About the Company
Thales people provide armed forces customers with operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defence mission systems solutions at land, sea, and air. Our platforms extend across the battlespace including Above and Sonar, Electronic Combat, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems.
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.
About the Role
The Service Delivery Manager (SDM) will be responsible for the successful project management execution of a number of Services contracts within the UWS Services Portfolio. The SDM will play a critical role in the successful delivery performance of our services contracts through planning, executing, monitoring and controlling all aspects of the projects. The SDM is accountable for the entire project scope, the project team and resources, the project budget, and the success or failure of the project. To succeed in their role, project managers must be adept at coordinating resources, managing budgets, measuring and tracking project progress, and communicating with team members and stakeholders. They also assess risks and resolve any issues that arise throughout a project’s life cycle, often being called on to make difficult decisions regarding complex and competing priorities in an effort to achieve desired project outcomes. The successful candidate will have core experience in the execution of complex projects, ideally within military service contracts.
Key Responsibilities and Tasks
- Own all service aspects per the contracted scope.
- Ensure project delivery and performance accountability.
- Manage internal and external project reporting.
- Oversee project performance, timely delivery, quality, and financial controls.
- Control financial aspects related to resources and materials.
- Provide leadership and guidance to the project team.
- Manage the project delivery dashboard and associated metrics.
- Handle performance across multiple projects.
- Address project complexities with actionable plans.
- Ensure successful adherence to SLAs and KPIs.
- Maintain high customer satisfaction aligned with expectations.
- Identify, report, and manage project risks with mitigation plans.
- Optimize project delivery and performance through identified opportunities.
- Conduct lessons learned activities as necessary.
- Engage with multifunctional internal and external stakeholders.
- Manage resources for contract performance and escalate issues as needed.
- Navigate engineering-related tasks and resource complexities.
- Advise on commercial aspects and collaborate with procurement.
- Align with quality requirements from the quality team and customers.
- Address and escalate issues appropriately.
- Support bids, RFQs, and future prospects.
- Create and maintain project plans per customer and company standards.
- Assist with customer and internal audits.
- Execute project management and SDM tasks.
- Ensure compliance with H&S requirements.
- Monitor and achieve financial targets as outlined.
Important Working Relationships:
- Engage closely with the project delivery team and Project Management Office.
- Maintain regular communication with internal and external stakeholders.
- Manage customer relationships to ensure contract performance, addressing both successes and challenges.
- Escalate issues to the leadership team as needed.
- Present project performance to both internal and external audiences.
- Collaborate across multiple functions.
Supervision of People:
- No direct supervisory responsibilities.
- Direct and guide team members in daily activities.
- Lead and mentor the team to achieve project performance and uphold Thales standards.
Qualifications
- Degree level qualification or equivalent qualification/experience in a technical or business subject.
Required Skills
- In-depth knowledge of project management principles; ideally APMP qualified.
- Experience managing complex projects and finances, including detailed project finance reports.
- Strong understanding of risk and opportunity management.
- Proven track record of achieving customer performance and implementing feedback for improvements.
- Leadership skills to recover underperforming projects concerning quality, cost, and schedule.
- Familiarity with resource and schedule planning tools like Oracle and Primavera.
- Ability to lead teams, manage resources, and adapt to changes effectively.
- Strong multitasking skills under pressure.
- Experience with bids, RFQs, and SOWs.
- Capable of identifying issues early and responding decisively to delivery challenges.
- Develop clear, pragmatic plans for service and program delivery using project management disciplines.
- Promote positive customer service behaviors and a culture focused on meeting customer needs.
- Assess business performance against customer expectations and industry best practices; identify improvement areas.
- Review and adjust performance levels to ensure quality outcomes are delivered on time.
- Thrive in challenging situations and inspire others to maintain strong performance.
- Engage actively with staff and stakeholders to build trust and collaboration.
- Confidently communicate with stakeholders at all levels to secure commitment to objectives.
- Experience with defense organizations or military customers is advantageous.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills; ability to work well in teams across borders.
- Broad commercial and financial awareness.
- Effectively manage project constraints; demonstrate sound judgment.
- Strong customer focus with relationship-building skills.
- Proactive problem-solving and decision-making abilities.
- Degree or equivalent qualification/experience in a technical or business subject.
- Understand project complexity and manage multiple projects with diverse customers and requirements.
- Careful management of workload and team priorities to meet service requirements.
Security Clearance Statement
This role will require SC Clearance. It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant will undergo, achieve, and maintain SC Clearance. Please visit the UKSV website for further guidance.
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.
For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the National Security Vetting (NSV) Agency - United Kingdom Security Vetting - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)
