Our client is an exciting, young Toronto-based medical device company focused on developing transformational solutions for applications in medical, commercial/industrial and military markets. The firm’s innovative engineering and technology assists people in overcoming physical limitations to achieve the previously unthinkable.

The company is well funded, publically traded and boasts a robust growth strategy focused on the continued commercialization of their existing portfolio of products and the acquisition of additional synergistic products, technologies and companies.

Scope of Position

Reporting to the CEO, the VP Engineering is responsible for providing leadership in all activities related to the development and delivery of products/systems from definition and specification through design, regulatory approval, release, enhancement, quality assurance, implementation and support.

The VP Engineering will cultivate an environment that attracts, deploys and retains the human and other resources required to effectively develop, deliver and support world class technologies that will provide value to the company’s customers, while meeting the business strategy and goals for profitable growth.

Functional Tasks

• Hire and manage direct reports, along with their goal setting, performance measurement and development feedback
• Develop reliable technologies/systems on-time, within cost targets, using accepted state-of-the-art methodologies balancing the demands of functionality, quality, costs, and desired release dates
• Maintain keen awareness of the trends and conditions in technology, products and development tools relative to the needs of the company’s customers and businesses
• Audit existing and establish new scalable development platforms and processes which meet current organizational requirements, anticipates future growth and complexity and balance the need for predictability and creative license
• Establish key indicators for competitive performance in completion of development projects and for rapid, realistic decisions on strategies, plans and projects
• Align the engineering organization’s activities with the company goals and strategic direction, as well as with the company’s corporate values in areas such as people, integrity, passion and innovation
• Foster an environment that enables highly technical staff to consistently perform with excellence, to set and meet personal and team goals, and to develop and be recognized for best in class competence in their field(s) within the context of the company’s development programs
• Establish and maintain succession plans and programs for all positions within the engineering organization to ensure the smooth transition and minimize vacancies for critical roles
• Provide design/development teams with appropriate resources to perform assigned tasks.
• Interface with appropriate internal and external resources to ensure intellectual property is appropriately protected.
• Interface with appropriate internal and external resources (regulatory, customers, etc.) to ensure development programs meet regulatory and customer requirements.
• Comply with Health Canada, CE Marks, Iso1485, FDA Class 2. and QSR regulations, other regulatory requirements, Company policies, operating procedures, processes, and task assignments.
• Maintain positive and cooperative communications and collaboration with all levels of employees, customers, contractors, and vendors.
• Serve as part of the senior management team ensuring throughout that everyone is informed of design/development progress and issues.
• Implement engineering budgets and monitor project expenditures to ensure product development efficiency.
• Create and sustains a viable organizational structure to make optimum use of talent, technology and systems.
• Manage product roadmaps, interfacing with customers and other stakeholders to ensure that the organization is not only developing technologies for today but also with a clear direction and plan for tomorrow.

Key Performance Deliverables

In light of the identified responsibilities, the following arespecific deliverables that the position is responsible for achieving:

• Development of staff eg. Goals completed, performance reviews completed etc
• Retention and recruiting
• Employee satisfaction and motivation
• Functionality and performance
• Budget management as well as product cost
• Product reliability
• Innovation as measured by benchmarking against competitive products.
• Productivity eg. engineers/revenue ratio
• Responsiveness eg. to market changes, customers
• Achievement of overall corporate goals

Competency Profile

The following competencies listed below define the role ofVP Engineering:

Role Expertise
Demonstrates critical technical or professional knowledge/skills related to the role. Has thorough knowledge of relevant products, services and methods. Expands technical knowledge/skills and keeps up-to-date in own area of expertise.

Quality Orientation
Strives for excellence in products, processes and/or services through continued evaluation, enhancement and redefinition of quality standards.

Planning & Objective Setting
Systematic in approach to work. Produces action plans in which objectives are defined and steps forachieving them are clearly specified. Plans by breaking down large task into subtasks. Develops plans that anticipate obstacles. Is realistic about time-scales and builds in appropriate checkpoints, milestones and controls in order to ensure that desired results are realized.

People Management
Establishes and communicates clear priorities and sense of direction. Clarifies roles and responsibilities. Adapts management style to achieve optimum results.

The successful candidate will be someone who has been successful in a high growth environment and brings refined skills. This is not a role for someone who has not /can not operate with independency, authority, and responsibility delivering to budget.

Drive
Adopts an energetic approach. Works towards goals and willingly tackles demanding tasks. Demonstrates capacity for sustained effort and hard work over long periods of time, even in the face of adversity.

Communication
Expresses ideas in a clear, fluent and concise manner; written and oral arguments are compelling and responsive to the needs of the audience; comprehends communications from others and responds appropriately.

Innovation
Generates new ideas. Challenges existing assumptions. Goes beyond the status quo. Recognizes the need for new or modified approaches. Brings various perspectives and approaches together, combining them in a creative fashion to implement effective improvements.

Results Orientation
Focuses strongly on achieving agreed upon outcomes and ensures that key objectives are met. Conveys a sense of urgency and drives issues to closure. Aims to improve upon past performance. Establishes aggressive personal targets and strives to achieve them.

Preferred Experience / Education

• The preferred candidate will have experience working in highly dynamic, entrepreneurial, fast-paced and innovative environments
• The successful candidate will have superior communication and people management skills with a proven ability to motivate teams, instill accountability and achieve agreed upon outcomes.
• A leadership style that ensures projects are driven by a unified purpose, a development process suitable to the project at hand, a team culture of understanding the problem, and a flow of ideas such that the best ideas rise to the surface.
• Excellent planning and control skills capable of driving effective functional governance frameworks and decision-making.
• The successful candidate will have been successful in scaling engineering organizations
• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Physics, Biomedical Sciences or other appropriate engineering discipline or equivalent combination of education and experience to perform at this level
• A minimum of 10+ years direct related leadership experience; proven track record of directing engineering teams to successful launch consistent with international regulatory and quality assurance standards of biomedical devices or systems
• Advanced understanding of mechanical, electrical, software engineering
• Understanding of the biomedical industry, competitive environment, external customers, product development process, and quality regulations.
• Strong proven business acumen and ability to lead the development of engineering concepts into market-leading products.
• Excellent organization, supervisory, managerial and negotiating skills to manage a team of engineers and contractors.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills
• Highly competitive base salary, variable and stock option package for the successful candidate.
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