Jobs · Engineering · Illinois

Director of Engineering

Molex · Lisle, IL · 3 wk ago
On-siteEngineering$180k–$200k/yrFull-time

About the role

Molex's Connected Enterprise Solutions business is entering a period of strategic growth. With data centers expanding rapidly to support infrastructure and enterprise networks undergoing significant modernization, CES occupies a critical position in the connectivity market, delivering comprehensive copper and fiber infrastructure solutions supported by Molex's global engineering capabilities and a legacy of manufacturing excellence. The Director of Engineering will play a central role in defining the technical strategy of CES, leading a team with established strengths and the opportunity to drive meaningful advancement in fiber connectivity and broader portfolio performance across Enterprise and Data Center markets.

Responsibilities

  • Set engineering strategy — Define and own priorities across sustaining, qualification, and innovation engineering. Translate market signals and business objectives into a clear, sequenced roadmap that the team can execute against.

  • Protect what's working — Ensure the stability, quality, and lifecycle performance of an established product portfolio through disciplined sustaining engineering.

  • Accelerate what's next — Drive qualification and integration of new technologies, with a sharp focus on fiber-led solutions for enterprise and hyperscale data center applications.

  • Build the pipeline — Lead delivery of new products from concept through launch.

  • Own the outcomes — commercially and technically.

  • Be a cross-functional partner — Work closely with Product Management, Sales, Operations, and Supply Chain to ensure engineering programs are grounded in customer needs and market reality.

  • Develop the team — Build a capable, accountable engineering organization that combines technical depth with a strong ownership mindset. Coach individuals at different stages of their careers.

  • Contribute to business leadership — Serve as a key member of the CES leadership team, bringing an engineering lens to broader business strategy and decisions.

  • Lead with business and financial acumen — Manage engineering resources and investments with an ownership mindset, making sound trade-off decisions that balance innovation, execution, risk, cost, and long-term value creation. Partner with business leaders to ensure technical priorities support profitable growth and strategic objectives.

Requirements

  • 5 to 7+ years of engineering leadership experience, ideally in connectivity, physical layer infrastructure, or an adjacent hardware/technology domain.

  • You've led a team through change. Whether that's building from scratch, integrating new technology, or shifting a team's culture, you've done it, and you know the difference between managing the org chart and actually leading people.

  • You've proven at building and running teams, including teams in transition or earlier stages of maturity. You know how to establish culture, not just inherit it.

  • You understand what it takes to get from concept to qualified, manufacturable solutions. Operationally disciplined, comfortable balancing long-cycle innovation work with the cadence of sustaining and qualification programs running in parallel.

  • You're driven by outcomes, not activity. You hold yourself and others accountable to results.

Qualifications

  • Deep expertise in fiber technologies, including pre-terminated systems, high-density fiber, splicing, and/or emerging data center fiber architectures.

  • Experience integrating acquired or market-ready technologies into an existing product portfolio.

  • Familiarity with enterprise structured cabling standards or data center infrastructure standards.

  • Experience working within or alongside a global manufacturing and supply chain organization.

  • Bachelor's degree and/or advanced degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Systems Engineering, Optical Engineering, or related technical discipline.

Skills

  • Strategic thinking and planning.

  • Team leadership and development.

  • Product development and management.

  • Market analysis and competitive intelligence.

  • Financial management and budgeting.

  • Collaboration and communication with cross-functional teams.

Benefits

This role is eligible for variable pay, issued as a monetary bonus or in another form. Relocation benefits may be provided.

Pay

$180,000 - $200,000 per year.

Schedule

On-site | Travel: 10-15% (Global)

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