Vice President R&D – WAC Lighting

Position Overview

Based out of our New York Global Headquarters, the Vice President of R&D works with global engineering resources, technology leaders and Product Managers to lead new product development & line extensions from concept through product life cycle.  This position drives effective market research and develops product that aligns with customer needs.  The role includes analyzing return on investment, recommending worthwhile product investments and overseeing the lifecycle process to ensure ROI of development initiatives are realized.  As leader of the development process, this position drives global teams to meet product release deadlines.

Critical Success Factors:

  • Development of winning concepts that meet customer needs and sales projections and contribute to the company’s overall growth strategy.
  • Effective management of global resources to meet product rollout deadlines.
  • Successful management of China factory resources to meet deadlines and service level agreements.
  • Effective management of material/development costs and product life cycles to ensure ROI on new product initiatives.

Responsibilities:

  • Works with Marketing and Sales to develop market research strategy to effectively identify customer needs for new products and existing product improvements.
  • Works with internal and external design resources to develop cutting edge new product concepts to meet customer expectations and achieve sales targets. Looks for the latest trends in technology.
  • Using internal and external resources manages the development of new product proposals including design sketches, design engineering, line drawings, and new technology recommendations.
  • Manage the team’s product designs and specifications, including lamping, style, finishes, and technology recommendations for presentation to Executive
  • Works with sales team to identify sales forecasts based on product specifications.
  • Work with global product and purchasing teams to identify cost associated with development of each product, analyzes ROI and makes recommendations on products worth moving forward.
  • Works with global Purchasing team to identify cost effective material vendors while maintaining expected quality and service levels.
  • Manage the Product Development team to set preliminary schedules for production including pilot run, product and finish review, label production, and initial order quantities (IOQ)
  • Drives global Product Management and engineering teams to meet product rollout deadlines. Assists in overcoming barriers as they arise.
  • Coaches, trains, motivates and mentors direct and in-direct staff. Participates in the performance management process including, hiring, disciplinary actions, evaluations and terminations of direct reports.
  • Works with Product Managers and Engineers to provide the appropriate technical materials including product design story, specifications, photometrics, etc. to support effective product launches and assist the sales & marketing team in achieving sales targets.
  • Measures ongoing success of each product line developed by the team to ensure ROI is realized.
  • Oversees product lifecycle and product SKUs to effectively support business needs and enhance efficiencies.

Requirements:

  • Bachelor’s Degree in Electronics Engineering or related field of study.
  • Minimum of 15+ years global product development experience.
  • Strong interpersonal, analytical, verbal and written communication skills.
  • Strong organization and project management skills.
  • Ability to meet tight and changing deadlines.
  • Quarterly international travel for 2-3 weeks at a time.
  • Effective presentation skills and the ability to communicate with individuals at all levels of the organization.
  • Ability to drive directives through direct and non-direct reports.
  • Attention to detail in composing materials, establishing priorities and meeting deadlines.
  • Ability to work in a fast-paced environment with demonstrated ability to juggle multiple competing tasks/demands.
  • Strong knowledge of a variety of computer software applications in Microsoft Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Cad via Solid Works or Professional Engineer.
  • Mandarin Chinese language capabilities a huge plus.

Please send all inquiries to Jonathan Reetz [email protected]