Job Description:

A vacancy for the newly created position Eurofighter Cross Platform Capability Study (XPCS) and STAR (System and Teaming Advanced Research) Chief Engineer (d/m/f) has arisen within Airbus Defence and Space in Manching. The successful applicant will join will join within TEAB – “Fighter Aircraft New Developments” the “Eurofighter New Developments Team“ and will be in charge of managing the following development activities:

• All air vehicle related activities within the X-Platform Capability Study (XPCS), a first demonstration of teaming capability on Eurofighter, with the mid- to long term goal of introducing C2-capabilities onto Eurofighter in preparation for FCAS (Future Combat Air Systems)
• Development of the STAR (System and Teaming Advanced Research) –Demonstrator, a Eurofighter Twin Seat Aircraft intended to incorporate new cockpit and connectivity elements to explore new HMI and connectivity technologies for future FCAS applications and mature Eurofighter to become a future FCAS asset.

FCAS will be the Defence programme of the future for Europe and will ensure Future Air Power supremacy, the key to European and national sovereignty. In the most complex threat scenarios, FCAS will deliver increasing operational effects by leveraging the collaborative capabilities of connected platforms, bringing the next level of Air Power in highly denied environments. Airbus uniquely combines the experience, capabilities and footprint to drive with our industrial partners this strategic defence programme.

New doctrines, processes and skills need to be gradually developed in alignment with the planned arrival of FCAS capabilities and meeting the related technological challenges. FCAS will require a step by step approach to be jointly tackled by European air forces, navies and industry. Eurofighter will be a stepping stone into FCAS planned to enable teaming capability and sensor fusion across multiple airborne assets before FCAS EIS planned in 2040.

The created CE position will unify all development activities on Eurofighter that will contribute to the Eurofighter future weapon system capabilities related to evolving Eurofighter into a Command & Control Fighter to serve future FCAS needs.

The primary role of the Eurofighter New Developments Chief Engineer is characterized by the following responsibilities:

• Product definition and realization
  • Capturing customer requirements, generating corresponding solutions and producing technical specifications in close liaison with the national customer
  • Support the definition of any future FCAS or other capabilities to be incorporated in the STAR Demonstrator
  • Propose, select, and finally approve the key technologies to be used in the demonstration program, defining the general demonstration strategy and objectives with the goal to satisfy future System of System requirements
  • Assume overall technical responsibility for the content and schedule of the work described in the SoW associated with the air vehicle, run the technical program and manage the overall technical requirements based on concurrent development options and take the appropriate decisions to meet program maturity milestones.
  • Produce the technical Work Breakdown Structure, the development schedule and technical risk management, and manage all technical teams to ensure on-time, on-quality on-cost delivery of the contracted deliverables.
  • Continuously monitor progress, ensure timely resolution of technical issues and lead engineering change management including customer requests acceptance/rejection.
  • Approve the necessary budget for engineering resources related to the program engineering tasks and verify resources availability.
  • Coordination of all activities within engineering and between the Centre of Competences (CoC) as well as towards the program
  • Lead the qualification and of the product to attain a PtF to meet the demonstration objectives and to assure continuous safe operations.
  • Adapt standard product development processes to be lean, to meet specific program needs.
  • Technical responsibility for system/ subsystems and supplier contracts
  • Technical coordination and controlling of partners and suppliers together with the Program Management Organization
  • Manage the integration & test philosophy and definition process
  • Interaction with the customer on all technical and performance matters related to the air vehicle
  • Closely liaise with the Eurofighter Long Term Evolution CE Team to ensure that XPCS and STAR demonstration objectives are compatible and complementary to the LTE development efforts in the 4-national Eurofighter environment.
  • Reporting to the Program Management Organization

• Technology monitoring and management
  • Observe technology trends and developments affecting avionics, avionic architectures, cockpit HMI, manned-manned/ manned-unmanned teaming and capabilities in associated technology domains as well as the accompanying new certification requirements
  • Continuous technology monitoring and technology roadmap generation and maintenance related to future fighter aircraft capabilities

• Capability management
  • Analyse capabilities in technical domains according to product needs
  • Supplier involvement

In order to ensure the above-mentioned objectives a close interaction with Technical Managers, Integrators and Chief Engineers from other disciplines and products is necessary. Further stakeholders are customer representatives and respective capability development related personnel at suppliers as well as development partner companies.

We are looking for candidates with the following skills and experience:

• Master/PhD degree in Aerospace or Electrical Engineering
• Specific knowledge and experience with Combat Systems at each step of the development life-cycle,
• More than 10 years of experience in the aerospace & defense sector
• Proven experience in complex technology maturation and demonstration programs
• Broad experience in different engineering disciplines (e.g. cross functional system design, testing and validation)
• Ideally experience in technical development of new programs
• Broad experience in concept definition, requirements definition, scoping and negotiation at different levels of the product development cycle. Multi-disciplinary expertise requiring fluent interaction with Customers, Development and Test Engineers, Integration Managers, and Programme Management, as well as suppliers and stakeholders from partner companies
• In-depth experience and understanding in designing functionalities that are core to the Military Mission Systems, and are used extensively on military operations performed by combat aircraft.
• Long-term experience in the Eurofighter/Typhoon Program
• Good Project Management skills
• Long-term experience in working in international and cross-functional teams
• Team player and result-oriented
• Excellent communication skills
• English/ German: negotiation level
• Spanish language skills would be an advantage
• Ideally, tool competences like CATIA, MS Office Standard Products, Requirement management tools, and SAP. Ability to quickly adapt to engineering, project management and organization tools

This position requires the conscious consideration of compliance rules and high integrity behavior. Both points are fundamental for the success, the good reputation and sustainable growth of the company.

This job requires an awareness of any potential compliance risks and a commitment to act with integrity, as the foundation for the Company’s success, reputation and sustainable growth.

Company:

Airbus Defence and Space GmbH

Employment Type:

Permanent

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Experience Level:

Professional

Job Family:

Chief Engineering & Architecture

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