VP Engineering

The Role 

 We are seeking a Vice President of Engineering to lead, scale, and strengthen VEIR’s engineering organization. This leader will oversee all engineering functions including LN Infrastructure, Heat Transfer, and Superconducting Systems. They will be responsible for driving execution, building organizational capability, and ensuring VEIR’s technology meets the ambitious performance, reliability, safety, and manufacturability requirements of our customers. 

This is a critical hire for VEIR’s next chapter. The ideal candidate is a deeply technical engineering leader who can operate at system-level altitude, develop robust engineering operating mechanisms, and build and mentor a world-class team in a fast-moving, first-of-its-kind technology environment. 

What You’ll Do 

• Develop and execute a comprehensive engineering strategy aligned with VEIR’s business objectives, product roadmap, and commercialization timelines. 
• Provide strong technical leadership and guidance across Cryogenic Infrastructure, Heat Transfer, and Superconducting Systems, cultivating a culture of innovation, high performance, and continuous improvement. 
• Build and scale a high-performing engineering organization capable of delivering complex hardware systems. 
• Recruit, mentor, and support engineering managers and individual contributors; set clear expectations; provide actionable feedback; and partner closely with People Leadership on professional development. 
• Work with Product Management and Commercial teams to ensure requirements, performance targets, and customer needs are clearly defined, communicated, and traceable throughout the engineering lifecycle. 
• Define and operationalize interactions between leadership teams, ensuring engineering is tightly aligned with Product, Manufacturing, Supply Chain, Business Development, and Finance. 
• Translate product requirements into detailed engineering designs, technical specifications, and execution plans. 
• Stay current on advancements in HTS technology, cryogenics, power transmission, thermal management, and related fields to ensure VEIR maintains a competitive edge. 
• Identify and mitigate engineering risks early; proactively resolve technical, schedule, quality, and cost issues. 
• Ensure engineering best practices, documentation standards, systems engineering discipline, and design review structures are consistently applied. 
• Represent engineering priorities and progress to executive leadership, the board, and key external partners. 

Year 1 Expectations 

First 3 Months:

• Gain a deep understanding of VEIR’s technology stack, engineering organization, and product development lifecycle, from cryogenic infrastructure to HTS cable systems and system integration. 
• Build strong working relationships with engineering managers, technical leads, Product Management, and Commercial teams. 
• Conduct a comprehensive assessment of engineering capabilities, processes, tools, documentation, and resourcing gaps. 
• Begin establishing clear expectations for engineering execution, communication norms, and decision-making cadence. 
• Develop a point of view on organizational structure, hiring needs, and the engineering roadmap required to support VEIR’s near-term product goals. 

First 6 Months:

• Become the full point leader on all VEIR product development activities, owning engineering execution, risk management, and cross-functional integration. 
• Execute a hiring plan to expand the engineering organization in partnership with Talent Acquisition and People Leadership. 
• Lead continuous improvements across processes for requirements definition, design reviews, systems engineering, documentation, test planning, and engineering-to-manufacturing handoff. 
• Improve collaboration between Product, Commercial, Manufacturing, and Systems Integration by defining clear interfaces and decision flows. 
• Ensure engineering deliverables consistently meet performance, safety, quality, and timeline expectations. 

By the End of Your First Year: Transform and Position Engineering for Scale 

• Build a mature product development organization capable of supporting commercialization, customer pilots, and scaled deployment. 
• Design and implement the long-term engineering structure, leadership roles, and technical program management discipline needed to meet growing customer and market demand. 
• Lead the engineering team through major product milestones, including validation, reliability improvements, manufacturability enhancements, and readiness for customer demonstrations. 
• Implement systems that improve execution predictability, reduce rework, and accelerate decision-making. 
• Position the engineering team to deliver against VEIR’s company-wide OKRs and long-term commercialization plan. 

Basic Qualifications 

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, or a related field; Master’s or Ph.D. strongly preferred. 
• 15+ years of progressive engineering experience, including 10+ years in senior engineering leadership roles overseeing complex hardware systems. 
• Deep technical understanding in one or more relevant domains: high-temperature superconductors, power transmission systems, cryogenics, process equipment, thermal management, controls, or related disciplines. 
• Demonstrated experience building and scaling multidisciplinary engineering teams. 
• Strong familiarity with industry standards and regulatory frameworks related to power delivery, electrical infrastructure, and high-reliability systems. 
• Experience working in or closely with the data center, energy, power systems, or utility industries. 
• Exceptional communication skills, with the ability to articulate complex technical concepts to engineers, executives, customers, and board members. 
• Proven ability to thrive in a fast-paced startup environment, comfortable with ambiguity, rapid decision-making, and balancing short-term execution with long-term strategy. 
• Ability to travel domestically and internationally as needed. 

VEIR is committed to equal pay for equal work in its compensation practices. The base salary range for this position in the U.S. is $225,000 - $250,000 per year + equity + benefits. A candidate's salary is determined by various factors including, but not limited to, relevant work experience, skills, certifications, job level, supervisory status, and location.