Director of R and D

Company: Wilbur Curtis Co.
Location: Montebello
Posted on: May 24, 2023

Job Description:

Our passion for coffee makes SEB Professional North America a growing company!We are in the professional coffee machine business managing three leading global brands: Schaerer, WMF, and Wilbur Curtis.You can find our coffee machines in convenience stores, hotels, and restaurants worldwide. Chances are you have enjoyed a cup of coffee brewed by one of our products during your morning coffee run at McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, or Tim Hortons.SEB Professional is a subsidiary of Groupe SEB, a large French consortium and the world's largest manufacturer of cookware in more than 150 countries, with 33,00 employees and over ---8,1 b in sales annually. Notable brand names associated are Tefal, T-Fal, Krups, Lagostina, Rowenta, Moulinex, SUPOR, Arno, Emsa, All-Clad. Our Company operates in the Professional Coffee Machine division.The Head of Development will bring focus to innovation, new product development, and sustaining engineering initiatives to improve the Quality, Delivery, Cost, and competitive position of the product portfolio. Lead, manage, and direct the quality development activities to support our existing domestic and new business opportunities in international markets. This will include development and evaluation of new product lines in closer collaboration with operations, manufacturing, quality and marketing on initiatives while managing daily tasks to ensure deadlines and objectives are met.Salary Range: $130,000-160,000Essential Functions

• Ensures and consolidates that the growth of the technical "know-how" within the working group is shared and constantly increasing.
• Leads development projects and responsible for product compliance.
• Incorporates relevant design expertise and experience in projects in line with brand/product/innovation strategy.
• Encourages creativity in the design and development teams.
• Actively searches for best-in-class technologies among competitors and develops an innovation roadmap.
• Cooperates closely with product managers to assure customer focus and target costing; co-develops product roadmaps.
• Coordinates with Groupe product development managers defining the right allocation of resources.
• Supports projects at the Groupe level, participating in meetings and sharing technical information and "best-practices".
• Cooperates with design committee to ensure brand-consistency of product ranges.
• Secures freedom to operate and initiates IP protection with the support of a group of IP specialists.
• Develops employees assigned to the department, ensuring the correct application of tools and policies on training, identifies career path, performs evaluations, and provides inputs to compensation systems.
• Leads a cross functional team and manages all aspects of innovation, new product development process, and sustaining engineering to deliver on-time and to budget new and updated products with exceptional quality which exceed the expectation of the customer and shareholder.
• Provide leadership and project management to prioritize workload and drive ownership at the design level.
• Quality & Customer Focus: Continuously looking for ways to simplify and improve work processes to achieve better results, considering internal and external customer needs when setting priorities.
• Manages others with a high level of integrity, confidentiality, ethics, and discretion. Is direct and open while maintaining a professional, respectful demeaner. Builds and sustains relationships with all stakeholders.
• Staffs and manages engineering capacity and capability of a highly effective technical team that delivers the required business results on time, in coordination with Chief Operating Officer.Experience and education
  • A University degree in engineering or equivalent is required.
  • A Master's degree and or any other further qualification related to DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT is appreciated.
  • A minimum of 4 years' experience in Design and Development managerial roles preferably with direct reports
  • A passion for coffee strongly preferred.
  • Knowledge: A strong knowledge of Design and Development processes and organization in B2B / durable goods companies is needed.
  • Extensive knowledge of technical applications and manufacturing implication, methods and requirements are desired.
  • Languages: Fluency in written and verbal English is a must, Spanish and German are pluses.
  • Learning & Adapting: Demonstrated a willingness to take on new challenges, responsibilities, and assignments. Taking the initiative as problems or opportunities arise; being action oriented, willing to take risks.
  • Communications: Communicates clearly and candidly; avoiding vagueness, ambiguity, and mixed messages. Contributing to an enthusiastic, positive work climate; energizing others.
  • Managing Work: Manages work to achieve results on time. Understands and supports the organization's vision, purpose, and strategies. Understands our products and services. In coordination with the cross-functional colleagues, establishes work priorities and schedules for completing assignments. Must take accountability for decisions, actions, and results of work activities and perform responsibilities with minimal supervision and general guidance.Required Skills
    • Technical Skills & Qualification
    • System Engineering: Ability to read a PRD and develop a System Concept and Definition (HW & SW Architecture).
    • Familiar with mechanical Hardware domain: able to define a mechanical product architecture and design concept, familiar with basic hydraulic systems; able to drive make or buy decisions based on own manufacturing capabilities and economical judgement.
    • Knowledge in electrical Hardware domain: able to read a schematics, knowledge on electrical sensors and actors; able to define a product electrical HW architecture and requirement spec to external engineering service providers/suppliers.
    • Knowledge in Embedded SW domain- mastering firmware platform concepts incl. product and customer specific parametrization, able to define a functional software requirements spec to external engineering service providers/suppliers.
    • Knowledge in PC base SW: Client/Server, frameworks, Processes, Services.
    • Familiar with international regulatory standard systems, able to determine the relevant electrical safety, EMC, food safety and other regulatory standards
    • QA domain: Quality Management System, Roles and Responsibility, tools, processes; reliability management.Working conditions / Physical Requirements
      • Standing, walking, and sitting.
      • Prolonged periods sitting at a desk and working on a computer, manual dexterity.
      • Ability to lift up to 50lbs occasionally.
      • Working with teams on the floor in both the plant, distribution centers or administrative offices.Overview
        • Type of employment: Full time - Exempt
        • Health insurance
        • Vision Insurance
        • Life insurance
        • Paid time off
        • 12 Paid Holidays
        • Other voluntary benefits and discounts programSEB Professional is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability. For more information, please see -OFCCP Equal Employment.

Keywords: Wilbur Curtis Co., Montebello , Director of R and D, Executive , Montebello, California