Head of Discipline - Systems Engineering (m/f/d)

We say HI*

Thales in Germany is part of an internationally leading technology group in the defence and security, aerospace as well as cyber security and digital identity markets.

In Ditzingen, you will encounter security solutions for monitoring and safeguarding borders and for border controls, protection of civil and military facilities and tactical communication. This is the right place for you if you want to work with us on practical highly mobile radars for ground and coastal monitoring or night vision goggles and multifunctional heat imaging equipment. Join the Thales expert team for radar, optronic vision systems for armoured military vehicles or for protecting the field camps of the German Armed Forces. We are happy to have you on board!

Your mission as Head of Systems Engineering (m/f/d):

• Lead, coach and develop Team Leads; establish clear responsibilities, interfaces, decision rights and delegated accountability.
• Own and drive discipline-wide competence and skill development, including skills gap assessments, competence matrices, individual development plans, training roadmaps and succession planning, ensuring current and future Engineering capabilities aligned with business and technology needs.
• Define and execute the Systems Engineering discipline strategy and roadmap aligned with Engineering and business objectives, including the Engineering Performance Plan (EPP).
• Govern requirements management, system modelling, architecture/design, interfaces, technical agreements and system design documentation.
• Ensure system-level coherence and alignment with Software, Hardware and IVVQ; advance MBSE and lifecycle requirements traceability.
• Own workforce, competence, succession and capacity planning; allocate people and critical expertise across projects, products and bids in close cooperation with the Team Leads.
• Own discipline budget and cost centres, contribute to S&OP and multi-year planning, and monitor discipline performance KPIs.
• Own discipline processes, methods, tools and standards; drive continuous improvement, reuse and lessons learned.
• Oversee critical projects and reviews; resolve or escalate cross-team resource, capability and technical conflicts within applicable governance.
• Ensure Engineering governance compliance and contribute to bids, audits, peer reviews and major decision gates.

We are looking forward to:

• Completed technical studies, e.g. Systems Engineering or similar

• Senior Engineering leadership through Team Leads in complex multidisciplinary environments.

• Systems Engineering expertise in requirements, system architecture/design, interfaces and lifecycle integration.

• Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) and requirements-management tools is an advantage

• Workforce, competence, resource/capacity and performance management.

• Experience with S&OP, multi-year planning and Engineering Performance Plans is an advantage

• Discipline strategy, processes, standards, governance and cross-functional coordination.

• Budget, cost-centre planning and performance management; professional English.

• Strategic thinking with pragmatic, execution-focused ownership.

• Clear communication, stakeholder influence and cross-functional collaboration.

• Structured prioritization, conflict resolution and decision-making.

• Accountability, continuous improvement and results orientation.

• Willingness to travel

• Very good German and English skills

The Group invests more than €4,5 billion per year in Research & Development in key areas, particularly for critical environments, such as Artificial Intelligence, cybersecurity, quantum and cloud technologies.

In 2025, the Group generated sales of €22.1 billion.

For our more than 85,000 employees in 65 countries we open up visionary perspectives, realise individual career paths and enable creative freedom. This is achieved with courage, versatility and the firm intention to make the demanding challenges of our time safer and more inclusive. With our sustainable value-focused management we support diversity actively.

Say HI* – Your journey to us

At times of change our international teams are ready to meet the complexity of today with the industry-leading technologies of tomorrow. Will you be part of it? Your Talent Acquisition contact Maria Gaissert is looking forward to your online application.

Maria Gaissert – Talent Acquisition Partnerin #LI-MG1

+49 172 8281399