VP, DoD Programs

Position Summary

The VP, Department of Defense (DoD) Programs is the Strategic Account Manager (SAM) for the Pentagon/DoD account, reporting directly to VP, Sales & Development, North America. This position leads the Thales USA outreach with the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition & Sustainment in the Department of Defense, including the Offices of the Assistant Secretary (Acquisition), the Assistant Secretary (Sustainment), the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Industrial Policy, the Executive Director, International Cooperation and other DoD offices as required. This role also includes outreach to the Secretaries of the Army, Navy and Air Force and Service Acquisition leadership as required. This position must also synthesize and incorporate solutions from Thales Business Lines to create synergistic value for the DoD and for Thales Group.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Accountable for the Pentagon/DoD strategic relationship management and broad engagement on program and policy decisions of importance to Thales.
• Drives engagement with other offices in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, including the Under Secretary for Policy, the Under Secretary for Intelligence & Security, and the Under Secretary for Research and Engineering.
• Leads the Thales USA outreach with external organizations on matters of defense program and policy issues, including the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Defense Industrial Association, the Air Force Association, the Association of the US Army, Navy League, think tanks and others as determined.
• Manages the coordination with Allied embassies (France, UK, Netherlands, Australia, etc.) on defense related issues.
• Supports targeted engagement with Thales business line capture team leads for specific national security program pursuits in the United States.
• Accountable for close coordination with Thales Defense & Security, Inc. for all engagement related to defense policies and programs to ensure awareness of all efforts and ensure deconfliction where necessary.
• Manages alignment with internal Thales stakeholders’ interests in support of policy messaging to DoD and in support of important program pursuits with the Army, Navy, Air Force and Joint forces.
• Attract, develop, and retain talent capable of meeting current and future needs of the function and the organization.

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree from an accredited university or college in Engineering/Economics/Business or related field.
• 15(+) years of experience working in and/or with the US Department of Defense (either as uniformed military or senior DOD civilian) with a corresponding robust network of contacts in these communities.
• 10 years of work experience in Government relations/Sales DoD interface role(s).
• 10(+) years Aerospace & Defense (A&D) industry experience in a matrixed organization.
• Minimum five years direct and demonstrated experience, performance in building and managing a team, both direct-report and cross-functional teams
• Cross-Functional Collaboration: Has worked across organizational boundaries to drive outcomes.
• Organizational Scale and Complexity: Experience in an organization with significant scale and complexity. Capable of working in a large, highly matrixed corporate environment without full guidance.
• Strong interpersonal skills and problem-solving ability
• Excellent communications skills both written and oral, including presentation skills.
• Strong demonstrable communication skills for conveying value proposition and use cases to customers and strategic partners.
• Detail-oriented and capable of analyzing complex financial/operational data.
• Able to appropriately manage confidential and sensitive information.
• Positive demeanor to interact at all levels of influence both internal and external to Thales.
• Ability to work through significant change management.
• Business writing skills and verbal fluency.
• Must be a U.S. Person as defined in applicable law

Special Position Requirements

• Ability to travel up to 50%