Solution Architect

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.

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.

Primary Purpose of the Role

• Perform the development and implementation of solution architectures supporting the Project Design Authority (PDA).
• To design systems to meet the project needs, optimising the design through trade-offs to maximise customer and Thales’ value. Work closely with Hardware and Software teams to align the solution and detailed Architecture.

Principal Relationships

As part of the Thales Systems Engineering team, you will interact with the following key roles:

• Bid team members
• Project team members
• Testing team members
• Installation team members
• Project Planners
• Sales and Marketing
• Supply Chain
• Commercial
• Major Stakeholders / Clients

Key Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Creating, managing, promoting and delivering Architectures for MCM projects.

• Analyse Customer needs/requirements and assesses Solution architecture and technical choices. Understanding and embracing customer needs and advising customers.
• The development and management of Requirements Specifications for the System and Subsystems level.
• Good understanding of the development lifecycle and lifecycle products and the ability to support gated reviews.
• Interfacing with the client, to define standards and architectural frameworks.
• Impact Analysis / Variation
• Compliance / Customer requirement resolution
• Ensures Solution compliance with Customer needs, Product Policy, MTB Strategy & applicable legislation, rules & regulations.
• The defining and authorising of Design Descriptions and Verification objectives.
• Interaction with key stakeholders.
• Provide technical specifications and Interface Control Documentation
• Support acceptance and certification
• Maintain baselines 
• Keep abreast of technical development both within and outside of the company.
• Reviews the technical risks and opportunities and the related mitigation plans throughout the bid or project.
• Responsible for ensuring, with the support of Specialty Engineering experts & Safety/HSE stakeholders, that the Solution design considers contract requirements and applicable legislation, rules & regulations, including product safety & security and Environmental/HSE requirements & standards, and that related certification activities are performed adequately and correctly.

Key performance Indicators against Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Quality of work produced against agreed standards
• Delivery to timescales
• Delivery to budget
• Performance against Thales key values

Skills:

• Leadership skills – with natural ability to build and sustain good working relationships at all levels.
• Has a sound ability to define the use of System Engineering tools, in particular modelling and requirements management.
• Able to use a range of IT tools.
• Has knowledge of configuration control processes.
• Can manage a complex project through a defined design process and is able to tailor CHORUS2 to project needs.
• Can define and use metrics as part of Quality assurance & control to change and re-model a System Engineering process.
• Working knowledge of project plans.
• Has knowledge of Engineering Safety Management in the context of architectural design
• Good technical writing skills and good interpersonal communication skills.
• First class presentation skills.
• Provide value to the customer
• Effective personal organisation and an ability to remain composed and focused under pressure.
• Experience of defining solutions to address obsolescence whilst minimising impact
• Understanding and application of UK MOD standards and equivalence
• Experience in driving hardware teams to provide suitable electrical and mechanical solutions within given systems constraints
• Ability to work between HW and SW teams to define processing and deployment solutions
• Understanding of environmental standards and requirements and application to deliverable solutions

Experience:

• The Solution Architect is the technical focal point for the solution design and framework, and must be able to resolve all issues, problems, questions and conflicts in the entire system. This requires frequent handling of new and unusual issues therefore a proven record of working in combat systems is required.
• Experience of collaborative working with cross-industry/customer teams, desirable for this to be multi-national.
• Sound knowledge of MCM solutions.
• The post holder should have strong interpersonal skills and the ability to communicate at all levels in the spoken and written word. A good outward appearance, self-motivation and the ability to work under pressure are vital.
• The success of the Systems Engineering job family relies on the interaction of its engineers at all levels; therefore, evidence of team working is required.
• Experience in the developmental lifecycle disciplines, e.g. Requirements Capture, Modelling & Analysis, System Design, Product Development, and IV&V.
• Experienced and knowledgeable of whole systems engineering lifecycles for complex systems.
• The success of the Systems Engineering job family relies on the interaction of its engineers at all levels; therefore, evidence of team working is required.
• Knowledge of requirements toolsets (e.g., IBM DOORS)

Values & Behaviours:

• Innovate – Be motivated to search for novel and unique design solutions.
• Team working – Maximise the use of the wider Thales community to produce winning solutions.
• Develop people – Be prepared to share your ideas and experience with the wider Thales engineering community.
• Focus on customers – Be driven to deliver quality solutions to clients.
• Safety – Totally embrace the Thales safety culture to provide a safe and healthy working environment for all.
• Ethics - Thales employees must be exemplary in their ethical conduct and social responsibility.
• Job holders will be expected to perform in line with the Thales Code of Practice, Policies and Procedures.

Desirable Qualifications and Certification:

• Engineering Degree or equivalent

Essential:

• Have attained, or working towards an appropriate professional status (CEng) or equivalent

Financial / Budgetary Responsibility:

• The post holder will be expected to deliver designs/projects to an agreed budget.

UK Eyes Only:

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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