{"id":3803258,"url":"https://alion.io/job/thales-group-design-authority-flight-avionics","title":"Design Authority - Flight Avionics","company":{"id":143,"name":"Thales Group","domain":"thalesgroup.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/thales","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Workday","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":81,"open_postings":261,"ghost_share":0.015,"stale_share":0.709,"repost_share":0.015,"time_to_fill_p50_days":48,"computed_at":"2026-11-09T06:03:00Z"}},"role":"Industrial Engineering","role_family":"Industrial Engineering","seniority":"middle","employment_type":"full_time","work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Crawley, United Kingdom"],"countries":["GB"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":null,"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":3,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"DO-178C","optional":false}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-11-03T00:00:00Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-11-03","last_verified_at":"2026-11-09T20:18:50Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":6,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":6},"description":"Location: Crawley, United KingdomThales 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. Thales supports the security and stability of our nation by providing extraordinary technology to our customers, as well as delivering social value to the UK with our products and services.\nWe are seeking a Design Authority to take on a critical technical leadership role within a complex aerospace and defence environment. This position sits at the heart of engineering governance, providing independent assurance that solutions are viable, compliant, safe, and deliverable across the full lifecycle-from bid through to in-service delivery.\nThis is not a hands-on design role. It is a high-impact position focused on technical oversight, decision authority, and risk validation across advanced avionics and mission systems programmes.\nShaping future skies together for a safer planet. We contribute to all major aircraft programmes-Air Transport, Business Jets, Military Aircraft, Helicopters, eVTOL and UAVs-and we’re committed to creating avionics that are ever more sustainable, connected and supportive of the world we share.\nThe Role\nAs Design Authority, you will act as the technical gatekeeper for major programmes and product developments. You will independently assess solution architectures, technologies, and delivery strategies, ensuring they meet operational, regulatory, and commercial expectations before approval.\nYou will engage with senior stakeholders across engineering, product, safety, cyber, and commercial functions, influencing key decisions and ensuring robust technical governance throughout.\nKey Responsibilities\nProvide independent validation of solution feasibility across architecture, technology, cost, schedule, and risk\n\nApprove Design Validation (DVa) and support certification activities including Certificate of Design (CoD) / Design Performance (DDP)\n\nEnsure compliance with civil and military aerospace regulations, safety standards, and cybersecurity requirements\n\nAssess system maturity, integration strategies, and supplier capabilities\n\nOversee risk identification and mitigation planning across bids and programmes\n\nSupport design reviews, baseline decisions, and critical issue resolution\n\nEnsure safety cases are robust, risks are ALARP, and liability exposure is controlled\n\nReport on key technical risks and assurance outcomes to senior leadership and governance boards\n\nCoach and support engineering teams, improving decision-making quality and capability development\n\nExperience Required\nStrong domain expertise in one or more of the following:\nFlight avionics\n\nMilitary communication systems\n\nNavigation or mission management systems\n\nProven experience in systems engineering leadership within safety-critical aerospace or defence programmes\n\nDeep understanding of system architectures, integration, and complex trade-offs\n\nExperience working within regulated environments (e.g. DO-178, ARP4754, MIL standards)\n\nStrong background in requirements engineering, risk management, and design assurance\n\nAbility to lead technical reviews, challenge assumptions, and make evidence-based decisions\n\nWhat We’re Looking For\nA credible technical authority capable of influencing at senior level without direct line control\n\nStrong communicator who can translate complex technical issues for non-technical stakeholders\n\nConfident decision-maker, comfortable operating under uncertainty and managing risk\n\nPassion for mentoring and developing engineering capability\n\nWhy Apply?\nThis is a rare opportunity to shape and assure cutting-edge aerospace systems at a strategic level, with direct impact on programme success, safety, and business outcomes.\nSecurity clearance requirement\nDue to the nature of the work that we do at Thales, many of our roles are subject to security restrictions. This role requires you to be a UK National and achieve Security Clearance (SC) without any caveats. 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. If approved by the MOD, a dual national from a non-ITAR country may be considered.\nTo 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.\nPlease visit the UKSV website for further guidance:\nhttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/united-kingdom-security-vetting-clearance-levels/national-security-vetting-clearance-levels.\nAt 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. Read more about our benefits here.\nWe are committed to creating a workplace where everyone feels valued for who they are and the unique strengths they bring. Discover more about our programmes, employee networks, wellbeing policies, and inclusive features here.\nIf 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. Join the Talent Community here.\nJoin Thales in the UK - Innovate with us and shape the future!","description_format":"text","description_chars":5636,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":3,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":null,"security_clearance":true,"languages":[]},"benefits":["Annual leave","Health insurance"],"hiring_locations":[{"name":"United States","iso":"US","kind":"country"},{"name":"United Kingdom","iso":"GB","kind":"country"}],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Identity Management","Satellite Manufacturing","Electronic Warfare","Avionics & Flight Control"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-11-05T12:27:55Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":63,"band":"ok","label":"Likely open","p_open":1,"p_active":0.632,"p_room":1,"age_days":6,"expected_fill_days":48,"reasons":["conf:2","stale_co","velocity","win:early","comp:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-11-09T06:03:00Z"},"pay":null,"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/thales-group-design-authority-flight-avionics","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/thales-group-design-authority-flight-avionics.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-11-09T22:23:29Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":11911,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-11-10T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":143},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=143"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fthales-group-design-authority-flight-avionics"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":2,"usd":0.2},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fthales-group-design-authority-flight-avionics"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.1,"usd":0.01},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fthales-group-design-authority-flight-avionics"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/thales-group-design-authority-flight-avionics\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fthales-group-design-authority-flight-avionics"}],"agent":{"mcp":"https://alion.io/mcp/jobs","mcp_open":"https://alion.io/mcp/open","next":[{"tool":"get_job","arguments":{"id":3803258}},{"tool":"search_jobs","arguments":{"company":"thalesgroup.com","detail":"compact"}},{"tool":"match_people","arguments":{"job_id":3803258},"note":"people open to offers who fit this vacancy"}],"note":"The same data through MCP tools: https://alion.io/mcp/open needs no sign-in (compact searches, postings, people); https://alion.io/mcp with an Alion account has everything. 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