Director, Infrastructure and Systems R&D

Job Description

Job Description

DIRECTOR, INFRASTRUCTURE AND SYSTEMS R&D

About Us

EF Johnson Technologies, Inc. is a subsidiary of JVCKENWOOD Corporation, a leading provider of P25 communications solutions for first responders in public safety and public service, the federal government, and industrial organizations. Our products are marketed under the EFJohnson and KENWOOD brands.

EFJohnson provides wireless communications products and systems for public safety, commercial, and government customers. We design, manufacture, and market conventional and trunked radio systems, land mobile radio repeaters, and mobile and portable radios, including Project 25 digital radio products.

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As a Director, Infrastructure and Systems , you’ll lead a team of highly skilled and talented software development and test engineers responsible for the architecture and development of major components of a patented and highly scalable distributed all-IP based network solution for wireless communications in the land mobile radio industry. In addition, you will manage the field support organization to ensure all critical customer infrastructure software issues are resolved in a timely manner and that the field support organization continually improves their technical acumen of the system. This position will be responsible and accountable for achieving the established team objectives including creating and managing the R&D budget. In addition, the leader will follow the development life-cycle processes and procedures for this group and deliver large-scale projects on time with a high degree of quality. You will work directly with Product Management, Marketing and Sales on the roadmaps, strategic plans and budgets to plan subsequent products and technologies and forecast product availability. You will actively communicate and coordinate with all other engineering teams, providing constructive inputs and timely feedback for the subscriber engineering, system design, implementation and all other stakeholders. This role is on-site in our Irving, TX office.

Key Responsibilities  

• Establish and execute on the development life-cycle processes and procedures for this group, managing complex multi-component release planning and delivering high quality systems releases to the customer base. 
• Manage a tightly integrated development process comprising of developers, testers and technicians with a focus on maximizing quality and minimizing time to market. 
• Manage the field support organization to ensure all critical customer infrastructure software issues are resolved in a timely manner and that the field support organization improves their technical acumen of the system. 
• Drive low-level hands-on development tasks and drive broad longer-term architecture while innovating at a rapid pace.
• Drive an ownership culture across the entire team and management.
• Be the technical resource for the individual functional leaders and managers, providing guidance, direction, and resources to support the achievement of organizational objectives.
• Establish the guidelines and roadmap for the evolution of the current distributed architecture into a software defined network and provide the direction, leadership, and strategy to the development teams for delivering this strategy. 
• Interface with multiple groups within the implementation, operations, systems, bids & proposals organization as well as various program teams that consume the solution provided by the infrastructure team.
• Create a culture of collaboration, teamwork, and support both within the infrastructure development organization as well as cross-organizational teaming with operations, field support and program management teams.
• Provide management level work direction and coaching to subordinate staff, acting as the senior technical advisor in relevant design and technology issues relating to product evaluation and tests. 
• Prepare and present applicable management reports and evaluations.
• Demonstrate collaboration and team-based approach while holding oneself and other groups accountable to achieving common objectives. The ability to work with other leaders and resolve priorities and issues collaboratively cannot be over-emphasized.
• Provide leadership guidance on the process and guidelines around which the engineering team will perform their day-to-day development activities. 
• Establish metrics with which the efficiency of the development team can be measured with the intent of constant improvement.
• Attract, retain and motivate a group of highly talented developers and serve as a stimulant for intellectual growth within the team.
• Agree to abide by the established Approval Matrix.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, or a closely related discipline. Master’s Degree or Ph.D., desired.
• 15+ years of applicable wireless industry software development experience with a good history of complex system design and implementation.
• Proficiency in managing teams programming in Linux based systems, C/C++, Python and web-based NMS and Perl scripting.
• 10+ years of senior management experience managing large teams of developers, plus experience in leading a field support team, preferred.
• Ability to manage R&D budgets and prioritize financial and human resources.
• Expertise in understanding and debugging complex systems to resolve performance, redundancy and scalability issues in a mission critical communication context, preferred.
• Direct LMRS product development experience
• 3+ years as a director level manager.
• Strong technical knowledge and vision with a proven record of leading teams to develop and deliver new software products on time and within budget.
• Demonstrated success in mentoring and building high‑performance teams, shaping engineering culture, and driving accountability.
• Proven ability to define technology strategies and manage multi‑disciplinary engineering processes to meet market and schedule demands.
• Deep expertise in advanced networking and system design, with hands‑on experience driving innovation and adapting to evolving technologies.
• Extensive experience working with complex software‑ and hardware‑based systems in mission‑critical or carrier‑grade environments.

What We’re Looking For  

• Must possess excellent interpersonal skills. 
• Ability to manage people and processes in a way that balances productivity, quality, and responsiveness to business needs.
• Demonstrated team-building and motivational skills.
• Proven capacity to work autonomously with minimal supervision.
• Must have a broad knowledge base of product development methodology with emphasis on product lifecycle design.
• Senior level of leadership ability including representing the system engineering team with the EFJohnson executive team and JVCKENWOOD Executives.
• Effective communications skills with employees, vendors, and customers.
• Must be able to direct the team in yearly goals that match the EFJohnson and JVCKENWOOD strategies. 
• Ability to prioritize and display a sense of urgency based on actions required.

Travel Requirements  

• Up to 30%, both domestic and international.

What We Offer  

• Competitive salary 
• Health, dental, and vision benefits
• Additional supplemental benefits
• 401K + employer match
• Tuition reimbursement 
• 12 paid holidays + additional PTO
• Supportive- team-driven environment
• Opportunities to work on mission-critical projects that make a real impact

Equal Opportunity Statement

EF Johnson Technologies is an Equal Opportunity/AFFIRMATIVE ACTION Employer who values diversity and inclusion in the workplace. It is the policy of this company to provide equal opportunity with regard to all terms and conditions of employment. The company complies with federal and state laws prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex, race, color, religion, creed, national origin, disability, veteran status, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic.