Quality and Continuous Improvement Director

Published 08.21.2025

Company : Safran Helicopter Engines Job field : Quality Location : Segensworth North Fareham Hampshire, England, United Kingdom Contract type : Permanent Contract duration : Full-time Professional status : Professional, Engineer & Manager

What will I be doing?
• Development and maintenance of a robust, sustainable Quality Management System that will maintain current approvals and require minimal activity for additional regulatory certification.

• Build a framework to drive a spirit of continuous improvement across the business and ensure the skills and processes are in place to deliver our strategic improvement roadmap.

• Manage the safe and efficient upkeep of the site facilities and act as local Risk and Security Manager.

Primary Responsibilities:
• Provide leadership to the Quality and Facilities teams.

• Develop and deploy the Safran HE UK Quality Strategy ensuring continued alignment of company processes with Safran and Safran HE objectives and all relevant regulatory approvals.

• Maintain the organisation's regulatory, customer, and internationally recognised Quality Management System approvals and achieve additional regulatory approvals where required.

• Embed Quality targets and ensure implementation of strategies, plans and programmes which deliver Quality improvement, increased customer satisfaction and the reduction of non-conformance.

• Act as company sponsor for the Quick Response Quality Control (QRQC) system and ensure engagement of all teams to quickly resolve issues and drive continuous improvement.

• Working closely with internal cross-functional teams, collate and analyse cost of non-quality data to understand trends, root cause and assist with the implementation of corrective actions to meet business objectives and customer satisfaction.

• Lead and maintain Safran HE UK flight safety programmes including Human Factors and the Safety Management System as directed by the Airworthiness Authorities and/or Safran HE requirements.

• Provide a programme of training, education and support to include customer and regulatory requirements, airworthiness, flight safety, human factors, QRQC, 5S and other applicable requirements.

• Report incidents that may affect airworthiness to both customer representatives for all products, and the applicable Airworthiness Authorities for those products included within Safran HE UK's regulatory approval.

• Champion all customer complaints originating from Safran HE UK customers to seek a timely and robust resolution in all instances.

• Through the Supplier Quality Team, maintain a schedule of supplier monitoring & audit and collate and analyse cost of supplier non-quality data to understand trends, root cause and corrective actions to meet business objectives and customer satisfaction.

• Lead Continuous Improvement and define a strategic roadmap to include the leadership and guidance of the black and green belt community and the planning and oversight of continuous improvement projects such as 5S, Value Stream Maps, One Safran Waves and Kaizen Events.

• Manage the SHE UK innovation/ideas process and league.

Complementary Description

Why us?
Operating worldwide, Safran Helicopter Engines employ 5,900 people and have more than 2,500 customers in 155 countries, and 22,000 engines in service.

Located in Fareham on the South Coast of the UK, we've been a leader in the aerospace market for over 80 years, with a reputation for putting our customers first. Supporting both the civil and military markets, our UK facility is the European Maintenance Centre Hub for the Safran Helicopter Engines Group.

As a valued member of our team, these are just a few of the benefits you'll receive:
• 25 days holiday a year (plus bank holidays)
o Additional day for every 10 years' service
• Flexitime - where you can accrue up to your contractual hours
o Option to leave from 12:30 on Friday (role dependant)
• Hybrid working - on site 3 days per week from home 2 days (role dependant)
• On site restaurant with daily £1.50 subsidy for lunch
• Costa coffee on site
• Generous 10% pension contributions (after 3 months)
• Health cash back scheme (after probation)
• Purchase of company shares (after 3 months)
• Annual bonus of up to 3%
• Company sick pay
• Our dedicated Benefits Portal with a range of lifestyle benefits, including life assurance, cycle to work, retail discounts, access to healthcare & wellbeing services)
• Ample free parking
• Green scheme
o Accrue points for traveling to work by bike, walking, public transport or car share
o Once a quarter receive Amazon vouchers for the points (40 points = £10)

Job Requirements

What will I be doing (Continued)
Facility and Security Management
• Manage the site facilities team to ensure the facility continually meets legal and safety standards and is continuously maintained in a professional condition that provides a safe and comfortable working environment for all staff and visitors.

• Plan and manage a programme of continuous improvement for the facility to ensure infrastructure, equipment, furniture and décor remain at a high standard.

• Create, communicate and actively manage facilities budgets and capex needs.

• Ensure machinery breakdowns are promptly resolved to minimise delays to production and develop a system of reliability analysis to support future investment strategies.

• Monitor compliance of the facility and organisation in line with Safran Security Standards and complete the annual security assessment.

Risk Management
• Lead the business's risk management process to include quarterly risk reviews and the regular updates of GR2

• Maintain Business Continuity and Crisis Management Plans for the business

What do you need from me?
Knowledge
o A degree/post graduate level qualification or equivalent in a relevant discipline
o Proven experience in a senior managerial role within the aviation industry, being able to clearly demonstrate achievement of set objectives
o Knowledge of airworthiness regulations both military and civil
o Knowledge of organisation capabilities, privileges and limitations
o Knowledge of Quality Management Systems
o Knowledge on configuration control
o Experience in aerospace/automotive processes and procedures.
o Interpretation of technical manuals, procedures and Instructions.

Skills
o Ability to promote the safety and quality policy
o Excellent diagnostic/problem-solving skills & ability to perform systematic analysis of written and numeric data.
o Excellent communication and literacy skills
o Resource management skills, including staff competence
o Teamwork, decision making and leadership skills
o Ability to prioritise tasks
o Ability to consider human performance and limitations
o Ability to consider and assess flight safety risk
o PC literate and ability to use software tools

What's my next step?
Please apply via the website and if you have what we are looking for, a member of our talent acquisition team will be in touch.

Diversity and Inclusion
At Safran, we understand that diversity and inclusion make teams stronger and more effective, and as an organisation, we are committed to fair and equitable employment practices for everyone.

We also know that some candidates may be put off applying for jobs where they don't meet 100% of the criteria outlined in the advert, however, we encourage you to apply if you can demonstrate a variety of skills and experiences relevant to the requirements of this role.

We will consider all applicants who meet the minimum requirements regardless of their identity or background.

But what else? (advantages, specific features, etc.)

Occasional travel to France will be required

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Quality and Continuous Improvement Director