Location: Belfast, United Kingdom

Thales people architect solutions that are relied upon to deliver operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defensive systems for land, sea, and air. From early warning, to threat neutralisation, our platforms cover all levels from very short-range systems, to extended protection across the entire battle-space including Airspace Mobility Solutions, Vehicles and Tactical Systems and Missile Defence, Optronics, and Radar.

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.

Primary Purpose of the Role:

To represent Procurement as an integral part of a campaign, Bid or Product or Project team, leading the resources of the function in order to optimise it’s contribution to producing competitive campaigns, bids and products, and delivering profitable projects.

Work with internal stakeholders to ensure Acquisition or Sourcing strategies for a campaign, bid, or product or project are aligned to the needs of the business in the short, medium and long term durations.

Work with the bid and product development teams to ascertain the work package needs, competitiveness objectives and target costs. Develop a supply chain architecture; negotiate with the supply chain, under these mandates, to obtain a complete and competitive supply chain architecture which delivers the full requirement of the bid/product.

Deliver a risk managed set of Terms and Conditions of contract for all elements of the supply chain.

In project phase, work closely with key stakeholders and functions as necessary, to manage all Procurement aspects ensuring work packages are executed in accordance with technical, program, cost and performance (quality and delivery) requirements.

Although the role maybe assigned to a particular business or location, the job holder may be requested to support the function’s activities in other businesses or locations across the UK.

Key Responsibilities and Tasks:

In the Bid Phase or for New Products

• Be seen as the lead Supply Chain architect for the assigned campaign, bid or project
• As a result, create, agree, maintain all governance requirements and Acquisition Strategy and Plan with the bid/project team
• Produce and agree the Purchasing Executive Summary
• Work with multiple stakeholders to design the supply chain architecture to meet needs of the bid or product
• Play a key role in defining and implementing strategies to meet the offset/industrial participation needs of the business where appropriate
• Generate/ review RFQs, ensuring bid and program requirements are accurately captured
• Ensure that the RFQ and contract packs are complete and agreed with stakeholders
• Establish and maintain the Purchasing Summary Sheet (PSS) and other Thales governance requirements
• Allocate Work Packages accurately and on time to the relevant functional resources whether in UK Procurement Competency Centres or in the CBU.
• Confirm tailoring and Purchase vet planning.
• Facilitate both strategic and tactical the Make, Team, Buy process in line with medium term industrial plan for the business line
• Lead the activities of the Procurement function to identify supply market innovation opportunities, involving suppliers in design upstream and optimizing risk-sharing
• Identify and mitigate risks and maximize opportunities in the role of Procurement Risk Manager for the bid.
• Undertake commercial and contractual tasks at all times, including engaging with commercial teams to define suitable terms and conditions.
• Ensure effectiveness by employing suitable reporting, tracking and performance management tools and techniques and represent Procurement at Bid reviews.
• Co-ordinate the activity of all Procurement resources in support of the bid ensuring timely responses.
• Record and report Upstream Price Decrease UPD Savings
• Commit to Procurement performance in the bid including bought in costs, delivery/leadtimes, quality, resource management, cash-flow, risks and opportunities.
• Create and provide accurate Procurement estimates, covering resource labour, material and Total Cost of Ownership to the bid team
• Recognise export controls associated with supply chain architecture and program requirements including: ITAR(TAAs(& TCPs)/MLAs) EAR ECCN,UK & foreign Military and Dual-Use Controls
• At all times understand and maximise Thales commercial position with the supply chain

Stakeholder Management

To proactively engage and manage the principle relationships identified above, representing the interests of the UK Procurement function

In the Project Phase

• Play a key role in the Forward Looking Commitment Review process to identify and execute opportunities.
• Engage with Engineering, Planning, Manufacturing and Quality to ensure the release of procurement specifications, statements of work and requisitions to support project delivery.
• Validate target costs and Purchase Price Variance (PPV) savings per work package.
• Identify and mitigate risks and maximize opportunities in the role of Procurement Risk Manager for the project.
• Co-ordinate the activity of all Procurement resources in support of the bid to ensure work packages are executed achieving favourable conditions and consistency with technical, program, cost and performance (quality and delivery) requirements.
• Engage and communicate efficiently with internal customers and stakeholder as necessary in executing work packages.
• Represent the function in Program Reviews, ensuring all actions are allocated to the appropriate resource and executed in support of Program needs
• Liaise with the Program Manager to complete the relevant sections of the Program Report Pack
• Manage the Procurement Risk Register, ensuring appropriate mitigation actions are identified, undertaken and completed.
• Take full Procurement Work Package Management responsibility within an Integrated Project Team
• Manage the Procurement costs through the lifecycle of the project.
• Analyse costs of products and systems to identify focus areas or opportunities for reduction
• Contribute to inventory reduction initiatives through the application of effective planning and manage the stores ordering process to help support projects/complex schemes & installations

Compliance to Governance Rules

• Ensure relevant governance is complied with, including Delegation Of Authority, Acquisition Log process and Purchase Order approval
• Work in accordance with all Thales processes
• Comply with export control guidelines and policies
• All assigned CAPAs (Corrective Action Preventative Action) and the respective stages for all Internal, External and Supplier Audits will be completed in the prescribed timeframe in the CAPA, to achieve zero overdue date performance
• All assigned QUESTs will be completed in the prescribed timeframe to achieve zero overdue date performance”
• Maintain an ethical approach to tasks and relationships in accordance with relevant Thales policies
• To drive sustainability in our projects to optimise cost benefits and innovation from within our supply chain, and pro-actively reduce risk and non-compliance to legislation (e.g. Bribery and Modern Slavery). To incorporate sustainable requirements: energy, climate change and material security & criticality (e.g. REACH, Conflict Minerals etc) into the product and services we procure

Skills

Essential

• Commercially astute with advanced negotiation skills and experience including differing contracting models
• Broad range of Procurement skills focused on: Needs Analysis, Design to Cost, Make-Team-Buy, Technical Interface Management, Acquisition Strategy definition, International Sourcing, Supplier Management, Risk and Opportunity Management, Subcontract Management.
• Leadership, presentation and communication skills

• Exceptional Interpersonal skills to optimise cross-functional & cross-organisational working, engage key stakeholders and to work effectively with suppliers.
• Negotiation skills in a complex systems’ environment
• Analytical skills
• Commercially astute with advanced negotiation skills and experience including differing contracting models
• Well-developed organisational skills

Desirable

• Team management, leadership and team development
• Major development/manufacture sub-contract program/project management experience

• Broad technical and commercial understanding of the Thales product and associated bought in supplied parts and services
• Ability to lead Make, Team, Buy decisions
• Upstream purchasing techniques deployment, especially Co-Development, Co-Engineering, Value Engineering, Value Analysis, Functional Analysis, Cost Analysis.

Experience:

Essential

• Supply chain architecture development and implementation
• 10 years plus relevant experience in mid to senior level procurement or commercial roles
• Track record of success in a similar role in relevant businesses or markets
• Supplier Relationship and Performance Management, negotiation techniques and measurement

Desirable

• Experience of procurement tools such as E-ACQ,
• Proven track record of working cooperatively with Engineering and R&T teams
• Experience in using ERP systems including Oracle (B1) and / or SAP
• Experience of presenting to end customers during bid or project phases

Values & Behaviours:

Behaviours

Displays the following:

• Able to analyse complex and sometimes incomplete information to create an easy to communicate short-medium and long term solution, addressing Thales requirements.
• Sets stretched goals for themselves and their suppliers, prepared to take risks in order to gain competitive advantage for Thales.
• Able to work effectively within and across transverse teams, actively seeks synergies and sharing of best practices.
• Uses appropriate techniques to understand then influence stakeholders both within Thales and outside.
• Contributes to improving the capability and competencies of the Procurement team in order to enable the function to deliver to business needs.
• Displays passion, energy, drive, agility and resilience in achieving ambitious targets under difficult circumstances, capitalises on lessons learned and responds positively to setbacks.
• Uses full understanding of internal and external customer needs to build a strong customer first culture within the solutions they define and the team in which they work.
• Understands the impact of their performance and that of their suppliers on Thales results.
• Creates a clear plan for change when required, communicates clearly on the plan and is prepared to stand by unpopular decisions in support of the needed change.
• Has a clear understanding of the global perspective relevant to their role working both within Thales and the supply market.
• Proactively seeks to develop relationships with key stakeholders (up to Bid Director/Project Director level) within the bid/project in order to further drive the procurement functions influence within the business.
• Understands the necessity to conduct themselves in accordance with the Thales Code of Ethics, Group Procurement Policy and in compliance to the legislative and regulatory environment in which we operate

Financial / Budgetary Responsibility to be adjusted according to level of responsibility

• Manages procurement activity on bids at typically B2 or Onerous level
• Manages procurement activity on typically A1 or A2 Programs with a Procurement Work Package content of >£10m

Qualifications:

Essential

• MCIPS, degree or equivalent qualifications in other commercial or project management disciplines

Desirable

• Already studying towards MCIPS or Business Degree/Qualification or equivalent or willingness to do so
• Business or Engineering degree, or equivalent
• Professional qualification in related disciplines eg Project Management, Engineering, Supply Chain

In line with Thales’ Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

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.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment, if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.

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