Lead Technical Specialist – Welding, Preservation, and Adhesives

The role

Damen Naval is looking for a highly skilled Lead Technical Specialist Welding, Preservation, and Adhesives to join our expert team. In this role, you will lead and coordinate a small team of technology specialists, ensuring top-notch performance throughout all phases of shipbuilding projects. You will drive research, provide expert advice, and engineer innovative solutions from the proposal phase through to the warranty period. You will also act as the welding coordinator for the Damen Naval shipyard in Vlissingen Oost, ensuring seamless collaboration between production facilities and engineering teams. Additionally, you will play a crucial role in verification and validation during Factory Acceptance Tests (FAT), Harbor Acceptance Tests (HAT), and Sea Acceptance Tests (SAT).

Key Accountabilities

As Lead Technical Specialist Welding, Preservation, and Adhesives, your key responsibilities will include:

• Leading, coordinating, and prioritizing projects for a small team of specialists throughout the research, design, proposal, engineering, production, and warranty phases of shipbuilding projects.

• Implementing creative solutions for complex multidisciplinary projects while ensuring adherence to schedules, quality, and budget.

• Supporting verification and validation tests during production, warranty periods, and research projects.

• Initiating and driving the development of new solutions in welding, Preservation, and adhesives to meet future requirements.

• Advising on project activity lists and effectively allocating manhour budgets.

• Developing and reviewing functional descriptions, calculations, simulations, technical specifications, and test and validation protocols.

• Supporting design reviews and contributing to continuous improvement of departmental processes and tools.

• Promoting knowledge development, transfer, and retention within the department.

• Acting as a key link between engineering and production facilities, ensuring optimal implementation of welding, Preservation, and adhesive solutions.

• Collaborating with research institutes, universities, vendors, and subcontractors to drive innovation and technological advancements.

Skills & Experience

To excel as Lead Technical Specialist Welding, Preservation, and Adhesives, you should possess the following qualifications and qualities:

• Bachelor or Master degree in a relevant technical field with at least eight years of experience.

• Certification as an International Welding Engineer (IWE) or International Welding Technologist (IWT) with at least eight years of relevant experience.

• NACE (National Association of Corrosion Engineers) or Frosio diploma preferred.

• Extensive theoretical knowledge of ship production welding, perservation-related processes, metallic materials, and corrosion.

• Strong ability to maintain a broad network internally and externally.

• Proven experience in relevant fields, ideally within complex naval projects and in collaboration with research institutes, universities, vendors, and subcontractors.

• Good command of the Dutch and English language both written and verbal.

• Excellent references antecedents as a pre-employment security screening is standard part of the recruitment procedure.

• Permanent EU citizenship and passport are both required. Candidates with EU (work) visa or with both an EU and non-EU nationality and/or passport are not eligible in accordance with the requirements imposed by the military nature of our projects.