Director of Engineering

Role Purpose

The Director of Engineering provides strategic and operational leadership for Engineering, Research & Development, and New Product Introduction (NPI) at Screen & Shade Innovations. This role owns the end-to-end engineering lifecycle for existing products and new screen and shade platforms from concept and requirements definition through validation, industrialization, launch, and sustaining support.

While Screen & Shade Innovations is a commercial organization, Engineering applies defense-level systems engineering thinking without defense-level overhead using structured rigor, disciplined reviews, and clear documentation to reduce risk, accelerate execution, and ensure manufacturing readiness without unnecessary bureaucracy.

This is a hands-on, player-coach role. The Director of Engineering is expected to personally contribute to design, architecture, and technical problem solving, not operate solely as a people manager. This role has direct ownership of the company’s growing control systems, motor systems, motor controllers, and embedded communications electronics, which are critical to product performance, differentiation, and scalability.

Position Overview

The Director of Engineering has full accountability for engineering performance, including:

• Product development and R&D
• New Product Introduction (NPI) Execution
• Systems engineering rigor and requirements ownership
• Configuration management and technical data
• Manufacturing readiness and sustaining engineering
• Engineering portfolio prioritization, resourcing, and budget ownership

This role partners closely with Manufacturing, Procurement, SIOP, Logistics & Warehousing, Business Systems, Quality, Finance, and Commercial teams to translate product concepts into manufacturable, scalable, and profitable designs.

Key Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and day-to-day leadership across Electrical, Mechanical, Controls, Firmware, and Systems Engineering disciplines.
• Build, develop, and retain a high-performing multidisciplinary engineering team supporting high-mix, high-custom consumer products.
• Establish engineering standards, development practices, documentation requirements, and review discipline.
• Design organizational structures with depth, coverage, and resilience appropriate for a growing organization.
• Serve as a senior cross-functional leader influencing execution across Operations and the broader enterprise.

• Actively and personally contribute to system architecture, design decisions, and technical problem solving.
• Personally engage in design reviews, requirements definition, trade studies, and root-cause investigations.
• Step directly into detailed design work as needed to unblock progress, accelerate execution, or resolve critical issues.
• Lead from the front during prototypes, pilots, production issues, and field escalations.

• Own Product Requirements Documents (PRDs), Functional Requirements Specifications (FRSs), and system-level specifications.
• Translate customer, market, regulatory, and operational needs into clear, testable requirements.
• Ensure end-to-end requirements traceability from concept through production release.
• Apply systems engineering rigor in a commercially appropriate, right-sized manner.

• Own and continuously evolve a right-sized, stage-gate NPI process from concept through full-rate production.
• Lead formal design and readiness reviews including PDR, CDR, TRR, and MRR.
• Define gate deliverables, exit criteria, and cross-functional sign-off requirements.
• Apply Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) to manage technical risk and roadmap decisions.
• Ensure predictable, on-time, and on-budget delivery of engineering programs.

• Own the end-to-end development of motor systems, motor controllers, and embedded electronics supporting screen and shade products.
• Lead architecture, design, validation, and lifecycle ownership of:
  • Motors (performance, acoustics, reliability, thermal behavior)
  • Motor controllers and drive electronics
  • Communications and control boards
• Personally engage in electrical architecture development, schematic design oversight, and system-level validation.
• Define and evolve electrical and controls architectures in SI products supporting RF, PoE, Zigbee, Josh.AI, and other smart-home or commercial control protocols.
• Ensure designs meet performance, safety, compliance, manufacturability, reliability, and cost targets.
• Partner with Manufacturing, Quality, and Suppliers to industrialize electronics into reliable, scalable production.

• Design products for manufacturability, testability, serviceability, reliability, and scalability (DFM/DFA).
• Support prototype, pilot, ramp, and steady-state production.
• Own resolution of design-related production issues and quality escapes.
• Maintain engineering accountability through sustained production lifecycle ownership.

• Own EBOMs, Technical Data Packages (TDPs), and revision control.
• Lead configuration management and Engineering Change Order (ECO) processes.
• Maintain Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) as the system of record (e.g., Windchill)
• Ensure tight coordination between Engineering, Manufacturing, and Procurement on all changes.

• Identify and design out key cost drivers across materials, labor, and complexity.
• Lead design-to-cost, margin improvement, and value-engineering initiatives.
• Own engineering budgets, resource planning, and portfolio prioritization.
• Build business cases for platform investments, tooling, automation, and roadmap tradeoffs.
• Ensure engineering decisions reflect total lifecycle cost, margin, and warranty exposure.

• Lead the design, development, validation, and lifecycle ownership of jigs, fixtures, special tooling, gauges, and test equipment required to support safe, repeatable, and scalable manufacturing execution.
• Partner closely with Manufacturing to define tooling and fixture requirements during NPI, prototype builds, pilot runs, and production readiness.
• Design and implement tooling solutions that improve ergonomics, quality, throughput, repeatability, and operator safety on the manufacturing floor.
• Ensure all tooling and fixtures are properly documented, released, revision-controlled, and supported throughout the production lifecycle.
• Support continuous improvement efforts by identifying tooling opportunities that reduce variation, scrap, rework, and operator dependency.

• Provide engineering leadership and technical support for the after-market customer support organization across all screen and shade product lines.
• Partner with Customer Support, Quality, and Manufacturing to investigate field issues, customer complaints, and failures through structured root-cause analysis.
• Develop and implement corrective actions including design changes, service procedures, technical documentation updates, and product improvements.
• Support product reliability, serviceability, and field performance improvements through disciplined feedback loops from customer experience to engineering and NPI.
• Ensure field failure data, warranty trends, and customer feedback are systematically captured, analyzed, and incorporated into sustaining engineering and future product development efforts.

• Master’s degree in engineering required (Electrical Engineering strongly preferred).
• 8+ years of progressive engineering experience in a manufacturing environment.
• 5+ years of engineering leadership experience managing multidisciplinary teams.
• Experience developing high-custom consumer products and supporting live manufacturing environments.

• Proven success operating as a hands-on, player-coach engineering leader in a small or mid-sized organization.
• Strong background in Electrical Engineering, controls, and embedded systems.
• Demonstrated experience leading development of motor-driven systems, motor controllers, and embedded communications boards from concept through production.
• Working knowledge of Mechanical Engineering and electromechanical integration.
• Experience with motor and motor controller design (sub-100W preferred).
• Hands-on experience with Windchill or equivalent PLM systems.
• Strong working knowledge of PDR, CDR, TRR, MRR, and Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs).
• Systems-first, execution-oriented mindset with strong business and financial judgment.
• High ownership, accountability-driven leader who communicates clearly and influences across functions.
• Comfortable operating without large support teams, consultants, or layers of management.
• Equally comfortable at the whiteboard, in design tools, and on the manufacturing floor.

Certifications (Preferred)

• Professional Engineer (PE)
• Project Management Professional (PMP)
• INCOSE or equivalent Systems Engineering certification
• Lean / DFMA certification
• Digital Engineering or PLM certification