Vice President of Engineering

Potter Global Technologies • Hollins, VA

12d • Onsite

About The Position

At Potter Global Technologies, we’ve been protecting lives around the world for over 125 years—and we’re just getting started. We’re a global leader in life safety solutions, committed to saving lives through innovative technology and trusted partnerships. Our vision is for our customers to know us globally as their innovative, easy-to-do-business-with, best-in-class life-safety product partner. And our mission? With a passion for creating safer environments worldwide, our mission is to provide our customers with a team of real people that connect them with reliable expertise in life safety applications. If you're inspired by purpose, energized by collaboration, and thrive in an environment of feedback, ownership, and experimentation—you’ll feel at home here. As the Vice President of Engineering, you will lead and elevate our engineering organization, guiding both new product development and sustaining engineering efforts to drive innovation and long-term success. In this role, you’ll translate business strategy into clear, actionable engineering roadmaps while ensuring the highest standards of product quality, compliance, manufacturability, and scalability. Working cross-functionally, you will collaborate with teams across the organization to deliver reliable, market-competitive products designed for regulated and mission-critical environments. If you are a strategic thinker with strong operational expertise, a passion for building high-performing teams, and a commitment to operational excellence, this opportunity offers the chance to make a meaningful impact and support continued growth.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s degree in Engineering or a related technical discipline.
• 12+ years of progressive engineering experience, including senior leadership roles.
• Demonstrated experience leading product development in a manufacturing or industrial environment.
• Experience managing complex, cross-functional engineering initiatives and engineering organizations of comparable size and complexity.
• Strong executive leadership and people-development capabilities, with experience leading managers and senior technical leaders.
• Broad technical acumen across hardware, software, and manufacturing-related engineering disciplines.
• Ability to translate complex technical concepts into clear business implications for non-technical stakeholders.
• Proven ability to balance innovation with execution, speed with rigor, and short-term delivery with long-term scalability.
• Excellent communication, collaboration, and influence skills across functions and levels.
• Strong judgment, ethical leadership, and accountability orientation.

Nice To Haves

• Master’s degree in Engineering, Engineering Management, or MBA, preferred
• Experience in regulated product environments (e.g., life safety, communications, industrial, or similar).
• Background in scaling engineering organizations to support growth and operational maturity.
• Experience partnering closely with manufacturing, quality, and supply chain teams.

Responsibilities

• Provide strategic and operational leadership for the full engineering function, aligning technical priorities and engineering standards while leading an organization of approximately 30 engineers with 5-6 direct reports across mechanical, electrical, and firmware/software disciplines.
• Lead and scale the engineering organization, including organizational design, capability development, and succession planning, to support growth and increasing product complexity.
• Own the end-to-end product development lifecycle, including design governance, validation, launch, sustaining engineering, and post-launch support for complex, manufactured products.
• Establish, maintain, and continuously mature engineering standards, design controls, documentation practices, and change-management processes to support increasing product complexity and regulatory requirements.
• Balance near-term delivery commitments with long-term technical health, capacity planning, and organizational sustainability.
• Partner with Operations and Manufacturing to ensure products are designed for manufacturability, cost efficiency, scalability, and operational reliability.
• Own engineering resource planning, including staffing models, skill mix, prioritization, and workload balancing, with authority to recommend and influence hiring, prioritization, and investment decisions aligned with company strategy.
• Execute and maintain the engineering roadmap, ensuring alignment with business objectives, customer requirements, and cross-functional dependencies.
• Drive clarity, accountability, and consistent execution across the engineering organization, addressing performance gaps and leading change where needed.
• Serve as a senior technical and organizational advisor to executive leadership, providing insight on risks, trade-offs, and strategic opportunities.
• Operate effectively at both the strategic and execution levels, maintaining direct engagement in key technical, organizational, and prioritization decisions.

Benefits

• Employee Ownership Program – You’re not just an employee—you’re an owner. We share success together.
• Competitive health, dental, and vision plans
• 401(k) with company match
• Generous paid time off and holidays
• Continuous learning and development opportunities
• Financial Wellness programs including complimentary Certified Financial Planner sessions
• Recognition programs that celebrate individual and team wins
• A mission-driven team that supports life-saving outcomes, every day

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Executive