Director of Engineering, RF Applications - Rolling Meadows, IL

Description

Company Background

Epiq Solutions develops cutting-edge software-defined radio (SDR) products and processing solutions to enable spectrum dominance for maritime, land, air, and space domains. With 17 years serving government and commercial enterprise customers and 30K+ devices fielded to more than 500 customers, Epiq Solutions is a trusted partner with a proven heritage of delivering open architecture products in radically small form factors where time-to-market, cost, and performance are critical for mission success.

For more information, visit https://epiqsolutions.com

Introduction

We are seeking an experienced and results-driven Director of Engineering to lead our RF Applications team, focused on building government-aligned RF software applications and complete RF solutions. The ideal candidate is an accomplished engineering leader with a proven ability to build, develop, and lead high-performing organizations through growth, change, and increasing complexity. Success in this role requires exceptional people leadership, organizational leadership, stakeholder management, and a drive for organization and business growth, combined with sufficient technical depth to guide engineering strategy and decision-making. Our team culture strikes a balance of high performance and high integrity, while remaining humble and pragmatic, and we seek an engineering leader who thrives in this environment. The candidate must be data-driven, well-organized, and motivated to help their team thrive, execute, and grow.

Job Responsibilities

Leadership and Organizational Effectiveness  

• Establish and communicate a clear vision, priorities, and operating principles for the RF Applications engineering organization. 
• Build and develop a high-performing leadership team through coaching, feedback, accountability, and succession planning. 
• Foster a culture of trust, collaboration, ownership, continuous improvement, and professional development. 
• Lead organizational change initiatives while maintaining team engagement, alignment, and productivity. 
• Establish clear performance expectations and proactively address performance, accountability, and development opportunities. 
• Drive employee engagement, retention, and leadership development across the RF Applications engineering organization. 
• Serve as a trusted partner to executive leadership and cross-functional stakeholders.
• Monitor and improve organizational health through employee engagement, talent development, retention, and effective leadership practices.
• Develop an onboarding and mentorship program to enable new employees to rapidly integrate and contribute to Epiq’s success.

Engineering Strategy, Execution & Delivery  

• Lead and develop a team of engineering managers and engineers across multiple disciplines, ensuring organizational effectiveness, leadership accountability, talent development, and successful execution of engineering objectives.
• Work closely with our product management team to ensure there is alignment between our product roadmap priorities and the engineering execution within our project teams.
• Experience engaging with customers to understand requirements, communicate technical solutions, and support business growth.
• Partner with Product Management, Project Management , Operations, Sales, and Executive Leadership to align priorities, communicate tradeoffs, and ensure successful execution of business objectives.
• Provide technical leadership and strategic guidance to the RF Applications engineering team, contributing to architecture, technology strategy, customer engagements, and proposal efforts as appropriate.
• Establish relationships with engineering leaders across all Epiq locations and drive successful execution of cross site projects.
• Collaborate with the Director of Engineering – SDR to establish, align, and implement engineering standards, policies, and procedures that drive quality, consistency and compliance across the engineering organization.
• Coach and develop engineering managers and technical leaders through regular feedback, mentoring, performance management, and career development planning.
• Participate in our engineering recruiting and hiring efforts, working closely with HR and engineering functional managers.
• Promote a culture of continuous improvement and learning within the engineering team.  

Requirements

Job Requirements

Leadership Requirements  

• Demonstrated success leading managers, developing technical leaders, and building leadership capability within a growing engineering organization. 
• Experience leading organizational change, including restructuring teams, implementing new processes, and driving adoption of new ways of working. 
• Demonstrated experience establishing operating rhythms, performance metrics, and accountability mechanisms that drive organizational effectiveness.
• Strong executive presence with the ability to influence stakeholders at all levels of the organization. 
• Experience navigating complex organizational dynamics and aligning cross-functional teams around shared objectives. 
• Demonstrated ability to provide difficult feedback, address performance concerns, and drive meaningful behavioral change. 
• Track record of developing leadership bench strength, succession plans, and internal talent pipelines. 
• Demonstrated commitment to continuous learning, including actively seeking feedback, adapting behavior, and applying lessons learned to improve leadership effectiveness.

Engineering Strategy & Execution Requirements  

• Minimum of 15 years of engineering experience, including at least 5 years leading engineering teams, managers, or technical organizations. 
• Experience leading and scaling engineering organizations through growth, organizational change, and increasing complexity. 
• Demonstrated ability to develop and execute engineering strategies, organizational priorities, and operating models that drive measurable business results. 
• Excellent project and organizational management skills, with experience delivering complex initiatives on time and within budget. 
• Experience with budget management, resource planning, and organizational prioritization.
• Strong communication and stakeholder management skills, with the ability to communicate technical and business tradeoffs to diverse audiences. 
• Strong technical acumen with the ability to effectively guide technical discussions, evaluate tradeoffs, and contribute to engineering strategy when needed. 
• Experience with engineering workforce planning, recruiting, hiring, and talent development.
• Understanding of compliance, security, and industry-specific regulatory requirements. 
• Ability to foster a culture of collaboration, accountability, innovation, continuous improvement, and customer-focused product development. 
• Demonstrated ownership, accountability, and commitment to team and organizational outcomes.
• Bachelor's degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field; Master's degree or MBA preferred.

Desired Skills (one or more)  

• Experience in the domain of RF Application and associated software, FPGA, and DSP development
• Familiarity with commercial and government waveforms and communication standards and wireless signals.
• Experience with RF system integration and solution development.
• Experience with software development, lifecycle, and agile methodologies

Success in This Role

Success in this role will be measured by the Director's ability to:  

• Build and develop a high-performing Engineering organization. 
• Develop a strong leadership bench and succession pipeline for critical engineering roles.
• Establish clear accountability and predictable execution across engineering teams. 
• Deliver engineering commitments aligned with company and product objectives. 
• Develop engineering managers and future leaders through coaching and succession planning. 
• Foster a culture of collaboration, innovation, continuous improvement, and ownership. 
• Lead organizational change effectively while maintaining employee engagement and productivity. 
• Build strong cross-functional partnerships through transparent communication, stakeholder engagement, and trust.

Benefits

• Join a successful small company with a bright future
• Flexible work hours
• Generous vacation policy
• Paid five-week sabbatical every five years
• 401(k) matching
• Health, dental, vision insurance
• Life, short and long-term disability insurance
• Employee assistance program
• Wellness reimbursement
• Charitable giving company match
• Competitive salary commensurate with experience and performance
• Fun, laid-back culture and rewarding work!

Epiq Solutions is an Equal Employment Opportunity Employer - All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran.