the appropriate leadership levels.
• Drive Quality Assurance forward within the domain by delivering a strategy and roadmap to achieve continuous improvement. Support UK Quality Performance Plans through robust implementation of initiatives.
• Optimise competitiveness in programmes through risk-based Quality Assurance.
• Manage accreditations and certifications as appropriate to the needs of the domain.
• Ensure the domain quality team can deliver its objectives by maintaining the appropriate skills, capabilities, and resources across the team. Support the development and growth of all team members.
• Measure customer satisfaction and capture and address customer complaints, compliments, and issues, including leadership of the domain elements of the UK Customer Satisfaction Network, as well as measurement and reporting of associated KPIs

Experience & Skills

• Proven experience in a senior Quality Management leadership role.
• Experience leading, developing, and coaching professional teams and people leaders.
• Background in a fast-paced engineering, design, development, or manufacturing environment.
• Experience managing budgets, forecasting, and reporting.
• Strong leadership, communication, stakeholder management, and problem-solving skills.
• Demonstrated ability to drive quality improvement and embed a culture of continuous improvement.

Why Join Us?

You'll play a pivotal role in ensuring the delivery of high-quality products and services to our customers while helping shape the future of our Underwater Systems business. This is an opportunity to make a significant impact within a collaborative and innovative organisation.

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 you to be a UK National and achieve Security Clearance (SC) without any caveats. 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. If approved by the MOD, a dual national from a non-ITAR country may be considered.

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.

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At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. 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. Read more about our benefits here.

We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring. Discover more about our programmes, employee networks, wellbeing policies, and inclusive features here.

If this role isn’t quite right for you, we encourage you to join our talent community where your details will be shared with our recruitment teams for other potential opportunities. Join the Talent Community here.

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