Engineering Innovation Program Leader
Polaris Inc.
full-time
Posted on:
Location Type: Office
Location: Wyoming • Minnesota, Wyoming • 🇺🇸 United States
Visit company websiteSalary
💰 $104,000 - $137,000 per year
Job Level
Senior
About the role
- Own the innovation pipeline and governance: Govern the gate system with clear entry/exit criteria, disciplined review cadence, and crisp go/kill decisions; drive progression from ideation through proof-of-concept to development hand-off.
- Drive rigorous evaluation and portfolio decisions: Apply standardized scoring against the Innovation Review rubric (IP, income, peak sales, market readiness, risk, strategic alignment, investment) and deliver investable recommendations to leadership forums.
- Accelerate concept creation and maturation: Lead design-thinking workshops and white-paper sprints, orchestrate rapid prototyping across engineering functions; drive to shorten cycles and de-risk early.
- Ensure smooth integration to development: Define “definition-of-ready” for Pre-Development and PDP insertion, align requirements with Engineering for clean hand-offs.
- Build and sustain an innovation culture: Run charrettes/challenges; codify fast-fail learning; align efforts with strategic themes to maximize business impact.
- Partner externally and internally: Lead make/buy/partner analyses; engage suppliers and universities for feasibility accelerators and benchmarking; maintain strong ties across product and engineering teams.
- Measure what matters: Establish and track portfolio health and impact metrics (idea throughput, ARL cycle time, kill rate, number of charters, innovation vs. pre-dev investment mix, program stability/speed), and publish transparent, actionable readouts.
- Support end-to-end innovation pipeline: Drive problem discovery, ideation, evaluation, proof-of-concept, and seamless hand-off into development to ensure disciplined progression from concept to execution.
- Champion adherence to the innovation process: Model best practices and actively coach teams to follow established frameworks, reinforcing consistency and rigor across initiatives.
- Mentor and develop innovation capabilities: Build organizational competency through coaching, training, and hands-on engagement, fostering a sustainable innovation ecosystem across Polaris Inc.
- Apply critical thinking and analytics: Leverage structured analysis and data-driven insights to evaluate opportunities, mitigate risk, and optimize portfolio outcomes.
- Facilitate cross-functional collaboration: Orchestrate technology roadmapping, ideation sessions, and portfolio reviews to align innovation efforts with enterprise priorities and accelerate decision-making.
- Align innovation with business strategy: Ensure initiatives support overarching objectives and strategic themes, maximizing impact on growth, profitability, and competitive advantage.
Requirements
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, STEM, Business, or Strategy; advanced degree a plus.
- 7+ years in product development/engineering with demonstrated early-stage delivery (concept through proof-of-concept) and prior ownership of stage-gate or ARL processes.
- Ability to translate customer insights and competitive/macro scans into high-potential problem statements and investable charters; excellence in technical storytelling/white papers.
- Portfolio judgment using the standard Innovation Review rubric; comfortable facilitating teams to make evidence-based go/kill calls and presenting to leadership.
- Track record building cross-functional coalitions and running charrettes/white-paper sprints that result in prototypes and charters.
- Excellent communication and interpersonal skills.
- Experience with start-ups, partnerships, and/or university initiatives and co-development exposure.
- Prior leadership in running company-wide innovation challenges or innovation ideation initiatives.
- Execution of engineering design projects, specifically innovation or early product design.
Benefits
- health, dental, and vision insurance
- wellness programs
- paid time off
- gym & personal training reimbursement
- life insurance and disability offerings
- 401(k) matching contribution
- financial wellness education and consultation
- profit-sharing plan
- employee stock ownership plan
- discounted employee stock purchases plan
Applicant Tracking System Keywords
Tip: use these terms in your resume and cover letter to boost ATS matches.
Hard skills
product developmentengineeringstage-gate processARL processdesign thinkingprototypingportfolio managementtechnical storytellingdata analysisinnovation metrics
Soft skills
communicationinterpersonal skillscritical thinkingcollaborationcoachingmentoringleadershipfacilitationproblem-solvingstrategic alignment