The Drone Racing League (DRL) is the premier, global drone-racing league and producer of world-class drone sports content. At once a tech, media, events, and sports company, DRL blends a diverse array of disciplines and industries.

We are seeking a Vice President of Engineering to grow and lead DRL’s hardware and software engineering teams – projected to grow to 150 team members in the next twenty-four months.

The Vice President of Engineering will be directly responsible for all engineering functions, ranging from staffing, requirements gathering, research and development, project deliveries, task and project management, and continuous improvement principles. S/he will refine DRL’s engineering process to increase overall bandwidth, delivery capabilities and ultimately grow and refine the ability for DRL to produce state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles and systems.

Responsibilities:

• Help define and develop the engineering team structure, manage resources and new hires to optimize against the short term and long term requirements of DRL.
• Manage day-to-day hardware development operations and ensure world-class product development process followed and reported throughout the organization.
• Understand and execute R&D priorities to understand technology unknowns and mitigate risk.
• Develop efficient work-streams in collaboration with electrical engineers, mechanical engineers and embedded software engineers and other disciplines.
• Help navigate rapid development, scope and requirement to ultimately deliver new technologies against uncertain timelines.
• Manage new product, quality management introduction processes.
• Mitigate risk by developing engineering methodologies that reduce uncertainties and complexities against a utilitarian-first approach.
• Scale engineering production to increase production capabilities.
• Act as a key member of the company’s leadership team, influencing the overall strategic direction of the company.
• Collaborate on requirements for new products with product management, marketing and other key stakeholders.
• Develop an annual budget based on operational and financial requirements.

Desired Skills and Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering or equivalent experience in industry-leading consumer electronics company or contract manufacturer.
• 10+ years’ in hardware engineering. 6+ years is in a management/leadership role.
• Extensive domain knowledge in modern electrical engineering, mechanical engineering, embedded software engineering, and modern manufacturing techniques.
• Extensive knowledge of product development process from research and development to mass production.
• Working knowledge of embedded firmware engineering principles.
• Proven success in leading high-performance engineering teams.
• PE license (preferred).
• Strong communicator.
• Lover of challenge.
• Comfortable and cool in demanding, high-pressure situations.