Vice President, Software Engineering

Picarro, Inc • Santa Clara, CA

3h • $300,000 - $350,000 • Onsite

About The Position

Picarro is seeking a Vice President of Engineering to provide strategic and operational leadership across its global engineering organization. Reporting to the Chief Operating Officer, the VP of Software Engineering will define and execute the company's engineering strategy, lead multidisciplinary engineering teams, and drive the development of innovative, high-quality, scalable products. The role oversees the complete engineering lifecycle, including software, cloud platforms, product architecture, and sustaining engineering.

The VP will translate technology strategy into business results, accelerate product development, strengthen engineering capabilities, and build a high-performing organization. This includes setting engineering priorities and technology roadmaps; leading product development from concept and architecture through verification and validation; developing global engineering teams; modernizing software and systems practices; improving engineering quality and operational execution; and aligning engineering investments and plans with business priorities.

The position is based on-site in Santa Clara, California. The full-time base salary range is $300,000 to $350,000, with bonus eligibility and equity. Picarro develops and manufactures software and hardware using optical spectroscopy technology for applications including natural gas leak detection, emissions monitoring, semiconductor fabrication, pharmaceutical and industrial uses, atmospheric science, and environmental measurements.

Requirements

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Systems Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
• 15 or more years of progressive engineering experience, including significant experience leading complex engineering organizations.
• Five or more years in senior engineering leadership roles, such as VP Engineering, Senior Director of Engineering, or an equivalent executive position.
• Demonstrated success leading multidisciplinary engineering teams.
• Strong experience developing and commercializing complex technology products, preferably involving sophisticated instrumentation, scientific equipment, analytical devices, industrial technology, or integrated hardware-software products.
• Proven track record taking products from concept through development and commercialization and managing their ongoing lifecycle.
• Experience leading global engineering teams and geographically distributed organizations.
• Strong understanding of systems architecture, product development methodologies, engineering quality, and operational excellence.
• Demonstrated ability to manage engineering budgets, resources, priorities, and organizational growth.
• Excellent executive communication, strategic thinking, decision-making, and cross-functional leadership skills.

Nice To Haves

• An advanced degree.
• Experience in analytical instrumentation, gas measurement, spectroscopy, sensing technologies, environmental monitoring, or industrial measurement solutions.
• Familiarity with precision measurement technologies, scientific instrumentation, and complex electro-mechanical systems.
• Experience integrating embedded systems, firmware, software applications, cloud infrastructure, and data analytics into commercial products.
• Experience in organizations operating under ISO 9001 or other relevant quality management frameworks.
• Experience driving engineering transformation, platform modernization, and product portfolio optimization.
• Experience in a technology-driven global organization with both hardware and software engineering teams.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute an engineering strategy aligned with company business objectives, product roadmaps, and long-term growth plans.
• Drive technology innovation, product architecture, engineering priorities, technology roadmaps, and development strategies across software and cloud-based solutions.
• Evaluate emerging technologies, engineering methodologies, and architectural approaches, and provide technical leadership on critical design decisions and complex engineering challenges.
• Lead the end-to-end product development lifecycle from concept and architecture through design, development, verification, and validation.
• Establish disciplined product development processes, milestones, accountability frameworks, and performance metrics to support predictable, quality, cost-effective, and timely delivery.
• Strengthen collaboration between engineering, product management, manufacturing, quality, supply chain, and commercial teams.
• Champion design excellence, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, and continuous product improvement.
• Lead, develop, and inspire a global engineering organization across disciplines and locations; build organizational capabilities, leadership depth, and succession plans.
• Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, collaboration, technical excellence, and continuous learning; attract, retain, and develop engineering talent.
• Establish clear organizational structures, roles, responsibilities, and performance expectations.
• Drive collaboration across hardware, firmware, embedded software, application software, and cloud platforms.
• Promote modern software engineering practices, scalable architecture, automation, and continuous integration and delivery.
• Strengthen systems engineering to integrate complex instrumentation and software solutions, and leverage data analytics, connectivity, and digital capabilities to enhance products and customer value.
• Ensure engineering platforms and architectures support long-term product evolution and scalability.
• Establish and continuously improve engineering processes, development standards, and technical governance.
• Partner with Quality and Operations to strengthen design controls, verification and validation, reliability engineering, and product quality.
• Improve engineering productivity, development cycle times, resource utilization, and cost management; promote design for manufacturability, testability, reliability, and lifecycle sustainability.
• Ensure engineering practices support applicable industry standards, regulatory requirements, and quality management systems.
• Partner with the CEO, COO, Product Management, Sales, Manufacturing, and other executive leaders to align engineering priorities with business strategy.
• Translate customer needs, market opportunities, and competitive intelligence into actionable engineering roadmaps.
• Provide executive visibility into engineering performance, investment priorities, resource requirements, risks, and product development progress.
• Develop and manage engineering budgets, headcount plans, technology investments, and resource allocation.
• Support strategic customer engagements, technical discussions, and key business development opportunities when required.

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision insurance
• Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) plans
• Life, short-term disability, and long-term disability insurance
• Paid time off and paid holidays
• Employee referral program
• 401(k)
• Social events, including a summer picnic, holiday party, and team lunches
• On-site health and wellness programs, including fitness challenges, outdoor bootcamp, and flu shots
• Bonus eligibility and equity

What This Job Offers

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