Head - Research And Development

About the job

We at Accolade Electronics are on the look-out for a highly motivated and experienced individual to lead our New Product Development. As the Head of Department (HOD), you will be responsible for the overall management and strategic direction of the department, ensuring efficient operations and the successful delivery of projects on time and within budget. You will play a key role in driving innovation, fostering a collaborative work environment, and mentoring and developing a team of talented engineers and technicians.

Product Roadmap

• Forecast change in market dynamics over the next 4-5 years; anticipate change in customer requirements basis the evolving market scenario
• Determine new product requirements and compare with current product levels to identify areas of development and focus for the next couple of years
• Scan the market and conduct competition analysis to assess tech landscape movement; discuss with teams on what products to develop, what to retain and what products to kill while ensuring alignment with organization vision / goal
• Understanding markets, trends and performing risk analysis to delivering cost effective useable solutions to develop producible products for the future and current customers

R&D/NPD Planning & Forecasting

• Develop and formulate R&D strategy and budget planning exercise by providing key technical inputs on programs (both anticipated and launched) for designing and developing competitive, customer centric products
• Develop the annual budget NPD function; ensure its optimal deployment by closely monitoring deviations and course correcting for the same
• Supervising & managing CAPEX and OPEX of NPD departments
• Encourage innovation by targeting invention disclosure, patent filing or infringement risk analysis with help of IP team, meet targeted international paper publication Defining industry solutions through ideation, conceptualization and detailing to identify efficiencies /alternatives
• Conduct regular reviews with the team on the status of RFQs and product design & development programs with respect to set targets and timelines; allocate required resources; prioritize/re-prioritize programs based on urgency
• Forecast new businesses that are likely to come in and synergize with the different teams to effectively manage resources to accommodate the workload
• Designing new concepts for development of current products and maintaining technical feasibility to develop concepts into real products; capturing voice of customer, benchmarking, identifying potential failure modes, use of past learning data through Knowledge management, suggesting new ideas and preparing project proposals / technical specifications for smooth execution of projects within defined QCDD parameters
• Participate in new business acquisition for Telematics, IoT, ADAS and Electric Vehicle subsystems such as DC-DC converter, BMS and OBC
• Heading entire NPD functions i.e. Embedded Software Development & Testing, Mechanical Design & Development, Hardware Design & Development, Validation & Verification, Product Testing & Application

New Product Development

• Drive the design / development projects by timely resource allocation and infrastructure aligned with the current as well as changing market demands
• Define and own the stage-gate process and chart out possible risks; work with teams to ensure risks are identified and addressed at different stages of the design and the process is fool-proof to ensure highest quality standards with effective / optimum resource utilization
• Proactively interact with the customers and provide expert opinion on stated problems / concerns and work with them to co-create solutions
• Guide teams in understanding, analyzing, and translating customer specifications into problem statements to help facilitate design and development
• Own the project execution to ensure alignment with customer requirements; review critical projects at various stages of development to ensure customer expectations as well as timelines are being met as per the plan

Team Management

• Ensure effective resolutions of customer complaints / issues and guide teams in identifying, analyzing and ensuring they are addressed permanently
• Participate in recruitment process to identify the right talent across positions within the function
• Establish individual performance expectations and regularly review individual performance of the team
• Guide, coach and mentor teams to ensure they are aware of their development needs and the same are addressed effectively
• Identify and create development opportunities for team members to enhance technical knowledge
• Conduct regular one-on-one interactions to ensure grievances / challenges are addressed effectively

Desired soft skills

• Strong leadership skills to drive the team efficiently
• Ability to work with a cross-functional team
• Sense of ownership and urgency when working in the company
• Strong sense of ethics

Education

• B. E. / B. Tech. in Electronics, Electronics & Telecommunications

Experience

• 15+ Years of relevant experience in Automotive Electronics industry

Job Location

Shivane, Pune