Acoustic Trials Engineer

Location: Templecombe, United KingdomThales 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 five major industries; Aerospace, Defence, Ground Transportation, 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.

Our Opportunity:

With the ongoing advancements in sonar capability and the SSN-AUKUS submarine development it is an exciting and busy time for us as we look to grow and build our testing and evaluation capability and we are looking to recruit an Acoustic Trials Engineer to join our team at Templecombe. Working within a diverse team of specialists. Your role will be to define and execute trials and measurement activities to support internal and external customers, initially focusing on acoustic aspects but developing skills and knowledge to build and support the growth of this team. The team deliver low TRL testing and evaluation of concepts and capabilities and solutions

General Sonar Studies (GSS) is the primary research and development arm of Underwater Systems in Thales UK and Theoretical & Experimental Characterisation (TEC) team is the test and evaluation team within GSS.

This role will include travel both within the UK and overseas. Applicants will be happy to work deployed to trials locations for periods of up to two weeks and will have a UK driving license. You will be committed to transfer knowledge and develop skills to enable us to sustain and grow as a business in these critical capabilities.

What can we offer you?

• Performance related bonus
• Half day every Friday, usual finishing around 13:00pm
• Pension Scheme
• 28 days annual leave (Plus Bank Holidays)
• Life Cover
• 24/7 Employee Assistance Programme and access to mental wellbeing app
• Employee discount shopping schemes on major brands and retailers
• Gym membership discounts
• 24 hours paid volunteering
• Private healthcare (grade dependent)

Key Responsibilities and Tasks:

• Understanding of experimental data capture and signal processing techniques with the ability to provide a clear logical path to the extraction and storage of information from large data sets. Expertise in the development of bespoke analysis processes using the MatLab Signal Processing Toolbox would be beneficial.
• Support to Hardware and Industry partners in the definition and execution of acoustic related measurements to support product development and verification.
• Verbal and Written technical reporting will form a significant part of the role, requiring complex concepts to be captured in a format that is accessible to the business and provide traceability for the test and analysis activities conducted.
• Provide specialist acoustic FEA modelling to facilitate pre-test analysis and support to URN, TES and Sonar Performance analysis tasks, initially based in PAFEC but developing skills and knowledge to create models within the VaOne Vibroacoustic modelling framework.
• Provide effective reporting of technical progress and financial aspect on tasks for which he or she is nominated as the group lead.
• Support to the group in maintaining technical measurement and analysis infrastructure with associated responsibility for shaping the strategy for growing capability.
• Under the mentoring and coaching of existing Thales and partner experts, build a wider domain knowledge and experience to enable specialist advice into all points in product and service development lifecycles.
• Support the GSS (TEC) Team Leader, Head of GSS, PLAs, PDAs, Operations, Sales, CSS/Test and Evaluation Lead, SI&T, Hardware Products and the UWS Technical Director to Plan, Grow and Run the Theoretical & Experimental Characterisation team within the GSS and UWS Operating Model. The aim is for as a sustainable capability area fit to influence and meet the future business direction. This includes developing concepts around the combination of real world and synthetic/modelling activities in support of customer needs.
• Support the GSS (TEC) Team Leader, Head of GSS, in their work with wider business personnel (including CSS Services PLM, Test and Evaluation Campaign and Modelling and Synthetic Environments MCI Lead) to develop the Comprehensive T&E offering including Real and Synthetic based measurement and analysis capabilities.
• Establish and sustain productive relationships with the UWS/TUK Test and Evaluation Site Managers to facilitate activity.

Skills, Experience & Qualifications

• We are looking for a motivated and forward thinking individual with the following skills, experience & behaviours:
  • Established professional credibility and experience in the underwater domain area of technical specialism with transferable skills and experience to technical measurements and modelling.
  • Capability Development and project delivery experience
  • Experience of working within MOD Security Procedures
  • Ability to liaise with technical and nontechnical staff at all levels, providing clear and constructive communications to build relationships and promote effective team working.
  • Innovative thinking. Not afraid to question the norm, think outside the box and challenge the exam question.
  • It is expected that the candidate will embrace the core competencies and leadership qualities that will enable them to progress towards recognition as a Thales Specialist within the underwater Domain.
• Experience or knowledge of the below packages is advantageous
  • MatLab
  • LabView
  • Python
  • Creo (or equivalent)
  • PAFEC
  • Comsol
  • VAOne
  • Glyphworks
  • Siemens Test Lab

Security Clearance Statement

The Role must be filled by a sole UK National with the potential to achieve DV Status. Sole UK National is essential given SALs in certain high priority programmes.

#LI-DB1

In line with Thales' Baseline Security requirements, candidates will be asked to provide evidence of identity, eligibility to work in the UK and employment and/or education history for up to three years. Some vacancies may require full Security Clearance which can require further evidence to be provided. For further details of the evidence required to apply for Baseline and Security Clearance please refer to the Defence Business Services National Security Vetting (DBS NSV) Agency.

At Thales we provide CAREERS and not only jobs. With Thales employing 80,000 employees in 68 countries our mobility policy enables thousands of employees each year to develop their careers at home and abroad, in their existing areas of expertise or by branching out into new fields. Together we believe that embracing flexibility is a smarter way of working.

Thales UK is committed to providing an inclusive and barrier-free recruitment process. We will provide reasonable adjustments and support to ensure neuro-diverse applicants or those with a disability or long-term condition can be their best during the recruitment process. To request an adjustment,if you need this job advert in an alternative format or if you have any questions about the recruitment process, please contact Resourcing Ops for mid to senior roles, or the Early Careers Team for graduate and apprentice roles.

Great journeys start here, apply now!