Pharsight® Employment Opportunities
VP, Research & Development (Cary, NC)
Job Objectives:
Reporting to the President and CEO, the VP of R&D will be responsible for leading the design, development, quality engineering, quality assurance and technical publications functions of the engineering organization. As a key member of the business unit management team, the executive must provide the leadership and direction necessary to maintain the focus and drive of an exceptionally bright and technically diverse engineering team. The VP of R&D will focus on transitioning engineering into a world-class execution team and will apply deep technical and organizational understanding to making tough decisions and ensure accountability for all deliverables.
The VP of R&D will be a proven expert in the field and will be responsible for developing and implementing the strategy for software development processes, tools and metrics for the group. The executive will participate in strategy, planning and technical meetings with business leaders and will provide strong leadership in the technical portion of that strategy. The organization will also look to the VP of R&D to identify best practices and to institute a program of continual process improvement.
The VP of Engineering will be a hands-on leader with a passion for building compelling customer experiences and a proven ability to grow and lead a team of talented engineers and managers through design, development, testing and launch of cutting-edge software products.
One of the primary measures of the successful candidate's performance, in addition to meeting or exceeding the group's commercial goals, will be the ability to mold diverse development groups into a seamless team with a common goal and vision.
Essential Job Functions:
- Direct all aspects of the company’s software development efforts to ensure that product development, testing and ongoing maintenance milestones are accomplished with success in schedule adherence, budget compliance and product quality
- Ensure a credible implementation plan is in place when the product release content is approved by the executive team
- Provide leadership in the review of existing technology and solutions and determine appropriate strategy for technology and architecture
- Energize the organization to maintain continuous improvement programs and explore creative ideas on significantly improving performance
- Work closely with Product Management to guide the functional and technical direction of our core products and to provide strong leadership for the technical portion of that strategy
- Implement organizational procedures that support product development
- Work with executive management to understand business drivers, marketing requirements and competitive issues that may impact departmental strategies
- Mentor high-potential managers to assume greater future responsibilities
Knowledge/Skills/Abilities:
- Capable of managing and motivating an entrepreneurial, high-energy, high-quality, high-output software development organization
- Proven leadership and mentoring skills with the ability to work effectively with executive management
- Have a passion for developing within the team a strong understanding of customer needs and establishment of operational standards necessary to meet and exceed those needs
- Ability to present complex technical information in a clear and concise manner to a variety of audiences, including non-technical
- Experience and comfort operating in a dynamic environment where requirements might shift to meet changing business needs
- Ability to align best business practices with company's mission and values
- Superior organizational and planning skills with excellent written and verbal presentation skills
Minimum Requirements:
- Advanced degree in Computer Science/Engineering/Mathematics or other related technical field
- A minimum of 10 years of senior technology management experience developing and deploying complex software products to Fortune 2000 companies, including recent experience leading a 30+ person organization
- A proven track record of delivering world-class, large-scale, performance critical multimillion-dollar software product projects on time, on budget and with quality to external clients
- Significant and proven experience in operational excellence with a thorough understanding of software development organizational processes including architecture, iterative development, program management, user-centered design and testing automation
- First-hand experience with the latest software engineering productivity, quality, and cost control methodologies with a proven track record of delivering quality products within defined time constraints and within budget
- Deep understanding of agile methods and software engineering development cycle
- Sound knowledge in Unix (server) and Windows (server and desktop) development, web application/services development & deployment, object-oriented system architecture and APIs, C++, .NET, Javascript, SQL
- Familiarity with reporting requirements for clinical/pre-clinical pharmacology, DMPK, or clinical/pre-clinical pharmacokinetics departments a plus
- Experience with technical and/or scientific applications a plus
Travel Required:
- 5-10%
# Employees Supervised:
- Team of approx. 30 with 6 direct reports
Send resume to:
Human Resources, Pharsight Corporation
Fax: 650.314.3813
321 E. Evelyn Ave, 3rd Fl.
Mountain View, CA 94041-1530
NO PHONE CALLS OR THIRD-PARTY AGENTS PLEASE.