Quality Manager in Crawley

Location: Crawley, United Kingdom

Thales is a global technology leader with more than 83,000 employees on five continents. With over 7,500 people in the UK, operating across defence, space, aerospace, and digital security, we help build a future we can all trust.

Are you an inquisitive and impactful individual looking for an exciting, dynamic and interesting new role in Quality Assurance? Where no two days are ever the same? And where you can use your judgement and risk-based thinking to support the programmes at Thales through many different decisions during the project lifecycle? If so, we’d love to hear from you as we’re currently looking for a Quality Manager to join our A2IS team in Crawley.

In this role you will be responsible for leading a team of quality management professionals within the domain, ensuring adherence to Group Quality, Customer Satisfaction, and Quality Assurance policies. You will lead the Industry Quality organisation, promoting the function internally and externally, ensuring QAMs have the requisite knowledge and resources to meet ongoing business requirements.

What the role has to offer:

• People focussed role, leading, developing and supporting a team of Quality Engineers.
• Hybrid working (3 days on site per week).
• We’ll also pay for your CQI membership and support formal certified training where appropriate e.g. lead auditor training.

What does your day look like?

• You will lead on improvement initiatives, strengthen customer satisfaction, and drive operational excellence across the domain.
• You’ll own the CI framework, oversee improvement activity reporting, and manage accreditation and certification readiness.
• You’ll be a key interface with customers—supporting satisfaction processes, providing insight on recurring issues, and hosting customer audits and product/process verifications.
• You’ll also lead people development activities, including skills assessments, re‑skilling initiatives, objective setting, QAM allocation, and supporting talent reviews and succession planning.
• You’ll ensure strong process governance through adherence to the company Reference System, champion improvement initiatives, and support consistent Quality reporting aligned with Group policy.

About you Ideally you’ll:

• Be a strategic thinker who quickly grasps key information, adapts fast, and makes clear, confident decisions.
• Have a results‑driven mind-set, with a strong ability to set measurable goals and lead teams to deliver.
• Have a continuous‑improvement mindset, proactively driving performance, problem‑solving, and cultural transformation across the business.
• Be a collaborative leader who motivates diverse teams, communicates a compelling vision, and develops people through constructive feedback and high expectations.
• Thrive in complex, matrix environments, building strong relationships, and navigates conflict with professionalism and integrity.

Related Professional Qualification and Membership of Associations (CQI preferred)

• A recognised auditor qualification.
• Detailed working knowledge of RCA tools and techniques.
• Knowledge of Quality Management System and Standards (e.g. AS9100, ISO9001).

Benefits at Thales:

• Performance-related bonus (grade dependent).
• Half day every Friday, usually finishing around 13:00.
• 28 days annual leave (plus bank holidays) with opportunity to buy up to 40 hours/year (pro rata).
• 24 hours volunteering per year paid for.
• One professional membership per year paid for.
• Private healthcare (grade dependent).
• Pension scheme.
• Life cover.
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Program and access to mental wellbeing app.
• Employee discount shopping schemes on major brands and retailers.
• Gym membership discounts.

Security Clearance Requirement:

Due to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, many of our roles are subject to security restrictions. This role requires Security Clearance (SC). It would be advantageous if currently held, however, if not currently held, it is a requirement that the successful applicant undergo, achieve, and maintain SC Clearance prior to commencing employment. To be eligible for full SC, you generally need to have resided in the UK for the last 5 years. In some circumstances, a minimum of 3 years’ residence in the UK over the last 5 years may be accepted, with additional overseas checks.

At Thales, we ensure equal opportunities, pay and working conditions for all. The benefits we offer include private medical insurance, buying or selling annual leave, cycle to work schemes, employee discounts, paid volunteering day, stocks and shares, annual bonus and much more depending on the role. We are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring.

If this role isn’t quite right for you, we encourage you to join our talent community where your details will be shared with our recruitment teams for other potential opportunities.

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