Senior Director of Engineering - Analyzer Group Location: Santa Clara, CA (Onsite) Reports to: SVP, Engineering Org: Engineering / Analyzer Development The Opportunity Picarro is seeking a Senior Director of Engineering to lead the Analyzer Group, responsible for engineering delivery across current analyzer products and next-generation analyzer platforms. This role owns end-to-end execution across hardware, firmware, software, systems integration, reliability, and manufacturability, and partners closely with R ensure stakeholders have high visibility into progress and blockers. Maintain a high say-do standard: commitments are credible, tracked, and delivered; missed commitments trigger root-cause analysis and plan correction. 2) Technical Leadership drive decisions that are necessary, validated, and value-based, avoiding churn and unnecessary redesign. Implement a decision-making framework that ensures changes are justified by customer value, reliability, manufacturability, serviceability, or schedule risk reduction. Ensure design changes (e.g., subsystem replacements) have clear milestone definitions, qualification plans, and outputs (ECO, test reports, validation results). 3) Customer Issue Management Own engineering response for customer escalations requiring 8D and CAR processes, driving cross-functional coordination across engineering, operations, quality, and suppliers. Ensure timely root cause identification, containment, corrective actions, verification, and customer-ready reporting-particularly for strategic accounts. 4) People Leadership, Culture create a culture of ownership, quality, and teamwork. 5) Resource, Budget, and External Partner Management Manage internal and external resources (including consultants) to maximize impact; ensure utilization aligns with the plan and desired outcomes. Track spend, forecast accurately, and manage within budget constraints; report variances early with corrective actions. 6) Engineering Excellence: Quality, Reliability, DFM/DFS Drive engineering best practices across analyzer development, including DFM (manufacturability), DFS (serviceability), reliability, and scalability. Establish a culture where verification and validation occur at each step, and quality is engineered in-not inspected in. Required Skills does not deflect ownership across teams or functions. Operational Rigor / Planning Excellence Produces and maintains integrated HW/FW/SW plans with clear deliverables and resource needs; builds stakeholder confidence through transparency. Reliability avoids unplanned scope churn. Cross-Team Leadership Coordinates effectively across engineering, quality, operations, and suppliers-especially during formal escalation and corrective action processes. Professional, Respectful Leadership Demonstrates consistent professionalism; fosters constructive technical debate without combative or disrespectful behavior; models strong meeting discipline. Qualifications 12+ years in engineering leadership roles, including managing managers and multi-disciplinary teams (hardware/firmware/software/systems). Demonstrated success delivering complex products in a hybrid hardware + software environment (analytical instruments, industrial systems, or equivalent). Proven ability to build and execute platform roadmaps and accelerate delivery through modular architecture and strong engineering processes. Strong communication skills with the ability to translate technical tradeoffs to executives and cross-functional partners. Preferred Experience with reliability engineering, field escalation processes, and formal corrective action systems. Experience in regulated or safety-critical product environments; exposure to CRDS or optical instrumentation is a plus. What Success Looks Like (First 6-12 Months) A working operating system is in place: weekly execution reviews, decision logs, risk burndown, and credible integrated project plans for major programs. Customer escalations have a clear owner and cadence; corrective action cycles close predictably with verified resolutions and clear customer communication. Engineering leaders and teams report higher clarity, faster decision-making, and stronger accountability-and program delivery becomes measurably more predictable. The base salary range for this full-time position is $250K to $260K. Our total compensation packages include base salary, bonus eligibility, and equity. Your base salary range and title will be determined based on location, experience, qualifications, skills, knowledge, and the pay levels of employees in similar positions. We offer a comprehensive benefit package including: * 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 * 401K * Social events (summer picnic, holiday party, team lunches, etc.) * On-site Health
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