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PhotonicPosted 1 month ago

SVP, Development and Engineering

HybridCoquitlam, British Columbia, Canada

Full TimeSenior LevelSmall

Job Summary

Lead and scale a multi-disciplinary engineering organization across hardware, chips, software, and scientific domains through VP-level leaders. Establish the operating rhythm for engineering, including planning frameworks, execution cadence, decision-making processes, and clear accountability models. Drive alignment across domains to ensure end-to-end execution from research through critical milestone delivery. Own delivery outcomes at the company level, ensuring the team is staffed and organized to meet defined technical timelines. Build and strengthen a high-performing leadership bench by hiring, structuring, and developing senior technical leaders. Introduce execution discipline and program rigor without slowing innovation. Identify and resolve cross-functional risks early in integration, architecture, and scaling. Act as a core partner to the executive team, shaping priorities and ensuring engineering aligns with company strategy. This role requires a track record of scaling from advanced R&D into disciplined product delivery in complex deep-tech environments like quantum computing or photonics.

Required Qualifications

  • Proven experience leading large, complex engineering organizations across multiple technical domains through senior leaders
  • Track record of scaling organizations from advanced R&D environments into disciplined product-oriented delivery and milestone execution
  • Strong leadership of leaders, with demonstrated ability to align, challenge, and elevate VP-level teams
  • Experience delivering complex, cross-functional programs where integration-not individual components-determined success
  • Ability to operate effectively in high-ambiguity, high-stakes environments while imposing clarity, structure, and pace
  • Deep operational mindset with a focus on outcomes, execution discipline, and organizational effectiveness
  • Experience using AI/LLM-assisted analytics features (e.g., Copilot, natural-language querying, AI-supported narrative summaries) with an understanding of limitations, validation steps, and data governance
  • Strong written and verbal communication skills
  • Highly organized, detail-oriented, and able to manage multiple requests with competing deadlines

Desired Qualifications

  • Experience in quantum computing, semiconductors, photonics, or other similarly complex deep-tech environments
  • History of building engineering organizations from early stage through scale, including defining structure, cadence, and governance
  • Strong instinct for when to impose structure versus when to preserve flexibility in highly innovative environments

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