VP of R&D Technology

Vizient•Chicago, IL

17d

About The Position

When you’re the best, we’re the best. We instill an environment where employees feel engaged, satisfied and able to contribute their unique skills and talents while living and working as their authentic selves. We provide extensive opportunities for personal and professional development, building both employee competence and organizational capability to fuel exceptional performance through an inclusive environment both now and in the future. Summary: This is not a typical R&D role -- and it’s not meant to be. We’re building something new inside Vizient -- and we’re starting small on purpose. This team operates like a set of focused startups: small, hands-on, and accountable for shipping real products that real customers use. The difference is that access to customers, data, and scale is already solved -- from day one. You won’t be exploring ideas in isolation. You’ll be building, validating, and deploying software directly into live environments, with immediate feedback and a clear line of sight from problem to impact. Why This Team Exists Vizient is the largest healthcare performance improvement company in the U.S., working with thousands of hospitals and health systems and supporting care delivery for millions of patients nationwide. This R&D unit exists because Vizient sits closer to the real needs of health systems than almost any organization in healthcare. By working directly with providers, operators, and product leaders across that network, the team has immediate access to the problems that matter most -- allowing it to identify needs early, validate ideas quickly, and build software grounded in how healthcare actually operates. That proximity enables speed, fidelity, and impact that are difficult to achieve anywhere else. The Role You’ll serve as the senior technical leader for this R&D unit, responsible for how products are designed, built, and shipped. On day one, you’ll lead a small, high-leverage engineering team (~6 engineers) while remaining hands-on as a builder. You’ll set technical direction, contribute production code, and establish the foundations that allow this group to move quickly and safely.

Requirements

A senior technical leader with a track record of shipping customer-facing products
Experience leading small teams while remaining an active individual contributor
Strong architectural judgment across modern software systems
Comfort operating in ambiguous, fast-moving environments

Nice To Haves

Healthcare experience is a meaningful advantage, but not required
Experience in regulated or high-trust domains is helpful

Responsibilities

Own technical architecture and engineering direction across early R&D products
Lead and grow a small engineering team while staying close to the code
Partner closely with product and venture leaders to move ideas from concept to MVP to production
Make pragmatic technical decisions that balance speed, learning, and durability
Establish lightweight engineering norms that enable teams to ship safely and often
Ensure privacy, security, and regulatory considerations are built in from the start
Guide build / buy / partner decisions and perform technical diligence when needed
Participate directly in hiring and early team formation
Help define long-term hiring strategy as the R&D unit grows
Set a clear technical and cultural bar for the team
Establish the engineering brand for this new R&D organization