Director, Instrument Development

Director, Instrument Development - We offer competitive benefits!
We are an established company located in Secaucus, New Jersey that offers its employees a competitive benefits package and great developmental opportunities.
The Company: GIA is the world's foremost authority in gemology. An independent, nonprofit organization, GIA protects the public trust in gems and jewelry by providing the education, research, and standards that consumers and the jewelry industry rely on to make informed purchase decisions.
The Team & Culture: With autonomy, performance and passion, the Research & Development department strongly collaborates across the team to elevate the organization's research and instrument initiatives. Our researchers develop instruments that are accurate, reliable and cutting-edge and used by gem professionals - retailers, wholesalers, scientists - around the globe.
The Location: Secaucus, New Jersey. This position reports to the VP, Research & Development.

• This role will require the person to work on-site due to the nature of the work.
• Work Hours: 8:00 am to 5:00 pm EST Monday through Friday, start time flexibility
• We offer medical, dental, vision and matching 401-K plan
• Paid vacation, sick and holidays, tuition assistance, commuter benefits
• We offer Relocation Reimbursement!

The Position:
Leads a multidisciplinary team of expert scientists and engineers to develop and deliver leading-edge technology for GIA laboratory applications and the global jewelry industry. Utilizes standard innovation processes and tools to manage and monitor project quality, timescales and risk. Plays a leading role in the performance management and development of the team and effectively communicates to both the team and the executive.
Responsibilities:

• Leads a multidisciplinary team to develop instrumentation for GIA laboratory applications and for the global jewelry industry, leads the ideation process, sets up and leads the development projects, and manufactures the final products.
• Improves and/or develops any existing or new GIA instruments by pro-actively gathering customer feedback and constantly reviewing instrument performance and feeding this back into the Instrument Development process. This applies to instrumentation for internal purposes, as well as external instrumentation for the gem and jewelry industry.
• Proactively gathers relevant information and insight from the GIA commercial grading operations so that technologies and processes may be developed and applied to improve their efficiency and effectiveness or to enable new services and revenues to be generated.
• Manages the day-to-day operational aspects of a project, scope, and resources.
• Utilizes innovation tools and processes such as technology readiness levels, stage-gates and agile methodologies to manage project quality, timescales, cost and risk across the product lifecycle.
• Assists with identifying and recruiting top applied science/engineering talent for growing instrumentation team.
• Sets priorities together with management and ensures the best use of product development resources.
• Provides timely project status updates to senior management and ensures project documentation, such as project initiation documents, project review notes and risk assessments are kept updated
• Completes other assigned development-related tasks.
• Performance manages and recommends any training and development for the technical team.
• Keeps updated on knowledge of new technologies, processes and methods of analytical instrumentation.
• Travels domestically and/or globally using commercial transportation resources for research and development purposes.
• Communicates effectively, has good rapport with coworkers and management, and deals with others effectively and professionally, especially when under pressure.
• Ensures staff work in a safe and inclusive environment.

Technical Competencies (Knowledge, Skills & Abilities)

• Good knowledge and understanding of the innovation process and tools, such as technology-readiness-levels (TRL's), stage-gates, lean-six-sigma and agile processes.
• Substantial knowledge and experience in Instrument Development, optics, electronics, digital imaging and computer programing.
• Experience in leading Instrument Development and project management.
• Demonstrated achievements in Instrument Development.
• Effective leadership skills which bring out the best abilities in their team and motivate them to collaborate toward achieving a shared goal.
• Strong analytical skills.
• Ability to create and execute project work plans and revise as appropriate to meet changing needs and requirements.
• Ability to work with other scientists and engineers, especially in a leadership role.
• Has knowledge of commonly used concepts, practices, and procedures within the field.
• Fast prototyping capability complemented with small batch manufacturing capability.
• Expertise to ensure fully compliant instruments.
• Strong written and verbal communications skills complemented with good listening skills.
• Ability to adhere to project and task schedules and to understand and communicate technical risk.
• Proficiency in MS Excel, MS Project, MS PowerPoint.
• Able to work well with departments and companies to ensure smooth workflow and proper handling of clients.
• Self-motivated, positive attitude, responsible, accountable, flexible, organized, determined, energetic, service oriented, strong documentation skills, keen attention to detail, "team" oriented, sound judgment, creative thinker and strong problem solving skills, customer service-oriented to ensure customer satisfaction, goodwill and repeat business, dedication to company goals and a willingness to improve and excel.

Qualifications:

• Preferred to have a PhD in physics, chemistry, earth sciences, materials sciences, engineering or related fields
• Minimum of 5 years of experience in Instrument Development.

Disclaimer: This job description indicates in general terms, the type and level of work performed as well as the typical responsibilities of employees in this classification and it may be changed by management at any time. Other duties may also apply. Nothing in this job description changes the at-will employment relationship existing between the Company and its employees.