Technical Lead (Government / Defence Satellite Communications)

In the context of the planned satellite connectivity network intended to deliver secure, resilient services across Europe and surrounding regions. The concept is to provide a satellite-based “complementary layer” to terrestrial networks—maintaining connectivity for government/public authorities, emergency response, and critical users when ground infrastructure is limited, degraded, or unavailable. This supports Europe’s digital sovereignty by enabling controlled, assured communications rather than relying solely on public or commercial paths.

This project aims to balance capacity, coverage continuity, latency, and service availability, targeting reliable connectivity in challenging environments (remote regions, disaster scenarios, and cross-border operations) while leveraging satellite link diversity to reduce single points of failure.

Job summary

The Technical Lead will oversee the design, implementation, and maintenance of IT infrastructure for the UE project, ensuring compliance with Thale’s policies. This role requires deep technical expertise in IT infrastructure, virtualization, security, and automation, along with cross-functional leadership to coordinate with System Engineers, Architects, DevOps, and IV&Q teams.

Responsibilities

• Support Customer and coordinate subsystems for the definition of subsystem technical requirements
• Collaborate with system engineers to refine interfaces (mechanical, electrical, software) between the subsystem and the broader system.
• Review and validate the partner’s/supplier’s technical proposals, design documents, and specifications to ensure they meet quality and performance criteria.
• Development & Integration Phase:
  • Monitor the partner’s/supplier’s development progress, providing technical guidance and validating key milestones (e.g., requirement reviews, design reviews).
  • Support integration activities, including the definition of integration procedures, test environments, and validation criteria.
  • Resolve technical conflicts between the subsystem and the broader system, working closely with system architects and integration teams
• IV&Q (Verification & Qualification) Phase:
  • Coordinate with IV&Q System Factory and Site teams to define the subsystem’s verification strategy, including test cases, acceptance criteria, and qualification evidence.
  • Support the execution of IV&Q activities: Reviewing and approving test plans, procedures, and reports, assisting in anomaly investigations, root-cause analysis (RCA) and corrective action validation, ensuring traceability between subsystem requirements, test cases, and verification results.
• Act as the technical liaison during factory acceptance tests (FAT) and site acceptance tests (SAT), addressing any technical queries or issues raised by IV&Q teams or customers.
• Lead or support technical investigations for subsystem-related anomalies, whether identified during IV&Q, deployment, or operational phases.
• Propose and validate corrective actions, ensuring they are implemented by the partner/supplier and verified by IV&Q teams.
• Capture lessons learned and feed them back into subsystem specifications, design guidelines, or IV&Q processes to improve future projects.
• Interface with the partner/supplier to clarify technical requirements, resolve ambiguities, and escalate risks or deviations.
• Collaborate with system engineers to ensure the subsystem’s behavior is consistent with the overall system performance and safety goals.
• Provide regular technical updates to project management, highlighting risks, dependencies, and mitigation plans.
• Support customer interactions, such as technical reviews or audits, by presenting subsystem design rationale, verification results, and compliance evidence

Mandatory Skills

• Deep IT Infrastructure Knowledge: Servers (physical/virtual), storage (NAS/SAN), OS (Linux/Windows).
• Virtualization & Containers: VMware ESXi, HyperV, Docker, Kubernetes, OpenShift.
• Scripting & Automation: Python, Bash, PowerShell, Ansible.
• IT Security Fundamentals: Hardening, patch management, endpoint protection, encryption (AES256, TLS).
• Database Management: SQL (PostgreSQL, MySQL, Oracle), NoSQL (MongoDB, Cassandra).
• Requirements Analysis: Ability to interpret and validate IT requirements (functional/nonfunctional).
• Interface Design: defining IT interfaces (e.g., APIs, data formats, protocols).
• ICD Contributions: Supporting System Engineers in drafting IT related ICDs.
• Classified Environment Awareness: Handling REU data, access controls, and audit logging.
• Cross Team Coordination: Working with System Engineers, Architects, DevOps, and IV&Q.
• Troubleshooting: Diagnosing IT subsystem issues (e.g., server failures, storage bottlenecks).
• Monitoring & Logging: Prometheus, Grafana, ELK Stack, Splunk.
• Version Control: Git, GitLab, Bitbucket.
• Scrum: Participation in sprint planning, daily standups, and retrospectives for IT tasks.
• Backlog Refinement: Prioritizing IT related user stories/tasks.

Nice to have Skills

• Cloud Platforms: AWS, Azure, GCP (if applicable in Thale’s environment).
• Container Orchestration: Advanced Kubernetes (e.g., Helm, Istio, Knative).
• Infrastructure as Code (IaC): Terraform, Pulumi.
• Zero Trust Architecture: Implementation in IT environments.
• Database Optimization: Query tuning, indexing, replication.
• Model Based Systems Engineering (MBSE): SysML, Cameo, Capella.
• API Design: REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and OpenAPI/Swagger documentation.
• Data Modeling: UML, ER diagrams for database/interface design.
• Thales Certification Processes: DO178C, EN 50128 (for safety critical IT systems).
• Thales IT Standards: Compliance with Thales QMS, REU, and C3_ECF policies.
• Supplier Management: Guiding external suppliers on Thales IT standards.
• Performance Tuning: Optimizing IT infrastructure for latency, throughput, and reliability.
• IT Service Management: ITIL, ServiceNow.
• Configuration Management: Puppet, Chef.
• SAFe: Alignment with ART (Agile Release Train) for IT subsystem delivery.
• PI Planning: Contributing to Program Increment (PI) objectives for IT subsystems.

Behavioral skills

• Strong communication & stakeholder management (ability to bridge technical & non-technical teams).
• Problem-solving & analytical thinking (diagnosing complex IT issues).
• Agile mindset (Scrum, SAFe, backlog management).
• Security-conscious approach (handling R-EU classified data with strict compliance).
• Mentoring & team development

Work Environment & Constraints

• Security Clearance: Must be eligible for R-EU (Restricted – EU) clearance.
• Travel to France for approx. 4 times/year

At Thales, we’re committed to fostering a workplace where respect, trust, collaboration, and passion drive everything we do. Here, you’ll feel empowered to bring your best self, thrive in a supportive culture, and love the work you do. Join us, and be part of a team reimagining technology to create solutions that truly make a difference – for a safer, greener, and more inclusive world.

Thales is a global technology leader trusted by governments, institutions, and enterprises to tackle their most demanding challenges. From quantum applications and artificial intelligence to cybersecurity and 6G innovation, our solutions empower critical decisions rooted in human intelligence. Operating at the forefront of defence and security, aerospace and space, cybersecurity and digital identity, we’re driven by a mission to build a future we can all trust.

In Romania, we are advancing innovation through software engineering, research and development, delivering solutions in key markets in which Thales Group operates. Our engineers design, develop and integrate solutions that impact global industries – from fully operational systems and subsystems for naval warfare and maritime security operations, to air traffic management systems, satellite-based solutions, tactical indoor simulations, identity and biometric technologies and more.