Technology VP/CTO

About the role

The Chief Technology Officer (CTO) will define and lead the end-to-end technology vision, strategy, and execution for a publicly traded company’s Connected Living, Commerce, Retail, and Home Automation segment. This executive will drive innovation across a highly integrated technology stack spanning robotics, optics, digital commerce, retail systems, and precision consumer technologies. The CTO will lead a global engineering and R&D organization of 400+ professionals and own a technology portfolio with approximately $100M in annual P&L responsibility. The role requires a unique blend of industrial-scale engineering rigor and consumer-centric innovation, with a strong emphasis on platform development, customer co-creation, and scalable system architectures.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute a multi-year technology roadmap aligned with business growth and market opportunities
• Drive innovation across robotics, automation, sensing/optics, digital payments, and retail platforms
• Establish scalable, modular platform architectures across hardware, software, and data systems
• Identify and incubate next-generation technologies to maintain competitive advantage
• Lead and scale a global engineering and R&D organization (400+ employees)
• Foster a high-performance, innovation-driven engineering culture
• Ensure excellence across systems engineering, mechatronics, embedded software, and platform development
• Drive best practices in product development lifecycle, quality, and reliability
• Partner directly with strategic customers to co-develop solutions and platforms
• Translate customer needs into scalable product and platform strategies
• Strengthen the organization’s position as a technology innovation partner, not just a supplier
• Shift the organization toward platform-based development vs. one-off products
• Integrate hardware, software, AI/data, and user experience into unified solutions
• Drive standardization and reuse across product lines to improve speed and margins
• Own technology-related P&L (~$100M), including R&D investment allocation
• Balance long-term innovation investments with near-term delivery and ROI
• Drive efficiency, scalability, and cost optimization across global teams
• Partner with Product, Commercial, and Operations leaders to align technology with business strategy
• Influence enterprise-level decisions around M&A, partnerships, and ecosystem development
• Serve as a key member of the executive leadership team

Requirements

• 15+ years of progressive leadership in engineering, R&D, or technology organizations
• Current or recent experience as: CTO (BU / Division / Segment), Chief Engineering Officer, SVP/EVP Engineering or R&D, VP/SVP Technology (Robotics, Automation, Platforms)
• Proven leadership of large, global engineering teams (200–500+)
• Experience managing significant budgets and/or P&L responsibility
• Domain Expertise (one or more of the following):
  • Industrial automation and robotics
  • Warehouse automation / retail robotics systems
  • Vision systems, optics, or sensing technologies
  • Advanced manufacturing platforms (EMS / ODM)
  • Consumer electronics or smart connected devices

Skills

• Technology & Innovation: