Vice-President, Strategy & Growth
2 days ago
Fort Worth
Job Description Job Description Position Title: Vice-President, Strategy & Growth Department: Administration Reports To: President & CEO Classification (Exempt/Non-Exempt): Exempt Summary / Objective The Vice President, Strategy & Growth is the single executive accountable for converting customer demand and engineering capability into program outcomes and profitable growth in accordance with the CEO vision and mission. This role integrates Business Development, Marketing Communications (MARCOM), Program Management and Engineering under one leader so that market direction, technical feasibility, certification burden, resource capacity, portfolio choices, and delivery risk are reconciled before the company commits. The position directly supports the CEO’s vision to become the trusted provider of mission-enabling aerospace technologies that connect, monitor, modernize, and sustain critical platforms, and the mission of delivering solutions through engineering excellence, disciplined execution, and customer-focused modernization. Qualifications • Education: Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Business, or related field required; advanced degree (MBA, MS Engineering, or equivalent) strongly preferred., • Experience: 15+ years progressive leadership experience in aerospace, defense, or related high-reliability technical markets, with significant time in strategy, business development/capture, and/or engineering/product leadership., • Skills: Demonstrated success integrating customer demand, technical capability, and program delivery (or equivalent P&L/growth accountability spanning commercial and technical functions)., • Skills: Deep familiarity with aerospace certification environments (e.g., DO-178, DO-160, STC processes), systems engineering, and the realities of converting technical solutions into fielded capability., • Skills:: Proven ability to lead multi-disciplinary teams, drive organization change, and install operating discipline (visibility, baselines, governance)., • Skills: Strong executive presence with experience briefing CEOs, Boards, and senior customer stakeholders., • U.S. citizenship and ability to obtain/maintain security clearance as required by customer programs. Preferred Attributes • Prior experience in cockpit modernization, avionics, displays, data acquisition, health monitoring, or related mission systems., • Track record of building or scaling engineering organizations while simultaneously driving commercial growth., • Experience with both domestic military and international/allied customers., • Comfort operating in a mid-sized, high-growth aerospace company where the executive must be both strategist and hands-on operator. Success Metrics (Illustrative) • Achievement of annual and multi-year revenue/growth targets with particular focus on STC, modernization, and high-engineering-content work., • Improved engineering visibility, baseline stability, and earlier risk detection., • Measurable conversion of pipeline to backlog and backlog to revenue with reduced late-stage technical or capacity surprises., • Clear, single point of accountability for growth outcomes recognized by CEO and Board., • Progress on skills roadmap, systems-engineering maturity, and cultural attributes required for the 2027–2032 strategy. Core Accountabilities Own the complete customer-to-revenue system: • Strategic customer relationships and problem definition, • Market intelligence, capture priorities, and win strategy, • Product portfolio investment choices and lifecycle decisions, • Technology roadmaps and architecture, • Engineering skills, capacity, visibility, and technical delivery, • Program baselines, gates, risk, and outcomes (in close partnership with Programs), • Growth conversion and revenue outcomes Key Responsibilities Strategy & Growth Leadership • Consistent with the CEO vision, develop and execute the multi-year growth strategy and annual operating plan priorities aligned to the five strategic pillars (Protect the Core, Execute with Discipline, Grow Modernization, Build the Future Portfolio, Develop the Organization)., • Identify, qualify, shape, and capture opportunities in cockpit modernization, STC/retrofit, health monitoring, data interfaces, rugged displays, autonomous-system support, and adjacent mission-enabling technologies., • Drive market and competitive intelligence focused on unmanned/autonomous systems, AI/sensing/software, counter-UAS, and accelerating modernization cycles., • Ensure early influence of certification, manufacturing readiness, capacity, and technical risk on capture decisions., • Lead portfolio prioritization so investments, IRAD, and engineering capacity align with customer access and strategy. Business Development & Customer Relations • Own strategic customer relationships and the conversion of customer problems into qualified opportunities and wins., • Lead capture strategy, proposal strategy, and competitive positioning for major pursuits., • Partner with Sales to shape demand while ensuring Engineering and Programs can deliver what is committed., • Expand relationships with primes, OEMs, military services, and international partners as relevant to Howell’s markets. Marketing Communications (MARCOM) • Aligned with the CEO vision and mission, direct brand positioning, messaging, and go-to-market communications that reinforce Howell’s value in modernization, certification, and mission readiness., • Ensure external narrative consistency with strategy, technical capability, and growth priorities., • Oversee content, events, digital presence, and thought leadership that support capture and customer engagement. Engineering Leadership • Consistent with the CEO’s vision and mission, provide executive ownership of engineering capability, culture, skills planning, and roadmap., • Establish transparent capacity and effort visibility (planned hours by work package/milestone, actuals, estimate-to-complete) so Programs and leadership can make real resource trade-offs., • Drive systems-engineering discipline, architecture ownership, and future-state skills required for cockpit/STC modernization, data/health monitoring, and autonomous-system support., • Partner with Programs on baselines, gates, risk identification, and technical delivery accountability., • Lead the evolution of engineering culture toward speed, ownership, constructive challenge, and measurable program outcomes. Governance & Operating Model • Serve as the primary reconciling authority to the CEO for trade-offs among customer urgency, technical feasibility, certification burden, capacity, cost/schedule risk, and enterprise outcomes., • Install and sustain the integrated decision processes, fact base (revenue, backlog, capacity, program performance), and escalation paths that make cross-functional accountability explicit., • Provide clear, coherent answers to the CEO and Board on growth conversion, technical risk, and portfolio health., • Lead the organizational transition and governance installation effective 1 January 2027 (or as directed). Physical Requirements / Working Conditions • Physical Requirements: The physical demands described here are representative of those that must be met by an employee to successfully perform the essential functions of this job. While performing the duties of this job, the employee is frequently required to sit, talk, or hear. The employee is occasionally required to stand; walk; use hands to finger, handle, or feel; reach with hands and arms; and stoop; kneel; or crouch. The employee must occasionally lift/or move up to 25 pounds. Specific vision abilities required by this job include close vision, distance vision and depth perception., • Working Conditions: The employee is subject to both environmental conditions; activities occur inside and outside. Extensive travel is required year-round to both cold and hot regions. The employee is subject to extreme cold; temperatures typically below 32 degrees for periods of more than one hour. Additionally, the employee is subject to extreme heat; temperatures above 100 degrees for more than one hour. Consideration should be given to the effect of other environmental conditions, such as wind and humidity. AAP/EEO Statement Howell Instruments, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, religion, color, national origin, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, status as a protected veteran, among other things, or status as a qualified individual with disability. Other Duties Please note that this job description is not designed to cover or contain a comprehensive listing of activities, duties or responsibilities that are required of the employee for this job. Duties, responsibilities and activities may change at any time or without notice. This role is not a traditional functional head of Sales, Marketing, or Engineering. It is the operating-model leader who makes the strategy executable by owning the integrated customer-to-revenue system.