Head of Product Development (w/m/d)

Hitachi Rail Limited; Wien; Hybrid; EUR 86,000 - 105,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Public transport accessibility

Flexible working hours

Up to 60% home office

Corporate benefits

Training opportunities

Job summary

Hitachi Rail is seeking a Head of Product Development to lead a multidisciplinary engineering organization across Austria, Hungary, and the Balkan region. You will shape the product strategy, drive cloud and software modernization, and ensure safety and cybersecurity compliance while guiding a diverse, high-performing team.

The role demands strong leadership, strategic thinking, and the ability to unite cross-cultural teams toward innovative, high-quality railway solutions with a long heritage

Qualifications

• Extensive leadership experience in a large engineering organization.
• Experience managing organizational change, transformation, and growth.
• Proven ability to lead leaders, managers, and multidisciplinary teams in international environments.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the regional product development and engineering strategy.
• Lead, inspire, and develop a multicultural organization.
• Establish a high‑performance engineering culture focused on innovation, quality, accountability and collaboration.
• Balance long‑term product evolution with operational delivery commitments.
• Drive modernization across legacy interfaces to cloud‑native architectures and modern software practices.
• Ensure compliance with railway safety, industry standards, and cybersecurity requirements.
• Oversee resource planning, budgeting and talent management.
• Foster close collaboration with product management, operations, certification bodies, customers and international teams.

Skills

Leadership

International senior leadership

People development

Strategic thinking

Job description

About Us

A career at Hitachi Rail will help create a legacy. With operations in every corner of the world, our work goes to the cutting-edge of digital transformation and technology. From the multicultural strength of our global organisation to the sustainable and innovative ways we work to bring people together, there's something for everyone to get stuck into. And that's where you come in.

Job Description

HEAD OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - RAILWAY TECHNOLOGY (F/M/D)

Hitachi in Austria is a full system provider and global supplier of train control technology and traffic management systems (e.g. European Train Control System (ETCS), Electronic interlockings, Operation Control Centers and dispatching systems, field elements).

Shape the Future of Railway Signaling and Digital Rail Solutions

We are looking for an experienced and inspiring Head of Product Development to lead our multidisciplinary engineering organization across Austria, Hungary, and the Balkan region.

Your Responsibilities

• Product Design and Requirements Management
• SW Development (safety critical and non-safety critical)
• Cloud Platform Development
• Engineering Tools & Toolchain Development
• Hardware Development
• Solution Integration & End-to-End System Integration
• Cybersecurity Engineering

You Will

• Define and execute the product development and engineering strategy for the region
• Lead, inspire, and develop a multicultural organization
• Establish a high-performance engineering culture focused on innovation, quality, accountability, and collaboration
• Balance long-term product evolution with operational delivery commitments
• Drive modernization initiatives across a broad technology landscape, from legacy railway interfaces and long-life-cycle systems to cloud-native architectures, and modern software engineering practices
• Ensure compliance with railway industry standards, safety regulations, and cybersecurity requirements
• Oversee resource planning, organizational development, budgeting, and talent management
• Foster close collaboration with product management, operations, certification bodies, customers, and international engineering teams
• Lead the maintenance and continuous improvement of a mature product portfolio, including systems built upon a 30-year engineering heritage

What You Bring

Leadership

• Several years of successful leadership experience in a large engineering organization.
• Proven ability to lead leaders, managers, and multidisciplinary teams within an international environment.
• Strong people leadership skills with a passion for coaching, mentoring, and developing talent.
• Experience managing organizational change, transformation, and growth.

Technical Expertise

• You combine leadership excellence with strong technical credibility.
• Broad engineering background covering software, hardware, systems engineering, or safety-critical product development.
• Experience working with complex product ecosystems spanning both legacy and modern technologies.
• Understanding of safety-critical development environments, ideally within railway, aerospace, automotive, industrial automation, or similar regulated industries.
• Knowledge of cloud technologies, modern software architectures, cybersecurity principles, and large-scale system integration.

Personal Skills

• Exceptional communication and stakeholder management capabilities.
• Ability to build trust across cultures, disciplines, and organizational boundaries.
• Strategic thinker with strong execution capabilities.
• High degree of ownership, resilience, and decision-making ability.
• Comfortable navigating both executive-level discussions and deep technical challenges

The ideal candidate is not only an outstanding engineering leader but also an exceptional people leader who can unite diverse teams, modernize technology landscapes, and drive innovation while maintaining the highest levels of safety, quality, and customer focus

We Offer

• The salary for this position starts at € 95.000 gross p.a. Actual compensation is based on experience and qualification.
• Very good accessibility by public transport (Vienna Handelskai) & subsidies for public transport
• Flexible working hours and, depending on the position, up to 60% home office
• Hitachi Rail gives you holidays on Christmas (24.12) and New Year's Eve (31.12)
• Discounts for employees (canteen, shops, corporate benefits, tickets, etc.)
• Various training opportunities - online, internal and external training courses
• A stable employer in a collegial and international environment

Who We Are

A career at Hitachi Rail will help create a legacy. With operations in every corner of the world, our work goes to the cutting-edge of digital transformation and technology. From the multicultural strength of our global organisation to the sustainable and innovative ways we work to bring people together, there's something for everyone to get stuck into. And that's where you come in.

At Hitachi Rail, there is a place for everyone.

We welcome and value differences in background, age, gender, sexuality, family status, disability, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion, and world view. It is our commitment to create an inclusive environment - we are proud to be an equal opportunity employer.

Thank you for your interest in Hitachi Rail. If your application is of interest, we will be in contact. Please do not hesitate to discover more about us and our latest jobs at https://www.hitachirail.com/careers.