Director Of Innovation Jobs

HME has been creating innovative products for the drive-thru and pro-audio industries since 1971. From the very beginning, we've known these solutions would never have happened without the customer-focused people who make up our company. HME has a team environment with a culture of collaboration, learning, and growth. With subsidiaries located in California, Georgia, Missouri, Canada, UK, and China, companies around the world depend on HME for clear, reliable communication solutions. From setting the standard for drive-thru headsets and timer systems in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) industry to developing professional audio equipment used in the Olympic Games, HME strives to create the newest, most innovative products on the market while providing quality care and attention to its customers. At HME you will have the opportunity to learn and grow while developing our future products. Come join our team!

If you thrive in creative, collaborative environments and have an entrepreneurial mindset with strong problem-solving skills, then our Director of Innovation is the position for you. In this role, you will build a team of innovative individuals to identify, validate, and execute new ideas to solve customer and market problems in collaboration with customers, partners, engineering, and product management.

The ideal candidate for our Director of Innovation opportunity must be a creative big picture thinker, an independent problem solver, a cross-functional team leader, and an effective project manager. You will select projects that have the highest potential business impact and set specific achievable goals for the innovation team to execute. The key responsibilities for this position include conducting research to identify unmet customer/market needs and problems, formulating innovative solutions to needs and problems, selecting with business leaders the optimal solution, and finally leading the development of the solution. To succeed in this role, you will need to be a highly creative and practical problem solver. To create innovative solutions, you must have a wide breadth of knowledge and experience in electrical, mechanical, and software engineering, and a proven track record leading the development of innovative solutions and products.

What you will do in the position:

• Work with the Innovation Steering Committee to evaluate and propose technical solutions to proposed Innovation Projects.
• Report to management on status and estimates to complete of each task department resources are involved in.
• Refine high-level product goals/specifications for selected projects and translate these into engineering team goals.
• Establish resource priorities, schedule tasks, track and report progress.
• Train and mentor other staff personnel in project leadership, design, troubleshooting, and equipment operation.
• Perform make/buy analysis for work packages as required to achieve project completion goals.
• Identify new trends and business opportunities within the HSC QSR market and turn into PoCs and projects.
• Estimate cost and schedule for new projects and identify project risks utilizing risk mitigation plans.
• Track the success of the new products/PoCs.
• Supervise and review assigned staff and appropriate subcontractors.
• Set milestones and provide clear direction and expectations for assigned staff and subcontractors.
• Participate in trade shows with sales and product management as necessary to gain knowledge about customer pain points.
• Visit customer corporate locations and sites to observe existing workflows and identify areas where opportunities exist to provide value.
• Meet project performance, cost, and schedule targets and work with stakeholders to reset targets if required.
• Define processes as needed to complete innovation projects within desired timeframe.

What you will need to succeed in this position:

• Travel up to 15%
• Experience functionally managing a team.
• Senior-level system engineering expertise with a strong working knowledge of multiple engineering disciplines, including electrical, mechanical, and software.
• 10+ years developing hardware/software products.
• Ability to lead complex projects to completion with minimum guidance.
• Bachelor's Degree, Electrical or Computer Engineering.
• 5+ years leading projects.

Pay Range: $139,035.00 to $213,900.00. This is the pay range we reasonably expect to pay for the role. This may vary depending on experience and other factors. Our benefits package includes tuition reimbursement; 3 weeks paid vacation your first year, paid holidays, medical, vision and dental coverage, pet insurance, life insurance, and 401K contributions.

The physical demands and work environment described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform the essential functions. The employee will occasionally lift and move up to 25 pounds.