Vice President of Product Development and Engineering

CONFIDENTIAL RETAINED SEARCH – VP OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT/ENGINEERINGLocation: Chicagoland Area - HybridCompensation: $250-300K base + Bonus + LTI (TBD)Benefits: Health/Dental, Vision, ST/LT Disability, 401K and moreSponsorship: Not availableThis is a confidential retained search for a VP of Product Development/Engineering for an established technology company entering an important next stage of growth, innovation and product development.This is a unique executive opportunity because the incoming leader will have responsibility for both Engineering and Product Management, spanning hardware, firmware, embedded technology, software and overall product strategy.The engineering organization is on a strong foundation. The bigger opportunity for this executive is to build upon that foundation while helping the company evolve from being exceptionally responsive to customer requests into a more proactive, strategic and innovative product organization.We are looking for a product-company engineering executive who has led multidisciplinary teams in environments involving several of the following:Hardware, Firmware, embedded systemsSoftware and device managementIoT, RF, wireless or adjacent technologiesSecurity and authenticationProduct ManagementLegacy architecture modernizationA major part of the mandate will be strengthening the Product Management function by establishing stronger voice-of-customer, product ownership, prioritization and roadmap disciplines. This leader will also build a tighter partnership between Product, Engineering and Sales to ensure customer needs inform the roadmap without allowing individual customer requests to dictate product strategy.AI will be another important component of the role.The organization is already introducing AI-assisted development across coding, testing, documentation and engineering workflows. We are looking for a leader who understands how to use AI practically to improve engineering velocity, quality and innovation—not someone who simply talks about AI at a strategic level.The ideal candidate will likely be a hands-on, technically credible VP of Engineering, VP of Product Development, Head of Engineering or similar product-development executive who can comfortably engage with engineers and architecture while also working directly with customers, Sales and executive leadership.This is not an enterprise IT or CIO position. We are looking for someone who has built and delivered commercial technology products.The opportunity is to inherit a solid engineering foundation and lead the company's next chapter of product strategy, innovation, modernization and AI-enabled product development.If your experience aligns with this opportunity, or you know an executive who may be a strong fit, please contact me directly. All conversations will be handled confidentially.