Pailin Group Executive Search
Vice President, Engineering
Job Locations US-TX-Dallas Area
Job ID 2018-1115
Overview
The Vice President, Engineering will be a key member of the executive team reporting directly to the President. They will be responsible for leading all engineering development activities for the company, working closely with the strategy, sales, marketing, finance, manufacturing, customer support and product management teams to envision and define features in the product roadmap and be accountable for the features development, deployment and support. In addition, to the technical leadership of the team, this role has full management responsibility and oversight for a U.S. cross-functional group of engineering professionals.
They will create and implement processes and procedures to increase the velocity and speed of the Development organization that can be applied productively, predictably and with high quality and customer satisfaction across the organization. The Vice President, Engineering will play a key role in helping to formulate and execute strategies that promote repeatable system solutions to meet and exceed customer requirements.
Responsibilities
Key responsibilities of this position include:
The VP Engineering is a member of the executive team and will contribute to the leadership of the company’s vision, strategies and plans.
Working closely with executive and senior management across all functions to create strategic plans to ensure the strategic goals are clearly understood and effectively and efficiently addressed by the technical team.
Advise the executive team on strategic and global engineering initiatives and strategy.
Provide strategic direction and act as a thought leader for the technical organization.
Leading all aspects of the company’s product development effort and overseeing all Product Development to include; Hardware/Mechanical Engineering, Software Engineering, Embedded Systems, Test/Quality Assurance and Product Architecture.
Building, leading, managing, sustaining and scaling a highly skilled and motivated technology team.
Fostering a culture of achievement and quality delivery that permeates the entire development organization.
Direct, plan, control and evaluate development activities.
Establishing and/or improving technical standards ensuring adherence to them for product development and company operations to be aligned with customer and market needs.
Develop and/or improve tools, systems, processes and procedures to increase department efficiency and effectiveness.
Creating and implementing methodologies and best practices to ensure that resources are being allocated efficiently and goals are achieved.
Partner with Product Management and Product Marketing to understand and plan for future product release requirements and to ensure promotion of new features and product value.
Overseeing translation of product direction into plans and developing priorities to develop high-quality, best in class products on-time and on-budget product releases.
Overseeing compliance processes and procedures to ensure that solutions are developed in a secure manner, and that they have appropriate functionality to protect personally identifiable information and sensitive data.
Developing strong relationships with customers, alliances and key stakeholders.
Participate and represent WatchGuard, Inc. in industry groups and events to create internal and external awareness of systems solutions.
Making regular presentations to customers, the executive team, and the board.
This leadership position requires an executive presence, a sharp agile intellect, creative flexibility, boundless energy, and optimism. It requires devil-is-in-the-details precision as well as top-of-the-mountain panoramic vision. The individual must possess the leadership and organizational abilities to lead the engineering team through rapid growth, striking the right balance between process and execution while remaining nimble and responsive. The role also demands an individual with keen interpersonal intelligence capable of building and sustaining strong relationships within WatchGuard, Inc. and among its customers, alliances and partners.
Qualifications
Minimum Requirements:
Generally, 15 years or more of experience in Software Engineering with leadership and management experience in a medium to large Enterprise Software Company with a least 7 years in a leadership role reporting to the CEO.
A sound working knowledge of Enterprise Hardware and Embedded Systems.
Proven ability to operate at scale within a large Enterprise Software Company, with upwards of eighty team members.
Must have disciplined engineering/architectural background with experience in successfully delivering major releases over multiple time periods.
Must be experienced with Agile Development Methodologies.
Prior experience leading a team and/or architecting products within a multi-tenancy Cloud/SaaS environment.
Experience with enterprise audio, video, security, mobile, big data, analytics toolsets and advanced architectures is a plus.
A background in the delivery of new enterprise product suites and the associated support of legacy frameworks.
Demonstrated record of success in leading product engineering in a transitioning company; recognizing and quickly responding to market challenges and opportunities.
Experience implementing process, methodology, and quality control across a large department and geography.
Ability to work within broad corporate objectives to define functional goals, steering strategic workforce planning, creating and communicating consistent standards of performance and creating a high performance driven culture.
Demonstrated ability to build, mentor and coach high-level teams to meet professional and performance goals, cultivate strong relationships with team members.
Attract and retain the very best engineering talent to globally grow and transform the organization.
Proven track record of fast-paced strategic thinking: identifying critical issues and crafting practical solutions.
Ability and willingness to generate ideas, stimulate discussion, and drive results across the entire organization.
Outstanding written and verbal communication skills and superior presentation abilities, with the capacity to communicate with a variety of audiences, from board members and industry leaders to managers, staff, customers, alliances, partners and analysts.
Education:
Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or Engineering is required
Graduate degree in Computer Science or Engineering is preferred
Personal Attributes:
The intelligence, motivation, and passion to build a world-class company and deliver value to customers. The ability to be an operator, steward, strategist, and catalyst. A “partner” mindset, facilitating close work with the management team in developing strategy. Strong entrepreneurial drive, high energy, a “self-starter” attitude, the ability to set and meet aggressive goals, and the drive to succeed both personally and professionally. A strong presence, ability to be a credible internal and external spokesperson.
The ability to build and coach strong teams (both internally and externally), to cultivate relationships, to manage proactively and positively, and to stimulate candid dialogue.
The ability to communicate a vision and lead others to execute it.
The clarity of vision and strength of conviction to act decisively and authoritatively, without consensus when necessary.
The ability to hold others accountable and to proactively address and resolve conflict.
The ability to create a culture of shared values in which employees work cooperatively toward common and mutually recognized objectives.
Experience with market uncertainties and the ability to weather a storm and maintain composure and calmness during short-term market fluctuations.
Well qualified professionals please forward resume along with compensation requirements in complete confidence to the Pailin Group Professional Search Consultants
Robert Martin - Engineering Group Division Manager rmartin@pailingroup.com
