Senior Director of Research and Development

Santa Barbara, CA, United States

Waters Corporation (NYSE: WAT), the world's leading specialty measurement company, has pioneered chromatography, mass spectrometry and thermal analysis innovations serving the life, materials, and food sciences for over 60 years. With approximately 8,000 employees worldwide, Waters operates directly in 35 countries, including 15 manufacturing facilities, with products available in more than 100 countries. Our team focuses on creating business advantages for laboratory-dependent organizations to enable significant advancement in healthcare delivery, environmental management, food safety, and water quality. This leadership position requires an in-person component out of our Santa Barbara, California location.

Working at Waters enables our employees to unlock the potential of their careers. Our global team is driven by purpose. We strive to be better, learn and improve every day in everything we do. We’re the problem solvers and innovators that aren’t afraid to take risks to transform the world of human health and well-being. We’re all in it together delivering benefit as one to provide the insights needed today in order to solve the challenges of tomorrow.

The Senior Director of Research & Development manages all aspects of the hardware department’s development activities, budget, personnel, and teams, including i) developing, releasing, and maintaining products, ii) the policies and procedures that produce high-quality instruments iii) strategic and tactical technical leadership and iv) support of the business strategic direction. This includes electrical, mechanical, safety, and quality facets of the products and related technologies. This leader will work with Waters LC development team to further improve integrated solutions.

These activities relate to hardware solutions on their own, as well as being part of the whole product solution, i.e., integrating with, complementing and extending Wyatt Technologies’ instrument and device solutions.

The Senior Director will work closely with Software, Product Marketing, Technology Development, Application Development, Manufacturing, and Service to execute our product development roadmap. This position is part of the R&D senior management team and has an active role in developing of the overall multi-year strategy and product roadmap.

Direct reports include group managers, project managers and individual contributors. A hands-on management and leadership style is required to provide a smooth transition of products from technology proof-of-concept through product development to manufacturing and customer support and then to our customers. The Director develops and identifies optimal organization and management functions to facilitate group growth and institute new process as required. The Senior Director will also be responsible for managing external engineering partners.

Principal Duties and Responsibilities (Essential Functions):

Work with product management to develop and manage product roadmaps, getting internal consensus and incorporating feedback from within the organization and external to the organization.

Work with Waters LC development team to further improve integrated solutions.

Work with legal to file Intellectual Property.

Manage the team to create product solutions that meet the defined market requirements, are easy to manufacture and have high reliability.

Solid ability to level and plan resources in a fast pace and dynamic product management environment.

Cultivate a milestone-driven culture, in which consistent innovation, quality and progress are expected.

Assess and critique all aspects of concepts to design, performance, manufacturability, and serviceability.

Provide inspirational leadership, motivation and hands-on direction to all engineering staff and project managers.

Participate with the rest of the R&D management team in refining the business strategy. Lead both as the Director in charge of engineering but also as a business-oriented executive focused on business growth and improved performance.

Provide active performance management for the team including career development, managing objectives of individuals, and career development plans. Actively works with human resources to recruit and attract top talent.

Simultaneously manage multiple internal and external initiatives/projects and deliver outstanding results.

Plan, develops and establishes engineering policies, procedures in accordance with objectives. Provide strong process management.

Critical thinking and problem solving through leadership and hands-on management.

Process and data driven with a pragmatic approach to getting the job and delivering high quality as first priority.

Supervisory Duties:

Mentor, guide and coach direct reports in order to expand their capabilities and build knowledge and technological depth within the organization.

Be able to lead a team of highly driven, self-motivated people in manner to achieve a high level of output.

Ensure that training, coaching and mentoring programs are developed, implemented and effective for all levels of research & development staff.

Selects, develops, and evaluates personnel to ensure the efficient operation of the function.

Conduct performance reviews to guide performance management and employee development efforts and manage toward departmental goals.

Education and Training:

Requires a minimum of 12 years of related experience with a Bachelor’s degree; or 8 years and a Master’s degree; or a PhD with 5 years’ experience; or equivalent experience.

Technical Requirements:

Ability to direct technical research and product development for production applications encompassing multiple engineering disciplines.

Ability to communicate vision and inspire team to deliver and execute a desired strategy.

Strong commercial awareness as well as a strong understanding of life science instrumentation.

Keen knowledge of modern optical, electronic, computational, and fluidic technologies

Demonstrated ability to successfully lead complex technology development projects while managing to budget.

Proven ability to deliver results.

Must possess exceptional communication skills, both written and oral. Superior interpersonal skills.

The salary range for this position is approximately $195,000 to $260,000 commensurate with experience.

Diversity and inclusion are fundamental to our core values at Waters Corporation. It is our responsibility to actively implement programs and practices to drive inclusive behavior and increase diversity across the organization. We are united by diversity and thrive on it for the benefit of our employees, our products, our customers and our community. Waters is proud to be an equal opportunity workplace and is an affirmative action employer. We are committed to equal employment opportunity regardless of race, color, religion, sex, national origin, sexual orientation, age, marital status, disability, gender identity or protected Veteran status.

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