The Opportunity
The Vice President of Engineering will serve as the strategic and operational leader of TraceGains' technology organization, setting the vision and driving the execution of our engineering and product development agenda. This role requires a rare blend of enterprise-level technology leadership, architectural depth, and product acumen, ensuring that TraceGains consistently delivers secure, scalable, and market-shaping solutions for our customers.
As a key member of the executive team, this leader will spearhead the company's transformation from start-up to scale-up, architecting a world-class, globally distributed R&D organization. The Vice President will inspire and develop top talent, foster a culture of innovation and operational excellence, and align closely with Esko's technology vision to accelerate growth and competitive advantage.
Reporting : Solid line to TraceGains President, dotted line to Esko CTO
Location : Remote, United States or Canada
Responsibilities
- Directly and indirectly manage and inspire a team of ~40 in a high-capacity, high-performing, globally distributed R&D department, setting and realizing its structure and staffing in alignment with the rapid scaling up of the TraceGains business.
- Collaborate with company leadership and cross-functional product teams to form technology and product roadmaps aligned with company vision and strategy. Lead R&D teams to develop and execute of roadmaps. Drive successful project and product execution using the Agile development model (scrums, sprints, Kanban, etc.)
- Provide architectural leadership on critical design and technology decisions, ensuring robust, scalable, high-performance, and secure cloud solutions.
- Drive the adoption of modern engineering practices and emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and advanced analytics, where they provide clear customer or operational value.
- Manage overall operations and technology functions, driving implementation of enhancements. Maintain a proactive information security posture of all technology systems, including relevant certification (e.g. SOC2). Ensure appropriate processes to deliver against industry benchmarks in reliability and performance.
- Track and manage key metrics such as R&D costs, team performance and business / technical KPIs.
- Work closely with Esko CTO, to drive smart alignment and integration on products, architecture, development and quality control capabilities and technology, including best practice sharing.
- Partner with key stakeholders, including Executive Team, product management, marketing, sales, and customers.
- Lead cultural integration across a globally distributed R&D team, fostering a unified, high-performance culture aligned with both TraceGains and Esko values.
- From time to time, support commercial activities, including customer interactions, documentation and presentations, and representing TraceGains at customer-facing events.
Requirements
15+ years of progressive experience in technology leadership roles within complex, fast-paced software environments.Master's or PhD in Computer Science or a related discipline, with deep experience in B2B software product development.Proven track record of leading distributed, high-performing teams and delivering transformational outcomes in high-growth environments. Experience in start-up to scale-up transitions preferred.Hands-on architectural expertise in cloud-based, high-capacity, low-latency solutions for global industrial customers.Experience with modern web technologies (e.g., JavaScript, Node.js, Angular, React, REST, API, microservices) and cloud-native architectures.Strong knowledge of AI / ML, analytics, and big data technologies, with practical experience applying them to real-world problems.Solid understanding of applications, infrastructure, and data security best practices.Familiarity with database and storage technologies (SQL, NoSQL, ECM, object stores).Deep experience with the full software development lifecycle, modern development tools, and Agile delivery models.Demonstrated success in direct customer engagement, including translating business needs into product capabilities.Personal Attributes
Agile, adaptable leader who thrives in environments of rapid change.High urgency and restlessness paired with resilience.Inspirational leadership with strong technical vision and collaboration skillsPassion to get things done through others, with a focus on empowering teams to make them effective.Excellent team player, motivates and inspires people in general and, in particular, introvert software domain experts.Can put high level and complex problems into a prioritized plan.Understands the need to, and can pragmatically handle, the balance of short-term priorities that deliver results in year, versus the medium- and longer-term transformational priorities needed for future success.Excellent communication, written and oral and presentation skills.Building trust with the organization