Executive Director, System Software Development

Toshiba Global Commerce Solutions is seeking an Executive Director, Systems Software Development to lead the strategy, development, delivery, quality, productivity, and lifecycle support of the systems software technologies that enable Toshiba's global retail hardware platforms. This executive leader will direct a global, multi-level engineering organization responsible for Linux, SKY, and Android operating system solutions; Open Systems drivers; device drivers and utilities; diagnostics; hardware SDKs; system images and preloads; and supporting technologies required across Toshiba's retail hardware portfolio.
The Executive Director will establish the technical and organizational strategy for Systems Software Development while ensuring predictable execution across new product development, software releases, customer deployments, and lifecycle support. A key expectation is to transform engineering productivity through automation, CI/CD, modern software development practices, and the full implementation and adoption of AI-enabled engineering capabilities throughout the software development lifecycle.
Qualifications:
15+ years of progressive software, systems software, embedded software, or related product development experience.
10+ years of technical and organizational leadership experience with increasing levels of responsibility.
Minimum of 5 years of experience in an executive or senior executive engineering leadership role, including responsibility for managers, senior technical leaders, and complex development organizations.
Significant experience leading geographically distributed engineering teams and organizations.
Demonstrated experience delivering complex commercial software products through the complete development lifecycle.
Strong technical understanding of operating systems, device drivers, hardware/software interfaces, diagnostics, SDKs, and system-level software.
Experience leading software development requiring close integration between hardware and software.
Demonstrated ability to establish technology strategy and translate strategy into executable product and engineering roadmaps.
Proven experience driving measurable improvements in engineering productivity, development cycle time, quality, and speed of execution.
Demonstrated experience implementing and scaling development automation, automated testing, DevOps, and CI/CD practices across a software engineering organization.
Demonstrated experience leading implementation and organizational adoption of AI-enabled engineering capabilities beyond experimentation and into production engineering workflows.
Proven ability to establish measurable AI adoption, productivity, quality, and execution objectives and drive results.
Experience leading critical customer and field issue resolution across multiple technical and business organizations.
Experience managing complex development portfolios involving competing priorities, resource constraints, and customer commitments.
Proven ability to build, develop, and lead high-performing engineering organizations.
Strong executive communication skills with experience presenting technical strategy, business tradeoffs, risks, investments, and recommendations to senior leadership.
Preferred Qualifications:
Master's degree in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline, or a Master of Business Administration (MBA).
Executive leadership experience within a global technology, software, hardware, or product development organization.
Experience developing commercial systems software for retail, Point-of-Sale, embedded, or edge-computing environments.
Deep knowledge of Linux and Android operating system environments.
Experience with proprietary or specialized operating system platforms.
Experience developing and supporting device drivers, diagnostics, SDKs, utilities, and system images.
Experience managing software across multiple hardware generations and extended product lifecycles.
Knowledge of software security, vulnerability management, and secure development practices.
Experience leading large-scale engineering transformation involving AI, automation, DevOps, CI/CD, test automation, and engineering productivity.
Experience with Agile development, modern software engineering toolchains, configuration management, and automated build, test, and release environments.
Experience managing global engineering organizations and external development partners.
Experience supporting software platforms used by large enterprise customers operating business-critical systems.
Lead the Systems Software Development Organization
Provide executive leadership for a global engineering organization responsible for the development, integration, validation, release, and lifecycle support of:
Linux, SKY, and Android operating system solutions
Open Systems drivers and device drivers/utilities
Hardware diagnostics
Hardware Software Development Kits (SDKs)
System images and preloads
Supporting system software technologies required to enable Toshiba retail hardware platforms
Lead through multiple levels of management and technical leadership while establishing accountability for product delivery, software quality, engineering productivity, automation, technical excellence, and customer support.
Build organizational capability through workforce planning, talent development, succession planning, performance management, and strategic skills development.
Define Systems Software Strategy and Technical Direction
Establish and execute the long-term strategy and technology roadmap for Toshiba's Systems Software portfolio.
Partner with Hardware Architecture, Software Architecture, Product Management, and Development leaders to:
Define future software platform strategies and roadmaps
Establish operating system and platform direction
Align hardware and software architectures
Evaluate emerging technologies and industry trends
Increase software reuse and common capabilities
Reduce platform complexity and technical debt
Establish lifecycle and migration strategies
Ensure future hardware platforms can be efficiently enabled and supported across operating environments
Balance customer requirements, innovation, security, maintainability, productivity, development cost, and long-term support requirements when making platform decisions.
Drive Product Development and Predictable Execution
Provide executive oversight across the complete Systems Software development lifecycle, including:
New product enablement
Operating system releases
Drivers and utilities development
Diagnostics solutions
SDK delivery
System preloads
Lifecycle releases
Customer-specific software requirements
Establish planning, prioritization, resource management, and execution processes that deliver commitments with high levels of predictability, quality, productivity, and transparency.
Partner across Hardware and Software Development organizations to identify and mitigate technical and execution risks early.
Transform Engineering Productivity Through AI, Automation, and CI/CD
Provide executive ownership for the implementation, adoption, execution, and ongoing expansion of AI, automation, and CI/CD capabilities throughout Systems Software Development.
Drive practical AI implementation across:
Software design and development
Code generation and review
Automated testing and test case generation
Defect identification and root cause analysis
Requirements management and documentation
Knowledge management and engineering search
CI/CD and DevOps workflows
Engineering planning and estimation
Customer and field issue resolution
Repetitive engineering and administrative activities
Advance automation capabilities through:
Automated build and integration processes
Automated regression testing
Validation and quality gate automation
Configuration management automation
Release process automation
Establish governance, security, intellectual property protection, development standards, and measurement practices for AI-enabled engineering.
Develop measurable objectives for AI adoption, automation, engineering productivity, software quality, development cycle time, throughput, and speed of execution.
Champion Software Quality and Customer Experience
Establish a strong engineering culture that emphasizes quality throughout the software development lifecycle.
Drive continuous improvement in:
Software design and development practices
Automated testing and defect prevention
Release readiness
Root cause analysis and corrective actions
Software reliability and maintainability
Field issue resolution
Engineering quality and productivity metrics
Provide executive leadership for significant customer and field issues, ensuring rapid resolution, clear accountability, and permanent corrective action.
Leverage lessons learned from customer deployments and field issues to improve architecture, development, validation, automation, and