NAS - Head of PMO (Open also to Protected Categories Law 68/99)

Location: Gorgonzola, Italy

Thales people architect solutions that are relied upon to deliver operational advantage at every decisive moment throughout the mission. Defence and armed forces customers rely on us to deliver the full range of defensive systems for land, sea, and air. From early warning, to threat neutralisation, our platforms cover all levels from very short‑range systems, to extended protection across the entire battle‑space including Airspace Mobility Solutions, Vehicles and Tactical Systems and Missile Defence, Optronics, and Radar.

Gorgonzola hosts Navigations Air Systems (NAS) domain. The activity of NAS domain: avionics, navigation and radar systems for civil air traffic and technologies supporting the activities of civilian and military pilots, ATC controllers and technicians of several airlines, air traffic control agencies and Air Force around the world. Italy is the Group’s Competence centre for the design, production and delivery of Navigation Aids products and Competence Centre for the delivery of non‑Radar Surveillance Products.

NAS Italy has a vacancy for a PMO Manager Lead to work closely with Bid and Program Managers to ensure that Thales’ Bids and Programs are delivered efficiently, compliantly, and in alignment with Thales’ strategic objectives. This role oversees governance, relational contracting, communications, planning, risk, training, performance and reporting, to maintain consistency and excellence across all initiatives.

Key Areas of Responsibility

• Supervise Back Office activities: draft invoicing, materialization, and loading specifications into ERP, manage purchase, execute financial contract clauses (e.g., Letter of Credit or Bank Guarantees)
• Supervise sales and order administration: inter company quotations, pricing parts for suppliers, order intake management.
• Leadership & Governance: Lead the PMO to ensure consistent application of governance, methodologies and standards across Thales’ in‑service support programs.
• Maintain frameworks, tools and processes supporting bid&project delivery and reporting.
• Program Oversight: Monitor bid & project performance, risks and deliverables to support proactive decision‑making.
• Resource Management: Provide management support to the PMO team, including skills and capability development, task allocation, objective setting and training.
• Planning, Performance & Risk Management: Support performance tracking.
• Oversee identification and mitigation of risks, maintaining accurate risk registers and action plans.
• Implement lessons learned and improvement actions across programs.
• Relational Contracting & Communications: Facilitate effective communications between industry, engineering, operations
• Promote transparency and clarity in bid&program communications
• Management and facilitation of Lessons Learned sessions - ensuring a Lessons Learned culture is embedded within Bid & Program.
• Training & Capability Development: Design and deliver training to strengthen bid & project management capability across bids & programs.
• Mentor bid & project managers and coordinators in governance, planning, and risk management best practices.
• Build a culture of knowledge sharing and professional growth within the PMO.
• Continuous Improvement & Innovation: Drive automation, standardisation, and digital transformation within PMO operations.
• Enhance program analytics and reporting using tools such as Power BI
• Champion process optimisation and operational excellence initiatives.

Minimum Qualifications

• Degree or diploma in Business Management is preferred, or relevant proven experience.
• Certified Practicing Project Manager or equivalent (IPMA and/or PMP certification).
• Minimum 5 years of experience supporting or managing complex projects.
• Extensive experience working in a PMO within complex bids & programs, particularly in the Defence and Aerospace sectors.
• Evidence of the ability to provide coaching and development for less‑experienced team members. Comprehensive understanding of generic processes and techniques used to schedule Bid and Program activities (WBS, OBS, milestones, dependencies, EVM).
• Advanced user of MS office suite, particularly Excel, including the use of pivot tables / charts.
• Advanced user in project scheduling software such as Primavera P6.
• Proficiency in English and Italian is mandatory; a third language is a plus

Preferred Qualifications

• Intermediate knowledge of Power Query and Power BI
• High level knowledge of ERP systems such as OCM or SAP

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. Great journeys start here, apply now!