UAS Account & Portfolio Director

Location: North Dakota_Remote_Worker, United States of America

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.

UAS Account & Portfolio Director

North Dakota, USA (Hybrid)

Position Summary

Thales is seeking an Account & Portfolio Director in North Dakota. The role of the Account & Portfolio Director is to understand the customer’s business and to articulate how Thales, as a Group, can help the customer to perform better. The role directs and coordinates dedicated teams (Sales, Bid, Project or Program Managers) of a account portfolio related to Uncrewed Aircraft System (UAS) integration activities, to reach the satisfaction of the different stakeholders (including customers and managers within the AMS business lines and Thales USA, Inc.) and to meet strategic business objectives.

Regulatory Compliance Requirements

• Must be a US Person as defined in applicable law

Key Areas of Responsibility

Build Account Plans in order to define the account strategy and align the plan with the customer and the internal stakeholders by:

• Understanding the customer's stakes, expectations and vision and how Thales offers can support the customer's business

• Monitoring the performance of Thales’ competitors with the customer

• Identifying and Defining Strategic Initiatives, in collaboration with the customer, to generate growth beyond business as usual and contributing to build and strengthen a customer relationship based on partnership

• Working closely with the Account team for support on actions plans (growth opportunities, engagement plan, must-wins, market segment content)

Orchestrate and network with all internal and external stakeholders by:

• Sharing general interest information on the customer (i.e. Customer strategy and structure, customer needs, budgets) and represent the Customer internally

• Orchestrating, aligning and managing the account team (on subjects such as tendering, project execution, technology portfolio, customer satisfaction…) and supporting the sales teams in all actions required to close Order Intake

• Direct, coordinate and monitor all on-going bids, projects and programs related to the accounts in the portfolio to successfully deliver the resulting strategy and objectives including expected business results, high customer satisfaction and compliance with governance

• Sharing the Account Plan and facilitating the execution of the related action plan with all relevant internal stakeholders.

• Informing the account team and account steering committee of customer satisfaction issues and supporting the development of customer satisfaction measurement in the account

Act as “One face to the customer” on behalf of Thales by:

• Orchestrating account team actions aimed at maximizing customer satisfaction

• Setting actions together with the customer to develop trust and loyalty between both organizations

• Developing Group Order Intake in the short and medium term by managing Customer Intimacy

• Driving and securing strategic Initiatives as defined in the Account Plan

Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor degree or equivalent in relevant subject (engineering, business, aviation, etc)

• 10+ years of professional experience in aviation and/or UAS industry

• 10+ years of professional experience working with or in state and local government

• 5+ years of project or team leadership demonstrating an ability to motivate teams and deliver results

• Capable of driving results across virtual teams and able to represent Thales Group as a whole

• Ability to convince, persuade and negotiate, both internally & externally

Special Position Requirements (only if applicable)

• Ability to travel up to 30% - travel customer sites, other Thales sites (including international) and attend industry events as requested.

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This position will require successfully completing a post-offer background check. Qualified candidates wit