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.
Crawley - Hybrid Working (3 days per week onsite)
We are looking for an Assistant Bid and Project Manager to join our A2IS business, supporting the Secure Communications & Information Systems (SIX) portfolio.
You will be responsible for supporting and providing bid and project management to the Naval (NIS) projects (from contract award to final delivery) as well as bid activities from supporting and shaping to award and handover to contract.
You will be responsible for liaisons across a range of activities to ensure that best practice is being applied and that project management capability strengths and weaknesses are identified and managed supporting an overall improvement of PM capability within the B&PM function in SIX, specifically this is through the implementation of “left-shifting”, the use of Baseline reviews and roll-out of new WPM tools and approach.
What the role has to offer:
- Working on a diverse and far ranging portfolio in an area Thales is a European industry leader – Naval secure communications
- Involvement at the forefront of the future direction of leading/cutting edge technology development for Thales
Key Responsibilities:
- Deliver key results and performance metrics within projects, including order intake, sales, gross margin and cash
- Creation & maintenance of the Project baseline during the bid or “Demand” phase of the lifecycle through requirement capture, work definition, estimating and scheduling that will include all Milestones, activities, resources and any other feature that will require to be delivered.
- Project Governance (the Gate and Stage Processes) over the bid and project delivery activities to ensure project, technical, procurement and support processes are applied and are effective in controlling risks.
- Ensure all business planning and reporting is published in accordance with Business directives e.g. Project Management reviews (PMR), Business Operations Report (BOR) and On Time Delivery (OTD)
- Ensure that members of the project team are actively managing Risk and Opportunities, and have a robust Project Management Plan
- Ensure data integrity of all project information including financials and schedule. Use the Oracle and Primavera toolset to hold all financial, schedule and resource information.
You will also receive excellent support and continuous development from an extensive team of specialists and experts in the Communication business, as well as the Bid & Project Management function.
Experience:
- Experience of successfully managing or being part of projects in a complex, multidisciplinary, multi-site organisation and ensuring rigour to change control, commercial awareness and stakeholder management
- Understanding of generic processes and techniques used to schedule project activities (for example; WBS, OBS, milestones, dependencies, EVM)
- Experience and understanding of the Project Management process (including Change Control, Risk Management and Information Management)
- Experience and knowledge of the project life cycle for projects through delivery of Development, Implementation, Closure and Support activity
- Negotiation skills with the ability to collaborate with customers, partners, suppliers and other parts of the business
- Analytical skills aligned with the need to carry out detailed investigation of cost variance(s) and publishing of financial information
- The ability to directly successfully support and manage activity for the project teams
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.
Join Thales in the UK – Innovate with us and shape the future!
Skills Required
- Experience managing or contributing to projects in a complex, multidisciplinary, multi-site organization
- Experience with change control, commercial awareness, and stakeholder management
- Understanding of project scheduling processes and techniques, including WBS, OBS, milestones, dependencies, and EVM
- Experience and understanding of project management processes, including change control, risk management, and information management
- Knowledge of project life cycles covering development, implementation, closure, and support activities
- Negotiation skills and ability to collaborate with customers, partners, suppliers, and internal business functions
- Analytical skills for investigating cost variances and publishing financial information
- Ability to successfully support and manage activities for project teams
Thales Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Thales and has not been reviewed or approved by Thales.
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Retirement Support — Retirement plans with employer contributions and matches, profit sharing, and share purchase opportunities are emphasized across multiple regions. These elements are positioned as competitive components of total rewards.
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Leave & Time Off Breadth — Generous PTO that increases with tenure, paid holidays, and paid military, maternity, and paternity leave are described. This breadth supports work–life balance across locations.
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Flexible Benefits — Hybrid work options, flexible schedules, and parental supports such as childcare benefits and leave for sick children are available in several markets. Flexibility is presented as a core part of the employee experience.
Thales Insights
What We Do
Thales is a global high technology leader investing in digital and “deep tech” innovations – connectivity, big data, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity and quantum technology – to build a future we can all trust, which is vital to the development of our societies. The company provides solutions, services and products that help its customers – businesses, organisations and states – in the defence, aeronautics, space, transportation and digital identity and security markets to fulfil their critical missions, by placing humans at the heart of the decision-making process.
