Support Delivery Manager

Location: Templecombe, United KingdomThales people provide armed forces customers with operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defence mission systems solutions at land, sea, and air. Our platforms extend across the battlespace including Above and Sonar, Electronic Combat, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems.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 five major industries; Aerospace, Defence, Ground Transportation, 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 Role Maritime Mission Systems (MMS) Service Delivery Managers (SDM) are service professionals responsible for co-coordinating the delivery of Services, Capabilities and Programmes into key customers. The SDM plays a vital role in creating long-term healthy service provision - customer relationships, acting as the bridge between the client and our operational delivery teams. The key responsibility of the SDM is governance across all areas of their services including service management, incident and change management, continual service improvement and customer satisfaction as well as playing a key role in ensuring the highest level of operational service delivery. The Service Delivery Manager needs a high level of; commercial awareness, change control, stakeholder relationship management, strong business acumen and process governance to be successful. Key Responsibilities and Tasks Support testing and evaluation, prediction and design Support the delivery of test documentation, data analysis, anomaly resolution, results documentation, and presentation of results Establish and maintain required processes and procedures Direct Test & Evaluation activities (Test Plan generation, customer interface, team leadership, execution; overall technical responsibility for test success) Manage the Risks and Opportunities associated with delivering the service; Responsible for the overall quality of the service provided; Identify the key resources required to deliver the service and ensuring that the forward load reflects this; Manage Knowledge dissemination to mitigate Single Points of Failure Generation and dissemination of Service Delivery reports; Ensuring that Service Delivery Elements are achieved on time, against budget and to the required quality; Responsible for the creation and maintenance of service organisation and work package structures; Manage the offsite test facility - coordinating through Thales facilities, Mitie and other providers Experience and Skills In order to be successful, this role requires commercial awareness, change control, stakeholder relationship management, business acumen and process governance. Client account management is also key to ensure that customer issues are pre-empted and solutions are offered that add value. Excellent planning and communication skills are essential, coupled with a strong understanding of the Supply Chain Process. Able to provide constructive challenge to senior management on change proposals which will affect own business area Spot warning signs of things going wrong and provide a decisive response to significant delivery challenges Make clear, pragmatic and manageable plans for service / programme delivery using programme and project management disciplines Establish how the business area compares to customer service expectations and industry best practice and identify necessary improvements in plans Review, challenge and adjust performance levels to ensure quality outcomes are delivered on time Maintain effective performance in difficult and challenging circumstances, encouraging others to do the same Be visible to staff and stakeholders and regularly undertake activities to engage and build trust with people involved in area of work Confidently engage with stakeholders and colleagues at all levels to generate commitment to goals Clarify strategies and plans, giving clear sense of direction and purpose for self and team Actively build and maintain a network of colleagues and contacts to achieve progress on objectives and shared interests Experience of working in a Support and/or service environment is essential Experience of working with defence organisations or military customers would be advantageous Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with the ability to work with people at all levels Ability to work well within a team environment Experience in delivering competitive bids in short timescales Broad commercial and financial awareness Able to operate effectively under project constraints and pressure and able to display sound judgement at all times Strong customer focus with the ability to build relationships Able to use initiative to solve problems as they arise and make difficult decisions when necessary Education and Qualifications Degree level or equivalent qualified would be advantageous Project Management professional, APMP or equivalent qualification Conversant in Information System/Thales tools (i.e. Excel/Word, DCC, Primavera, Oracle, Tasks, build aims, drawing structures) 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. Great journeys start here, apply now This job was originally posted as www.totaljobs.com/job/89809508