DDCC Head of Engineering

Overview

In this role, you lead the engineering function within Thales UK’s Digital and Data Competence Centre (DDCC), focusing on cortAIx UK. You steer engineering strategy for AI products and platforms, oversee cross-functional delivery across software, systems, IVVQ, and AI teams, and ensure safety-critical quality and governance. You will shape engineering practices, mentor leaders, and drive measurable value from AI initiatives while navigating regulated environments and security requirements. This is a hands-on leadership role with a clear impact on platform reliability, security, and AI delivery.

Pay / Benefits

• relocation support
• market leading training and development
• private healthcare
• annual bonus
• strong pension contribution
• stocks and shares

Responsibilities

• Set and execute the engineering strategy for AI products and platforms
• Lead and develop Engineering Managers, Principal Engineers, AI Engineers and Software Engineers
• Establish engineering standards, architecture principles, and delivery practices
• Drive operational excellence in reliability, security, performance, and scalability
• Coordinate governance and ensure traceability, defect management, and safety/cyber assurance
• Oversee CI/CD, testing frameworks, and tooling for embedded and HIL contexts
• Manage stakeholder relationships and translate leadership goals into roadmaps
• Lead risk reviews and manage technical risks with AIDM
• Foster cross-team collaboration and platform, software, test, and support alignment
• Track engineering metrics (reliability, deployment frequency, lead time, cost efficiency) and drive automation

Key requirements

• Experience in engineering management or technical project management
• Background delivering in complex, regulated environments (defence/aerospace valued)
• Ability to verify technical deliverables (requirements, architecture choices)
• Proven ability to lead technical projects with risk/opportunity awareness
• Experience creating high-quality technical documentation aligned with processes
• Strong stakeholder engagement and goal setting
• Decision-making under uncertainty and continuous improvement mindset
• Experience delivering operational AI solutions in embedded environments (advantageous)
• Eligibility for UK security clearance (SC)
• Ability to build and manage diverse, high-performing teams

• Stakeholder management
• Strong communication
• Leadership and mentoring
• Software architecture in safety-critical environments
• AI/ML delivery and governance
• CI/CD for embedded systems

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