Industrial Process Engineering Team Lead - Cheadle

Location: Cheadle

Location:

Cheadle, United Kingdom Thales people provide armed forces customers with operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defence mission systems solutions at land, sea, and air. Our platforms extend across the battlespace including Above and Sonar, Electronic Combat, and Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance systems.

Together we offer fantastic opportunities for committed employees to learn and develop their career with us. At Thales UK, we research, develop, and supply technology and services that impact the lives of millions of people each day to make life better, and keep us safer. We innovate across the major industries of Aerospace, Defence, Security and Space. Your health and well-being matters to us and that’s why we offer you the flexibility to do what’s important to you;

whether that’s part time hours, job sharing, home working, or the ability to flex your start and finish times. Where possible, we support a working pattern that suits your lifestyle and helps you reach your ambitions.
** Industrial Process Engineering Team Lead
***
* Location:

Cheadle, full-time (4 days/ week) onsite
** Step into a leadership role where innovation meets impact - apply now to lead Industrial Process Engineering at Thales!
** What the role has to offer
*** Take charge of a high‑performing team, driving innovation and shaping smarter manufacturing processes that deliver excellence across the product lifecycle
* Join a global organisation that invests in your development with world‑class training, mentoring, and clear progression opportunities
* Benefit from a competitive package, compressed 4-day week, and flexible working designed to support your wellbeing and work‑life balance
** Our Opportunity
** Reporting to the Head of Industrial Process Engineering, you’ll lead a high‑performing team within our Autonomous Production & Repair Unit (APRU). Balancing leadership with hands‑on delivery, you’ll drive industrialisation and sustainment across new and legacy products, embedding Design for Manufacturing principles and smarter ways of working.

Your role is pivotal - guiding engineers, eliminating waste, and ensuring processes and products perform to the highest standards.
** Building a Future, we can all trust.
** Industrial Process Engineering (IPE) is all about shaping how products come to life - from the design of tooling and processes to the skills and technology that keep them running smoothly throughout their lifecycle. It’s where efficiency meets innovation, ensuring every product, component, and repair is delivered to the highest standards.
** What we offer you
** We offer a competitive salary and benefits package designed to support our employees’ wellbeing and professional growth, which includes:
* Pension – match like-for-like up to 7% of annual base salary
* Life Assurance – 2 x base salary minimum (8 x salary if part of the pension scheme)
* Income Protection – 50% of salary less state benefits for 5 years
* Annual Leave – 201 hours, bank holidays, plus 1 company day
* Private Medical Insurance - Couples cover
* 4 day working week – 9.25 hours per day
* 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme
* 24 hours paid leave for volunteering activities
* Access to flexible benefits and discounts – dental insurance, buying & selling annual leave, cycle to work, and many more
** Key Responsibilities and Tasks
*** Drive best‑practice IPE strategy, processes, and innovation to improve performance, reduce costs, and streamline workflows
* Ensure team capability meets current and future project needs while managing workloads, KPIs, and compliance standards
* Lead, coach, and develop a high‑performing team, overseeing recruitment, training, appraisals, and daily productivity
* Own industrial process maturity assessments, guide design for manufacture, and optimise tooling, documentation, and workflows
* Resolve production issues using data‑driven problem‑solving and root cause analysis, embedding lessons learned
* Build strong stakeholder relationships and foster effective cross‑department collaboration to support delivery
** About…