Director of Engineering - Innovation
The Director of Innovation defines, develops and implements the department's technical and scheduling objectives for innovative and new products, globally. You will relentlessly and successfully drive new product development from proof of concept to mass production and beyond across our global SharkNinja businesses. You have the mindset that anything is possible and possess the willingness to do whatever it takes to succeed.
You will work in close partnership with our Global Engineering, Quality, and Marketing teams for flawless execution. SharkNinja moves at a very fast pace, so your ability to lead and inspire engineering teams that bring products to market faster than our competition is critical. Your passion will show in the product innovation, engineering and in the consumer experience.
The SharkNinja Engineering team is comprised of creative and passionate engineers across the globe. Our teams are based in the US, UK and in China. This combined global team has been chartered to develop new product concepts for the SharkNinja brands, which currently includes (but is not limited to) vacuum cleaners, steam mops, hard floor care products, garment care and kitchen products.
As the Director of Innovation, you will work very closely with the global leadership team to align on goals, priorities, and responsibilities across the various global locations. You will provide daily direction and inspiration to the team through not just management, but hands-on design work as the leader of the team.
Responsibilities:
- Consistently deliver innovative 5-star products.
- A ‘champion’ of projects and product – Lead and partner with cross functional peers to drive specification, efficiencies and accountabilities.
- Execute all new products (in an increasingly diverse and complex Global roadmap), on time and within budget every year, enabling consistent sales growth.
- Meet or exceed all project KPI’s and requirements by mass production start date.
- Provide hands on technical expertise from concept validation through to production sign-off, identifying, prioritizing and solving problems quickly and efficiently.
- An unwavering resolve to deliver 5-star rated products in a challenging, yet highly rewarding, development environment.
- Build, retain, and manage an A-player team - Provide training and mentorship to less experienced engineers.
- Manage performance and talent development with clear career growth plans in place.
- Work in close partnership with our China and UK engineering teams to ensure flawless execution
- Lead with agility, strong teamwork and an entrepreneurial mindset
- Be an enterprise-level problem solver having a can-do, solution-oriented mindset (that the impossible can be achieved)
- Be relentless, resourceful, and entrepreneurial (constantly look for ways to do things better)
- Be nimble and flexible; adapt quickly to changing circumstances or new insights
- Be in the details and hands on; think strategically but drive actions and outcomes
- Clearly articulate design challenges and solutions to a multidisciplinary team and executive level
- Challenge assumptions and apply Design Thinking to solve real consumer problems, and translate these into Development projects
- Set priorities and keep momentum going on a mix of projects.
- Respond quickly to shifting priorities without losing sight of longer-term projects and goals
- Collaborate with the R&D team to bring new technologies into SharkNinja’s next generation products and to initiate the exploration of new technologies
Qualifications:
- BS in Engineering or related discipline, Master’s or Advanced Degree a plus
- 10+ years of related experience
- Extensive experience leading user-centered innovation projects
- Intuition on what consumers want and what works in the marketplace
- Willingness to fail quickly and fail often to succeed sooner when exploring early product concepts
- Team player
- Open to pursuing multiple paths to get to the best solution and not being too proud of your own ideas to listen to others
- Great selling and presentation skills.
- Experience designing injection-molded plastic parts and formed/pressed metal parts for high volume production
- Experience allocating resources to work on multiple projects and setting clear priorities when juggling multiple projects
- Experience working with China manufacturing partners on high volume consumer products
- Respect and understanding of other disciplines; including Industrial Design, User Experience, Electronics, Quality and Manufacturing
At SharkNinja, our purpose is to positively impact people’s lives every day in every home around the world. We work very hard to provide our consumers with high quality, exciting 5-star products that make life easier. We thrive on passion and innovation, and are looking for great people, with great ideas, who want to create the next big thing. We take a team approach to our projects, where everyone has a voice. We want individuals to push limits, look outside the box and think the unthinkable. With the explosive growth we have been experiencing, we’re looking for motivated individuals to join us on our exciting journey. People need to think big, move fast and want to make a significant impact. Are you ready?