Head of Industrial Competitiveness and Processes Department - M/F

This role is for a Head of Industrial Competitiveness and Processes Department at Thales' La Ferté Saint Aubin site, specializing in terrestrial and airborne weapon systems. The position is crucial for industrial transformation, focusing on optimizing costs for series products and enhancing team efficiency. Key responsibilities include leading the "Competitiveness and Industrial Processes" pole, establishing attractive production quotes, identifying cost deviations, and documenting industrial processes. The successful candidate will contribute to the maturity of the Industrial Competence Center, ensuring competitiveness and client satisfaction through rigorous cost management and continuous improvement initiatives.

Must Have

• Engineering degree or equivalent
• First experience in the industrial field
• Ability to convince key stakeholders
• Mastery of production processes, industrialization, and methods
• Ability to read and understand a definition nomenclature and an industrial tree structure
• Rigorous, communicative, and proactive management skills
• Recognized for technical and relational versatility, reactivity, involvement, and insatiable curiosity

Good to Have

• Knowledge of Lean principles and Continuous Improvement tools

Perks & Benefits

• Success driven by technological excellence, experience, and shared ambition
• Attractive compensation package
• Continuous skills development: training courses, internal academies, and communities
• Inclusive, benevolent environment respecting employee balance
• Recognized societal and environmental commitment

Let's build a future of trust together

Thales is a global leader in high technologies specializing in three sectors: Defense & Security, Aeronautics & Space, and Cyber & Digital. It develops products and solutions that contribute to a safer, more environmentally friendly, and more inclusive world. The Group invests nearly 4 billion euros per year in Research & Development, particularly in key innovation areas such as AI, cybersecurity, quantum, cloud technologies, and 6G. Thales has nearly 81,000 employees in 68 countries.

Our commitments, your benefits

• Success driven by our technological excellence, your experience, and our shared ambition
• An attractive compensation package
• Continuous skills development: training courses, internal academies, and internal communities
• An inclusive, benevolent environment that respects employee balance
• Recognized societal and environmental commitment

Your daily life

Within the Vehicles and Tactical Systems activity, the La Ferté Saint Aubin site specializes in the production of terrestrial and airborne weapon systems (mortars, ammunition, rockets, etc.), force protection systems, and zone control. With its 450 employees, engineers, technicians, and specialized workers, the La Ferté Saint Aubin site ensures research and development, production, testing, as well as all the "support" functions necessary for the design of high-performance systems essential to the success of operational missions. Thales has formed, with the German defense group DIEHL, a Joint-Venture "JUNGHANS T2M" which has 165 employees, allowing the two companies to combine their expertise in electronics and precision mechanics and thus become one of the world leaders in the field of ammunition fuses. This Joint-Venture is also present on the La Ferté Saint Aubin site.

WHO ARE YOU ?

• With an engineering degree or equivalent, have you acquired a first experience in the industrial field (for which you obviously have a strong appetite!)?
• Do you know how to carry a vision and do you have the ability to convince key stakeholders?
• Production processes, industrialization, and methods trades hold no secrets for you?
• Do you know how to read and understand a definition nomenclature and an industrial tree structure?
• Do your previous teams recognize you as a rigorous, communicative, and proactive manager?
• Is your versatility, both technically and relationally, recognized, and are you appreciated for your reactivity, your involvement, and your insatiable curiosity?

If, in addition, you have knowledge of Lean and Continuous Improvement tools, no doubt: you are our ideal candidate!

WHAT WE CAN ACCOMPLISH TOGETHER:

Reporting to the Industrial Competence Center, you will be responsible for the Competitiveness and Industrial Processes Pole.

As part of the industrial transformation and given the strong business challenges oriented towards Competitiveness and Customer Satisfaction, you will be a key player in taking charge of the activity of creating or updating industrial quotes aimed at meeting customer needs with the objective of controlling and optimizing series costs.

But not only...

You contribute to the maturity of the Industrial Competence Center teams to gain efficiency and autonomy, notably by implementing work standards and good operational practices oriented towards the business.

On a daily basis, as the business referent for industrial costs, your missions will be:

• Following the Competitiveness axis, in the Bid / Industrial Quotes phase:

• Pilot, challenge, and establish attractive and optimized production quotes for "series" or development products, meeting the requested delivery times;
• Establish the production cost from standard cost data, historical manufacturing and actual purchase costs, as well as industrial assumptions;
• Establish Non-Recurring Costs (NRC) of production;
• Participate in GATEs to support and justify industrial quotes during offer validation reviews before Management.

• Following the Competitiveness axis in the Continuous Improvement phase:

• Prepare costing campaigns for series products;
• Establish the Cost of Goods Sold (CCR) for manufactured products;
• Identify discrepancies between actual manufacturing costs and annual CCRs filed to analyze overcosts and propose opportunities for reductions or return to target;
• Capitalize on costing data to build and maintain industrial cost construction forms;
• Specify and build tools for extracting costs from the ERP.

• Following the Industrial Processes axis, you will need to:

• Provide support to the Businesses in a context of transformation: organizational scope / new tools;
• Document and implement process / operational and management standards for the activities of the Industrial Competence Center by describing a process and its purpose, identifying the actors and services of the organization concerned, positioning the role of process pilot and the responsibilities of the actors to define the piloting and performance tools;
• Capture best practices from other entities to challenge existing practices and optimize them.

Thales, a Handi-Engaged company, recognizes all talents. Diversity is our best asset. Apply and join us!

The position may require access to information relating to national defense secrecy, the selected person will be subject to an authorization procedure, in accordance with the provisions of articles R.2311-1 et seq. of the Defense Code and IGI 1300 SGDSN/PSE of August 09, 2021.