Technical Director

Technical Director – Design 1) Role Purpose * Mandate: Accelerate innovation and deliver new product Introduction (NPI) that is successful in existing and new markets through delivery of design strategy. * Board Role: Share high-level priority-setting with the board; translate strategy into decisive roadmaps, resources, and delivery. * Team Context: Lead a cross functional design engineering team; work through a direct report manager to remove blockers, focus effort, and raise the pace. 2) Outcomes * NPI Throughput: Increase NPD delivery (2–3 new product launches in first year) * Innovation Pipeline: Build a validated, Board‑aligned pipeline * Market Fit & Customer Proof: Systematic customer validation at key stages * Design Quality & Reliability: Prototype validation and prevention of scope creep * Team Focus: Reduce scope creep; establish weekly cadence and WIP limits; improve engagement scores and cycle predictability. 3) Accountability * Owns: Design strategy execution, engineering standards, resource allocation within design, stage‑gate discipline, technical risk management. * Influences: Product portfolio priorities, pricing/positioning, investment cases; collaborates with Ops and Finance on trade‑offs. * Commits: Delivery against Board‑agreed roadmaps; transparent reporting of risk/mitigation; escalation before schedule slips. 4) Core Responsibilities * Set Pace & Focus: Translate Board priorities into monthly design KPIs * Gateway Leadership: Install gateways with stakeholder validation, DFMEA, and reliability targets. * Technical Direction: Define architecture choices, platform strategy, and standards; arbitrate key technical decisions. * Responsibility range: Research and discovery to production ready. * Resource & Capacity: Balance team workloads through manager (direct report); consultant and specialist management; fix bottlenecks (test, tooling, supplier readiness). * Customer & Market Integration: Embed structured voice‑of‑customer; ensure requirements are testable, traceable, and risk‑rated. * Standards and regulations: Embed compliance with industry and business standards into team and product design structure. * Technology Integration: Embed structured AI, 3D printing and robotics into a design for manufacture structure. * Quality & Lifecycle: Drive design for manufacturability, serviceability, and cost; own design transfer to manufacturing. * Board Engagement: Provide clear dashboards on pipeline, risks, and investment needs; propose stop/go/accelerate decisions. * Talent & Culture: Coach senior engineers; encourage deep work and high‑leverage innovation; raise standards without micro‑managing