Project Design Authority

Job description

Wherever safety and Security are Critical, Thales delivers. Together, we innovate with our customers to build smarter solutions. Everywhere.

Established in 1972, Thales is a global technology leader for the Defence & Security, Aerospace and Transport markets. World-class technology, the combined expertise of 62,000 employees and operations in 56 countries have made Thales a key player in keeping the public safe and secure, guarding vital infrastructure and protecting the national security interests of countries around the globe.

Thales in Canada has 1,800 employees in Quebec City, Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver working in Defence, Avionics and Transportation markets. Thales in Canada is a 500 million (CAD) a year business, with a range of customers including Canadian and overseas urban rail operators, civil aviation, and defence and security agencies.

General Mission:

The Project Design Authority is responsible for Solution Compliance for a Bid or Project or for a Product Development phase (as a project). His primary objective is to define the Solution to achieve full compliance within the budget and schedule constraints of the project proposing the best trade-off to the product line policy

The PDA may be engaged in either or both Bidding and Delivery phases of the Project.

The PDA role can sometimes be endorsed simultaneously with the SEM (Solution Engineering Manager) role according to the size of the project

Key Accountabilities:

The primary activities of the PDA are:

· The primary technical leader of the bid or project team. Acts as lead technical interface with the Customer (or PLM for a Product) as regards Solution architecture, design and performance
· Anticipates and/or analyses the customer needs/requirements and defines the initial needs baseline
· Ensures the solution compliance with Product Policy, MTB/production/services strategies, contractual requirements (including offsets) and applicable legislation & regulations (ie export restrictions, Environmental/HSE, safety, security…).
· Define the best trade-off between the solution and customer requirements that may vary during the project execution, to stay consistent with budge, risk&opportunities, schedule, and critical performance
· Checks that the Engineering Environment (process, practices and tools) for the Solution is consistent with Country/Company requirements, and overall Solution cost, technical risks & schedule.
· Reviews together with the SEM the technical risks and opportunities and the related mitigation plans throughout the bid or project.
· Prepares and signs the Design Validation (DVa) document at each relevant validation step of the Bid and/or the Project, and ensures that the DVa is approved and signed by the DA
· Approves the main bid/project engineering reviews and deliverables (SOR, SRR, SFR, PDR, CDR, TRR, TQR, FQR)
· Approves the technical specification and source selection of subsystems/products to be outsourced taking into account Make Team Buy policy, export restrictions and offset requirements
· Approves the Design & Justification File (D&JF) prepared by the Solution Architect (ARC)
· Reviews and approves the completion of the integration, verification, validation and qualification results
· Oversees the acceptance of the Solution by the customer

· Organizes when appropriate technical meetings and peer reviews together with the Architect (ARC) and the SEM and other stakeholders (industry, services, Safety & HSE, specialties…), in order to perform the solution technical assessment and validation.

· Checks the production, the deployment and the maintenance/service aspects of the Solution with the Production Process & Technology Manager (PPTM), the Project Deployment Manager (PDM) and the Service Engineering Manager (SvEM) respectively. The resulting conclusions are taken into account by the PDA for the Solution design validation and reflected in the DVa.

· Takes into account the remarks from the DA as regards the validity of the Solution and the risk assessment and mitigation. Reports regularly to the DA on technical status and on technical risks

Qualifications:

University degree in Computer sciences, Engineering or a closely related field

Minimum 5 years relevant experience in development of software-based System applications.

Minimum 3 years relevant experience leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.

Involved in the delivery of more than 1 SelTrac project in some capacity including experience in System Design, System Integration, and System Acceptance.

Proven customer communication / technical Management skills.

Strong application (automated train control systems) domain knowledge & knowledge of modern software engineering practices, methods and tools.

Good marketing and presentation skills. Ability to sell/defend product to customers with differing levels of knowledge about automated systems.

System Engineering expertise having covered at least partial (LR9) to full (LR10) SW or HW development life cycle.

Thales is known for its commitment to employees, outlined in its human resources policy: Thales Together. Staffs enjoy a competitive salary and benefits package, as well as opportunities to develop professionally, and define their career paths.