https://www.swe.com/director-mechatronics-design-operations/
Director Mechatronics Design Operations
Director, Mechatronics Design Operations
Position Overview
As the Mechatronics Design Operations Director you will:
· Collaborate with the SWE executive steering team (CEO, Sales, Manufacturing, Finance, IT) on strategic opportunities and roadmaps. These plans prioritize smart battery system projects based on “mechatronics” platforms including hardware, firmware, applications software, communications, battery cells, and mechanical enclosures for harsh environments.
· Oversight of product design and developments that differentiate SWE to our customers, ensure efficient manufacture at acceptable material/labor costs and meet time-to-market objectives. This includes:
o Assigning design leads (DLs) who are your systems engineering segment experts and your project managers of matrixed teams. You assign internal designers or outsourced design services to the DLs. The DLs and design staff are your direct reports.
o Transforming market requirements and product concepts into prototypes (per frozen market requirements and design spec) for testing/validation and ultimately release finished products to manufacturing for production.
o Ensuring you and your teams keep project status and variance to baseline transparent to the SWE executive steering team.
o Institutionalization of processes for project life cycle management, design best practices and creating systems for design (with IT) to deliver best in class service-quality-reliability and value.
· Organize research and proof-of-concept experiments (Ex: New battery cells, subsea technologies and downhole oil and gas technologies) as required in advance of commissioning new product projects.
· Manage major quotes with the steering team.
Experience
A successful candidate will have an experience profile and career enjoyment that is similar to the following:
- Electronics Systems Engineering background (preferably in embedded systems or mechatronics)
- Has directly managed:
o Projects: Over the full project life cycle for new products from concept to design to V&V to release to production and close.
o Design personnel: System architecture, circuit design, board layout, firmware, GUI, mechanical, comm, test/validation.
o Engineering administration: Hiring, onboarding, performance assessments, salaries, vacations, coaching, training plans, provisioning, capital and lab needs and making project assignments. On-boarding includes teaching how the design teams functions, documents and does products.
- Authored design processes and best practices where none existed driving continuous improvement in schedule predictability, reliability and quality of design including DFxs (for cost, producibility, reliability, temperature, pressure, shock and vibration); peer reviews; DV
- Collaborated with:
o Manufacturing management for aligned release to production of new products you design managed.
o Sales to lock down product requirements and make scope-schedule-resource tradeoffs for products you design managed.
o Executive VP, CEO, GM or equivalent to define long term strategies.
o Finance in assessing return-on-investment (ROI) of key projects.
o HR on engineering hiring, salaries, on-boarding, performance reviews and retention
o IT on systems for designers (ex: PLM for doc control, ECNs/revision control etc)
- Selected and managed project outsourcing to design services companies when staffing overflow exists
· Led project recovery thrusts such as Root Cause Analysis (RCA) and risk mitigation. (It happens!)
Personal Attributes
· Able to thrive in a small company adventure while driving change with a bit of patience. At small companies we “do whatever it takes to please the customer”. ADAPT!
· Enjoys getting new products out the door.
· Known as:
o An engaging, confident collaborator and communicator who can build strong relationships with the steering team.
o A respected leader, coach and mentor for designers.
o When things get tough will jump in and lend a hand if that’s what the project needs.
o Accountable. Focused on results and quality of results.
o Structured and organized but not bureaucratic. Able to tailor processes to fit the need.
· Thrives in being the escalation point for the tough problems that cut across organizational boundaries and working out solutions.
· Gets excited learning new technologies, new applications and visiting new customers.
Education
· BSEE/MSEE
· 15 years of design team management experience across the end-to-end product development process (PDP)
· Project Management trained and experienced (PMP desirable)
· Continued systems Engineering training along the way to avoid getting stale