Head of System Engineering (Segment Mission Systems)

Head of System Engineering (Segment Mission Systems)

Thales

Netherlands or Portugal

About the Role

We are seeking an experienced and visionary leader to take on the role of Head of Discipline – System Engineering (SE) & Integration Verification Validation (IVV) within the engineering department of our Mission Systems segment. In this critical leadership position, you will be responsible for steering the strategy, capability development, and performance of SE and IVV disciplines, ensuring delivery excellence and technical innovation across a portfolio of cutting-edge Mission Systems projects and product developments.

You will lead a community of around 100 system engineers and IVV engineers across multiple teams in The Netherlands and Portugal, helping them thrive in a high-complexity, high-impact environment where both legacy and next generation systems coexist. The focus is on people, performance, and transformation—driving continuous improvement while nurturing a strong engineering culture.

A central part of this role is the leadership of the System Engineering Performance Plan- a multi-year, cross-organizational effort to increase system engineering efficiency. From improving predictability and delivery cadence to reducing technical waste, you will be at the forefront of driving measurable performance improvement across the entire system engineering lifecycle.

We welcome applications from candidates based in the Netherlands or Portugal. This role can be performed from either location and requires close collaboration with international teams.

Key Responsibilities

• Strategic Leadership: Define and execute the long-term strategy for the System Engineering discipline for Mission Systems;
• Capability Development: Champion the growth and development of engineers and team leads, fostering technical excellence and leadership from within;
• Operational Excellence: Drive quality, process maturity, and system engineering performance improvement initiatives across projects and programs;
• Lead the System Engineering Performance Plan: Own and evolve the multi-year plan to improve system engineering efficiency across the organization. This includes reducing waste, improving predictability, and increasing the value delivered by engineering teams;
• Community Building: Inspire and grow a strong, connected engineering community through engagement, coaching, and culture-building;
• Change Leadership: Lead organizational transformation within the system engineering discipline, including lean engineering, knowledge management, and long-term maintainability of mission-critical systems;
• Collaboration: Partner with other Heads of Discipline, Engineering Managers, Product Line Managers and Technical Directors to deliver coherent, cross-functional solutions.

Ideal Candidate Profile

You are a seasoned system engineering & IVV leader with a strong background in large-scale system development, and a passion for people and organizational growth. You’re comfortable in both strategic and operational domains, with a hands-on mindset when necessary. You understand the engineering lifecycle deeply and know how to lead through influence as much as through structure.

• Deep understanding of system engineering lifecycle management, system engineering integration, and verification & validation practices;
• You have the ability to take a holistic approach to analyzing a system, focusing on how the building blocks of a system interact and how systems operate over time and in the context of larger systems;
• You understand the importance of defining requirements through a process that uses performance analysis, business studies, constraints assessment, and cost/benefit analysis;
• You are able to adopt model-driven systems engineering and see how it serves as the basis for architecture;
• Demonstrated ability to lead change, improve performance, and drive long-term technical excellence;
• Proven experience in leading large system engineering organizations (>100 FTEs), ideally in a high-assurance or mission-critical domain (e.g., defence, aerospace, telecoms, etc.);
• Strong communication, stakeholder management, and coaching skills;
• Master’s degree in Computer Science, System Engineering, or related field;
• Experience within a matrixed, multinational organization;
• Familiarity with naval or defence systems is a pré.