Solution Engineering Manager

Location: Paço de Arcos, Portugal

Thales people architect solutions that support 85 million mainline and suburban passenger journeys, worldwide, every day. Our Rail Signalling and Communication systems are used on metro lines across major cities, and 72,000 kms of route, 52,000 trains per day in 16 countries are controlled by our Traffic Management Systems. Together We deployed the first-ever nationwide ticketing system which processes over 50 million ticketing transactions in 100 cities daily.

Thales Portugal is a Competence Centre of the Thales Group, whose mission is to integrate and develop solutions and products for Thales projects worldwide. Having around 220 specialized human resources Thales Portugal has a strong capability to design, develop, and deploy systems and services efficiently in the Defence, Security (Critical Information Systems, Critical Infrastructure and Banking) and Transportation markets.

The SEM reports directly the ICS Head of Delivery Leads - B&P and functionally to each Project Manager regarding coordination of engineering related activities, acting as the primary point of contact.

Main Responsabilities
- Project-wide interface for Engineering matters in his/her domain
- Manages the solution engineering activities for the related level (solution or solution element), in order to estimate costs, deadlines and risks & opportunities for projects
- Ensure all subsystem interfaces are defined, consistent, and complete
- Ensures the Engineering Performance initiatives of its Domain are properly deployed in his Project
- Defines the system development cycle and defines the process, practices and tools applicable to the project based on the BL / Domain PP&T reference system and tailored based on project specific constraints (eg tools imposed by the Customer).
- Ensures global consistency of the engineering process, practices and tools, organises the co-engineering then approves lower level solution elements’ or components’ engineering plans including those flown down to subcontractors and partners.
- Identifies the engineering skills needed to ensure Project delivery.
- Ensures the key people appointed on the Project are properly skilled, allocates responsibilities to the various individual contributors and leads these contributors as a team.
- Encourage good working relationships and team building for technical teams participating in the contract at unit level
- Guarantees commitments to the project including satisfaction of stakeholders requirements within constraints provided by the Architect and the Project Design Authority
- Review Technical Documents
- Review and approve technical proposals for any changes to the requirements / specifications with the PDA
- Optimises technical work by organising Design Reviews with internal teams and with the Customer, and participating to those of lower level solution elements from design to validation and acceptance
- Optimizes technical work against costs, schedule and risks from design to validation and acceptance of the solution
- Tracks activity progress and actuals, thus updating the Engineering Dashboard
- Tracks competitiveness KPI, performs root cause analysis of problems and conduct associated corrective actions (Performance initiatives) at his/her level
- Contributes to the Quality Assurance activities by ensuring visibility on the engineering work packages for the Project QAM
- Provide technical expertise for adequate definition of the Operations and Maintenance activities
- Capitalize on Lessons Learned.

Profile

Technical Skills
- University Degree in Electrical Engineering or similar
- 5+ years of experience in a technical role.
- Previous experience as a Technical Project Manager or Solution Engineering Manager.
- Experience with project management tools.
- Proficient communication and writing skills in Portuguese and English.
- Experience in railway market is valued.

Personal Characteristics
- Strong logical and analytical reasoning abilities.
- Autonomy and proactivity.
- A strong sense of responsibility.
- Dedication and perseverance.
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills.
- Pragmatic and goal-oriented approach.
- Effective in both individual and team-based work.
- Flexible and versatile approach to problem-solving.
- Highly organized with a detailed working method.