VP of R&D

Join a team that is changing millions of lives.

Transforming smiles, changing lives.

 

At Align Technology, we believe a great smile can transform a person’s life, so we create technology that gives people the confidence to take on whatever’s next. We revolutionized the orthodontic industry with the introduction of the Invisalign system, and we have never lost sight of that spirit of innovation. Our diverse and collaborative teams are constantly pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.

 

Ready to join us?

About This Opportunity

The VP of R&D will lead a global, multidisciplinary research and development team of over 400 professionals spread across multiple countries. This executive-level role involves building and enhancing a world-class team responsible for new product development, sustaining engineering, best practices in CICD and Agile development over the cloud, advanced technology development, and meeting customer needs with an installed base of over 100,000 IOS scanners.

The VP will spearhead critical hardware (HW) and software (SW) transformational projects, future technology, technology debt projects, and the evolution of SW, HW, and System engineering processes and tools.

This role requires the execution of the vision, necessitating a deep technical foundation in various fields, including Software Engineering, Optics & Physics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Algorithms, Mechanical Engineering, Cloud Development & Infrastructure, Test Automation, DevOps, and Web Applications. This includes responsibility for company-wide technology architecture, platform, data, software, and infrastructure engineering and quality practices, ensuring product availability and performance globally, improving software delivery efficiency and resiliency, optimizing compute and network costs.

In this role, you will…

• Strategic Leadership & Vision
• Participate as a member of the Senior Executive Team in setting iTero’s strategic direction.
• Act as the functional VP of a global R&D team, driving strategic direction and high-quality execution.
• Define, evolve, and implement Align Architectural Principles.
• Team & Culture Leadership
• Foster a collaborative, high-performing team and promote a positive work environment.
• Create a collaborative, innovative, and execution-focused engineering culture.
• Operational Excellence
• Maintain strong relationships with key customers, partners, and vendors.
• Balance a high-quality, high-output engineering mindset with high-growth demands.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration
• Partner closely with business leaders across functions to identify and prioritize the company’s goals.
• Collaborate with Product, Marketing, and other teams to drive R&D initiatives for customer-focused products and design research strategies that support iTero’s goals.
• Partner with cross-functional teams to define research-to-roadmap transition items (e.g., Predictability / Applicability Improvements).
• Work closely with the Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs teams to ensure products meet requirements.
• Product & Technology Leadership
• Lead the execution of complex software and hardware projects that require deep architectural transformation of corporate systems.
• Deliver all roadmap and release commitments with a focus on timeliness, scope, and quality.
• Review ongoing research projects, set priorities, and support escalated investigations from Operations.
• Innovation & Industry Engagement
• Research global technology trends, lead emerging technology analysis, and assess their applicability to Align's capabilities.
• Partner the eco-system to accelerate adaption of new technology and /or capabilities.
• Provide leadership for IP submissions.
• Lead technical competitive analysis.
• Represent Align at technology conferences and executive-level customer engagements.
  
  

In this role, you’ll need …

• Leadership & Team Management
• Minimum of 5 years in VP roles
• Experience leading technology teams in the medical device industry or capital equipment groups is an advantage.
• Experience with multi-national enterprises.
• Demonstrated strong track record of delivering results.
• Highly entrepreneurial and comfortable working in a fast-paced environment with minimal guidance.
• Problem Solving & Decision Making
• Strong decision-making skills under tight deadlines; able to make timely decisions with incomplete information, Strong critical thinking.
• Detail-oriented with strong organizational skills, yet comfortable with ambiguity.
• Ability to distill complex issues into structured frameworks and concrete action plans.
• Technical Expertise
• Extensive experience in architecting distributed systems and developing enterprise-level technology roadmaps.
• Experience in running a 24x7 high-availability operation with proven success building processes at Internet-scale.
• Experience leading large-scale global multidisciplinary R&D teams to deliver cloud-based infrastructure solutions.
• Proven mastery of software and hardware engineering.
• Capable of leading enterprise architecture efforts, making them practical and valuable contributors.
• Experience in full-scale global complex systems implementations.
• Passion for technology and communications, well-versed in the latest trends.
• Communication & Collaboration
• Excellent communication skills with the ability to be personable yet persistent.
  
  

Travel

Ability to travel intensively to the different R&D sites and the customers.

Education

B.Sc. in Computer Science or an equivalent Engineering degree

MBA is an advantage

Sound like a good fit?   

Great! Click the "Apply" link to let us know you are interested. Not the right fit? Don’t worry, Align is quickly growing so we are creating more opportunities to expand our Align family. Please consider joining our Talent Network to receive notifications about future jobs or sharing this opportunity with others in your network.    

 

About Align  

Align Technology is a publicly traded medical device company that is transforming smiles and changing lives. Our global team of talented employees develop innovative technology, tools and treatment options to help dental professionals worldwide achieve the clinical results they expect. Our digital ecosystem combines the power of technology to create beautiful smiles through the integration of AI and machine learning, digital imaging and visualization, biomechanics and material science to develop the Invisalign system, the most advanced clear aligner system in the world; iTero Intraoral Scanners and OrthoCAD digital services. Did you know? Align is the world’s largest manufacturer of custom 3D-printed materials.   

  

By joining Align, you will be part of a global, fast-growing company in one of the most dynamic industries. Great people, innovative technologies, and meaningful work - these are just some of the things employees say make Align Technology a great place to work.   

  

We respect your privacy. Please review our Applicant Privacy Policies for additional information.  

 

Global Diversity Statement

At Align, we believe in the power of a smile, and we know that every smile is as unique as our employees. As we grow, we will continue building a workforce of diverse cultural backgrounds and life experiences and fostering a culture of open-mindedness and compassion for all our employees. We live our company values by promoting healthy people and healthy communities. All with the intent of changing millions of lives, one unique smile at a time.

Equal Opportunity Statement

It is our policy to provide equal employment opportunity in all of our employment practices without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, ancestry, marital status, protected veteran status, age, individuals with disabilities, sexual orientation or gender identity or expression or any other legally protected category. Applicants for positions with Align must be legally authorized to work in the country which they are applying for and verification of employment eligibility will be required as a condition of hire.