Director of Engineering - Space Hardware & Systems Leadership

Xiphos Systems Corporation, founded in 1996, is a vibrant and energetic company in the heart of Montreal’s Plateau area. For over 20 years, we have pushed the envelope of what is possible in NewSpace and secured the trust of various space agencies and space companies around the world. The industry has adopted our design approach and, as a result, we have been experiencing several years of rapid, steady growth and the trend is continuing!

Our vision is to migrate terrestrial computing and network communication techniques into space environments. The company’s expertise in networked processors has evolved into a line of high-performance, fault-tolerant flight control and sensor processing hardware and software solutions in wide and varied advanced space applications.

Xiphos’ primary markets are small satellites, space station applications, as well as lunar landers and rovers. We have delivered our standard and custom products all over the world and have been essential to many successful space missions. Our current line of standard hardware products includes the highly capable Q-cards and numerous derivatives of, and daughterboards for, the same. With low power consumption, high processing power, excellent robustness, and proven functions available off-the-shelf, our Q-cards are increasingly the preferred solution in the fast-growing field of NewSpace.

Main Tasks

Reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer, the Director of Engineering is accountable for the
organizational health, engineering capability, and predictable execution of Xiphos’ multidisciplinary
engineering organization. The Director will build a leadership and operating system that converts
product and project priorities into credible, resourced engineering plans and delivers those plans
through clear ownership, disciplined follow-through, and effective cross-functional execution.

As a successful candidate, you will ensure the success of all our development and engineering efforts by
fostering efficiency and a focus on requirements. You will continue to grow the culture of inspiration
and collaboration, such that each team member team brings their best. You will remove obstacles to
maximize the team’s efforts and support an environment in which these are value-added and each
member is inspired and intellectually fulfilled. As continuous improvement is key, you will lead the team
in the ongoing process of identification and implementation of opportunities to evolve our processes.

The Director of Engineering will take the necessary actions to facilitate efficient development and
testing. The company is on significant growth trajectory.

The Director of Engineering will partner closely with the Chief Engineer, Project Management, and
Product Management. The Chief Engineer provides technical authority and product-level technical
leadership. Engineering develops and owns the executable technical work plan and provides the
resources required to deliver it. Project Management integrates that work into the overall project plan
and owns schedule, risk, and customer-facing execution. Product Management owns product priorities,
requirements tradeoffs, and product decisions.

To support a primarily in-office team, this position is a full-time, in-office role in Montreal.

At Xiphos, our customers’ mission success is our primary goal. The successful candidate will be key to
Xiphos’ ensuring that we are able to deliver on that goal.

Responsibilities

• Oversee and manage the engineering team and Team Leads, providing direction, guidance and
  mentorship
• Ensure that each of the technical teams (Hardware, Software, Logic, Test) has the required
  expertise, tools and resources to fulfill their diverse mandates
• Promote effective communications between the engineering teams to support our culture of
  collaboration and increase efficiency across projects
• Fostering a one-team approach within the Engineering team and with all stakeholders, at
  Xiphos, with suppliers and sub-contractors, and with our customers
• Ensure the right data tools and processes are in place, such that the right information is readily
  available
• Deliver development projects using repeatable, cross-functional engineering plans that define
  outcomes, technical workstreams, appropriate resource loading, validation and verification, and
  readiness criteria.
• Build an accountable leadership model in which team members have clear responsibilities,
  decision rights, performance expectations, and escalation paths.
• Coach and develop leaders by providing clear expectations, regular feedback, development
  planning, and corrective action where required.
• Partnered with the CTO, Product Management, and Project Management, establish and protect
  priorities, make resource conflicts visible, and ensure that changes in scope or priority include
  explicit schedule and capacity tradeoffs.
• Support efforts related to AS9100 quality processes and audits, maintaining process and
  documentation, and ensuring the team meet various requirements

Qualifications

• 15+ years of experience developing complex, mission-critical hardware and software products,
  including a successful track record of leading multidisciplinary engineering organizations.
• Bachelor of Engineering (Electrical Engineering, Embedded Systems, Mechatronics, or Software
  an asset), a Master’s degree a plus
• Experience leading engineering teams, including success managing engineering managers or
  functional leads across multiple technical disciplines.
• Demonstrated ability to assess organizational capability, strengthen or replace underperforming
  structures, develop leaders, and reduce dependency on key individuals.
• Leadership style characterized by listening, constructive challenge, clear decisions, delegated
  ownership, direct feedback, and disciplined follow-through.
• Functionally bilingual (French and English)
• Ability to obtain Canadian security clearance (Controlled Good Program)
• A strong knowledge of system engineering (electronic, software, mechanical)
• Experience working in the aerospace industry, with a focus on space, an asset