Senior Director, Intelligent Solutions

About the role

The Senior Director, Intelligent Solutions leads early-stage development of rail automation, energy performance, and system optimized solutions. This role oversees Systems Architecture, Automation Engineering, Artificial Intelligence, and Cloud Engineering/Development. Additionally, this role serves as the global point of contact for sustainability efforts within the Chief Technology Office.

Responsibilities

• Lead the Systems Engineering function and integrate emerging automation technologies by driving teams through early concept development, system definition, and technical maturation, then transitioning initiatives for commercialization.
• Guide teams in developing system concepts, defining solution architectures, and managing system-level requirements across hardware and software to deliver cohesive, scalable, and robust designs.
• Collaborate with Business Development to identify innovative solutions to product pain points and maintain strong business cases for owned projects, ensuring alignment of technical scope, cost, value, and strategic priorities.
• Facilitate and lead technical design reviews, risk assessments, validation planning, and trade studies to ensure disciplined engineering decisions and measurable technical progress.
• Define talent development plans and staffing strategies that reflect business needs, technical complexity, and resource capacity.
• Own technical, schedule, and budget tracking, ensuring alignment with product milestones, program goals, and readiness for transition to commercialization.
• Engage and manage third-party vendors and technical partners, ensuring external deliverables fully integrate with Wabtec’s internal systems, architecture, and engineering standards.
• Apply systems engineering best practices—including DFMEA/SFMEA, safety assessments, and human-factors considerations—throughout the entire product lifecycle.
• Influence, align, and motivate cross-functional teams around a unified technical vision, ensuring consistent progress across hardware, software, and systems-integration workstreams.
• Contribute to global sustainability efforts by leading technical and market research and advising on company strategy.
• Maintain sustainability claims database and approve technical claims for all external communications.

Qualifications

• 15+ years of engineering experience, including 10+ years of progressive experience in engineering leadership capacity.
• Demonstrated success delivering complex automation solutions that integrate hardware, software, and advanced controls from concept through deployment.
• Strong grounding in systems integration, architecture development, system-level requirements, and risk analysis methodologies (DFMEA, SFMEA).
• Experience with safety-critical system development, including safety assessments, validation strategies, and fail-safe design principles.
• Tech curiosity, innovation, and ability to challenge assumptions to identify new solutions and business opportunities.
• Expertise in one or more key automation and robotics domains, such as: perception, planning, and control for autonomous or semi-autonomous systems; industrial automation (PLC, PAC, DCS) and real-time control of electromechanical systems; robotic manipulation, mobile robotics, or automated material handling; machine vision, sensor fusion, and advanced sensing technologies; embedded and real-time software platforms; functional safety and safety-critical automation; HMI, supervisory control, and operator-in-the-loop systems; integration with enterprise, cloud, or edge computing platforms.
• Domain expertise in one or more railway technologies, including Train Control and Management Systems, Positive Train Control (PTC), Energy Management Systems, locomotive control, communication systems, or remote-control systems.
• Experience in rail yard or mainline operations is highly desirable.