Senior Project lead

Location: Noida India

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 aerospace and space cybersecurity and digital identity were driven by a mission to build a future we can all trust.

Present in India since 1953 Thales is headquartered in Noida and has other operational offices and sites spread across Delhi Gurugram Bengaluru and Mumbai among others. Over 2200 employees are working with Thales and its joint ventures in India. Since the beginning Thales has been playing an essential role in Indias growth story by sharing its technologies and expertise in Defence Aerospace and Cyber & Digital sectors. Thales has two engineering competence centres in India - one in Noida focused on Cyber & Digital business while the one in Bengaluru focuses on hardware software and systems engineering capabilities for both the civil and defence sectors serving global needs. The Group has also established an MRO (Maintenance Repair & Overhaul) facility in Gurugram to provide comprehensive avionics maintenance and repair services to Indian airlines and support the growth of the local aviation industry.

We are looking for an Engineering Delivery Manager to lead delivery across multiple squads building and evolving a cloud-native Identity Platform. You will drive predictable outcomes high engineering quality and adoption of our AI-driven SDLCimproving speed reliability and compliance through modern ways of working.

You will lead a delivery organisation of 20 engineers shaping squads around product priorities coaching delivery discipline and ensuring teams use AI tooling (coding test generation documentation triage) to raise throughput and quality.

Partner with Product Architecture Security and Platform stakeholders to translate roadmap intent into executable plans manage dependencies and risks and deliver measurable outcomes.

This is a hands-on leadership role focused on delivery excellence and AI-enabled transformation.

• Own end-to-end delivery across multiple squads (scope plan dependencies risks and outcomes).
• Lead coach and develop 20 engineers; set clear expectations and give timely feedback.
• Establish delivery discipline: predictable cadence transparent reporting and continuous improvement.
• Champion an AI-first engineering culture; ensure AI tooling is used safely and effectively.
• Ensure engineering excellence: quality security reliability and operability by design.

• Embed our AI-driven SDLC (AI-assisted design coding testing documentation and release readiness) into day-to-day delivery.
• Drive adoption of AI ways of working (guardrails playbooks and training) in partnership with Enablement/Architecture.
• Measure impact and improve (cycle time defect escape rate automation coverage and developer experience) and act on insights.
• Ensure responsible use of AI aligned to security privacy and compliance expectations.

• Shape and adjust squads based on roadmap priorities skills and capacity.
• Run planning and execution rituals; manage dependencies and cross-team alignment.
• Remove impediments manage delivery risk early and drive predictable releases.
• Use metrics to improve flow efficiency quality and operational readiness.

• Partner with Product to clarify scope acceptance criteria and success metrics.
• Provide clear delivery commitments trade-offs and statusno surprises.
• Align with Architecture/Security/Operations to ensure designs are scalable and compliant.

• Hire and retain diverse talent; build capability plans with explicit AI upskilling.
• Set performance expectations coach growth and build a feedback culture aligned to Thales leadership.
• Own capacity and execution tracking; escalate risks with options.
• Ensure operational excellence (on-call readiness incident learnings and continuous improvement).

• 7 years in software engineering with 3 years leading delivery and/or people in multi-team environments.
• Track record delivering cloud-native distributed and security-sensitive platforms (identity experience a plus).
• Strong delivery management: planning dependency/risk management release management and stakeholder communication.
• Modern SDLC practices (CI/CD test automation observability DevSecOps).
• Proven change leadership: scaling new tools and practices including AI-assisted development.
• AI fluency: hands-on experience with AI coding/testing/documentation tools and an ability to coach safe effective adoption.

• Predictable delivery: roadmaps translated into realistic plans and on-time releases with transparent trade-offs.
• AI-driven SDLC adopted across squads with measurable improvements in cycle time automation coverage and quality.
• Strong engineering outcomes: security and reliability targets met; reduced incident/defect escape rates.
• High-performing teams: clear expectations visible growth and healthy engagement/retention.

This role reports to the Engineering Director.

At Thales were committed to fostering a workplace where respect trust collaboration and passion drive everything we do. Here youll 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.