Hardware Development Director

Job overview:
The R&D Operations team provides support across the entire R&D organization, helping with program status reporting, bridging R&D and manufacturing, training programs, process development, tools development & support, test automation, coordinating centralized support, site-wide social activities, patent applications, and many other things to help the R&D team as a whole be as effective as possible. We are the grease or the glue (depending on the situation) and get to work with several corporate functions outside of R&D, including facilities, finance, manufacturing, tech support, sales, marketing and IT/IS.
 We are looking for a seasoned and influential Hardware Development Leader with experience in the various aspects of Hardware development (PCB, Electrical, Layout, Mechanical) who will serve as a technical coach and organizational catalyst—helping teams elevate their practices, accelerate delivery, improve quality, align on modern development toolchains, and embrace the power of AI-assisted engineering.  This role drives engineering excellence across the entire product lifecycle—guiding teams from early ideation through development, launch, scale, and end-of-life with strategic direction, best practices, and continuous improvement.
Unlike traditional management roles, the hardware teams do not report to this position. Instead, this leader influences through expertise, credibility, sound judgement, and the ability to connect dots across the organization. Your mission: empower teams, enable improvement, and help them build exceptional products—without weaponizing metrics or process.
Who you report to: Sr. Director R&D Operations
What we offer:
Ross offers competitive salaries, comprehensive health plans, and several perks to help you perform at your best. Some of these perks include flexible hours, generous paid time off, fitness/wellness allowance, an employee share ownership program, development support, and a ton of fun social activities and events Best of all, you will be part of the Ross Video family, and we've got an energizing environment here.  
What the job is all about:
Strategic Cross-Team Coaching & Leadership

Define and own the long-term Hardware Engineering Excellence Strategy, ensuring Ross stays ahead of emerging tools, platforms, and engineering practices.
Develop and maintain a multi-year engineering maturity roadmap spanning tooling, processes, automation, AI augmentation, and cross-team collaboration.
Mentor engineers and technical leads to improve decision-making, design effectiveness, and collaboration.
Lead cross-team "shift-left" transformation programs aimed at improving predictability, quality, innovation velocity, and engineering culture.
Ensures that best practices, tools, and processes support every phase of the hardware lifecycle, from initial concept through production, maintenance, and end of life.
Facilitate constructive design reviews, retrospectives, and improvement workshops across teams through internal retrospectives and cross functional Root Cause Analysis.
Recognize that "one size does not fit all" and tailor guidance to each team's product domain, maturity level, and workflow.

Technical Cross-Team Leadership

Act as a trusted advisor to multiple hardware teams, providing guidance on architecture, system design, manufacturability, validation, and lifecycle management.
Serve as an organizational thought leader on the future of hardware development, monitoring industry trends and advising executives accordingly.
Support teams in tackling technical debt, component obsolescence, reliability challenges, and cost optimization.
Encourage design re-use across teams for common functions.
Champion robust methodologies including DFM, DFT, DFR, risk assessment, and structured validation practices.
Collaborate with Component Engineering, Change Management, Product Safety & EMC Compliance, manufacturing and supply chain to ensure hardware designs are manufacturable, reliable, and lifecycle-resilient.

Toolchain, Platform, and Engineering Ecosystem Leadership

Champion modern hardware development ecosystems, ensuring teams have access to state-of-the-art tools for schematic/PCB design, simulation, test automation, and documentation.
Influence capital investment decisions for lab infrastructure, simulation systems, cloud-based EDA platforms, and AI engineering tools —balancing standardization with team autonomy.
Work with the R&D Tools team & Corporate IT to identify gaps and ensure teams have effective, scalable, and secure tools throughout the hardware lifecycle.
Promote consistent practices across revision control, ECO management, documentation structures, and cross-team design reuse.
Guide the adoption of EDA platforms, collaborative CAD tools, and modern test/validation systems where they provide clear benefits.

AI-Augmented Engineering & Automation

Lead the organizational shift toward AI-augmented engineering, including:

Schematic/PCB analysis and design review augmentation
Automated documentation generation and knowledge extraction
Intelligent component selection, lifecycle risk scoring, and BOM validation
Natural-language tooling interfaces for accelerated design workflows

Advocate for a culture of automation, identifying where repetitive, error-prone tasks can be replaced with consistent, scalable workflows.
Support adoption of automated rule checking (DFM/DFT/DFR), regression testing, and build processes for firmware and programmable logic.

KPI Development & Continuous Improvement

Define and implement meaningful, non-punitive engineering KPIs that help teams understand trends, risks, and improvement opportunities.
Support teams in interpreting these metrics and turning insights into targeted improvements.
Promote a culture of learning and experimentation, where data guides progress—not blame.

Process Optimization & Organizational Development

Evaluate and refine hardware development workflows, including requirements management, prototyping strategies, design reviews, validation, ECO processes, NPI, In Field support and EOL.
Help harmonize practices across teams while respecting the unique realities of each product line.
Identify capability gaps, training needs, and opportunities to strengthen engineering culture and craftsmanship.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

Build strong partnerships with Engineering Directors, Product Management, Component Engineering, Change Management, Product Safety & EMC Compliance, Procurement, Manufacturing & Manufacturing Quality.
Represent hardware engineering perspectives in cross-functional and organizational initiatives.
Communicate complex concepts to both technical and non-technical stakeholders, ensuring alignment and shared understanding.
Act as a connective force across R&D, enabling teams to learn from one another and solve problems collectively.

Who you are:
Experienced Hardware Leader

10+ years of experience in hardware development (electronics, electromechanical, or related fields).
Demonstrated success shaping multi-year engineering strategies or leading organization-wide improvement initiatives.
Proven ability to influence multiple teams through coaching and expertise rather than authority.

Champion of Modern Tools & Technology

Strong experience with EDA/CAD, simulation tools, and automated test systems.
Enthusiasm for modernizing toolchains and workflows as engineering technology evolves.

AI & Automation Mindset

Curiosity, excitement, and practical understanding of how AI can augment hardware engineering productivity and quality.
Experience applying automation to reduce friction and improve consistency.

A Natural Coach & Facilitator

Excellent at mentoring, facilitating alignment, and building trust across diverse teams.
Skilled at driving improvement without imposing process for its own sake.

Data-Driven & Improvement-Focused

Strong analytical skills and experience using KPIs to guide thoughtful improvement.
Ability to translate data into actionable insights and team-friendly narratives.

Collaborative & Trusted Partner

Exceptional multi-modal communication and relationship-building skills.
Comfortable working across engineering, operations, product, and leadership roles.

Education

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, or related technical field; advanced degree a plus.
Familiarity with live production, broadcast hardware, or professional AV is an asset.

 Bonus points if you have the following:

P. Eng, ASQ, Lean Six Sigma, PMP designation
Familiarity with ISO 9000 development standards

Other:

Office environment – Our team members are highly encouraged to be in the office approximately 2 days per week to interact with others both on our team and outside of our team.

 

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