Senior Manager, Systems Design

Hitachi Automotive Systems Americas, Inc.; Toronto; On-site; CAD 204,000 - 228,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Health benefits

Retirement match

Paid holidays

Life & disability insurance

Flexitime & training

Job summary

Hitachi Rail in Toronto seeks a Senior Manager of Systems Design to lead the system design, signaling design, and analysis for critical railway projects. This role includes mentoring the design team, coordinating with multiple engineering groups, and ensuring delivery within budget, schedule, and quality targets.

The ideal candidate has extensive experience in safety-critical systems, strong engineering background, and proven leadership in complex program environments.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in engineering or closely related field.
• Experience with safety-critical systems development and verification.
• Strong technical writing, communication, and collaboration skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead system design and signaling design for projects.
• Mentor and develop the design team to ensure timely, high-quality delivery.
• Ensure budget, schedule, and quality targets are met across projects.
• Coordinate with Software, Hardware, Safety and ITV groups to align design efforts.
• Oversee bids, estimates, and resource planning for proposals.

Skills

System design

Safety-critical systems

Project leadership

Technical writing

Stakeholder management

URs knowledge

Signaling systems

Requirements management

Education

Bachelor's in engineering

Tools

DOORS

Polarion

Melody

Job description

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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 multi-cultural 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

We are looking for a Senior Manager, Systems Design to join our team in our Toronto office. As the Senior Manager of System Design, you are responsible for performing all people-management activities to meet the demands of the projects, bids and products assigned to your team. The system design team is responsible for performing system design, signaling design, analysis, modelling, and simulation to specify communication-based train control systems. This includes analyzing and evaluating customer requirements, developing and defining system features to meet customer requirements, and verifying compliance with our product system technical requirements. The Senior System Design Manager is responsible for ensuring the team meets the objectives of the department, which includes meeting quality, budget, and schedule targets. This role will contribute to strategic decision making for the department, builds and maintains strong relationships across the organization, and ensures effective coordination between functions.

Key Responsibilities

• TECHNICAL:
  Reviews estimates for bids and proposals prepared by team members
  Monitors system and signaling design progress on projects/product and take actions when required to ensure the team has the resources needed to be successful
  Mentors and guides the team to ensure there is a clear plan and strategy to deliver a high-quality design
  Proactively monitors the team’s progress and takes actions to ensure issues are resolved in a timely manner
  Has ability to identify development risks and can create/implement a plan to mitigate these risks
  Has strong working relationships with other managers in Software, Hardware, Safety and ITV groups.
  Evaluates workload to ensure that the team has the resources and skills to complete the development and will escal any concerns to system management, ensuring that any Corrective Actions and Observations related to the systems engineering delivery and solutions are closed in a timely and complete manner
  Ensures that Hitachi Rail development processes are being followed and support the delivery of safe and high-quality systems
• SAFETY:
  Promotes a safety culture where product safety is paramount
  Ensures that safety is built into the design by early identification and resolution of safety related defects.
• MANAGEMENT:
  Assignment of the team members to projects, product and other tasks to ensure the system design resource needs are met for all projects and products
  Develops team members by assignment of training coaching and mentoring as required
  Develops and executes change management for discipline improvements
  Performs regular performance/objective reviews and yearly salary reviews with all team members
  Provides coaching and mentoring, to team members as necessary with direct responsibility to mentor work package managers (WPMs)
  Mentor WPMs to plan, organize and execute activities to ensure that all project deliverables are completed in a timely manner
  Responsible for staff planning, hiring and training plans to ensure that staff has the skills to meet current and future departmental commitments
  Manages activities required to develop proposals and to estimate costs, deadlines and risks for bids
  Is responsible for the professional development of his/her teams (organization, competences / skills, careers)
  Ensures the deployment of processes, methods, tools, technical / product / engineering policies while respecting Entity / Business Organization / Thales policies
  Supervises contractors and other systems specialists, by defining their work, coaching them on how and what to prepare, monitoring their progress and directing them on priorities.
  Identifies and implements process improvement initiatives.
  Engages other leaders in the organization to ensure the strategy for design on the project/product is consistent with other initiatives in the organization and is capitalizing on other project/product designs.
  Maximizes product re-use and ensures correct design re-use
  Ensures a maximum consistency of process across all projects and products
  Provides a professional, dynamic, cooperative and high-achieving work environment for the staff

Required Skills and Experience

• You have a technical background in system engineering and overall development of safety critical systems
• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (Systems, Electrical, Computer), Computer Science, or a closely related field
• 10-20 years of experience in development of software-based System applications
• Knowledge of modern software engineering practices, methods, and tools
• Knowledge of systems development life cycle
• Expertise in URS (Urban Rail Signaling) Systems or in an equivalent industry-Minimum 2 years
• Strong planning and organizational skills
• Excellent technical writing, communication, and presentation skills
• Experience in the preparation of KPIs to track progress of development
• Experience in the preparation of development schedules and budgets
• Experience in Change Management Leadership to drive a team through change
• Experience in process analysis to drive quality and efficiency improvements

Preferred Skills and Experience

• Minimum of 5 year experience in managing a group of technical resources
• Experience in using DOORS, Polarion, Melody advance, or other system design and requirement management tools
• Strong application (automated train control systems) domain knowledge & knowledge of systems engineering principles and practices
• Knowledge of Rail Signaling

Salary Range

Salary Range: $148,000 - $165,000

Benefits

• Health, Dental and Vision plans - 100% of premiums are company-paid
• Retirement Savings Plan with a company match
• Company paid holidays - 3 weeks of vacation
• Company provided Life and accident Insurance, LTD
• Worklife programs such as Flextime and a variety of Development and Training opportunities

Equal Opportunity

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.

Culture & Vision

Hitachi brings together the world’s greatest minds to help breathe life into new possibilities – and drive innovation for a better future. That’s why we look for individuals who share our pioneering spirit, have imaginative ideas and are fearless when it comes to tackling the world’s biggest challenges. Our people love technology – and they love making a difference. They have a passion for finding new solutions and working with brilliant colleagues. Every day they dedicate themselves to a huge range of exciting projects, contributing to the Hitachi vision around the globe. From engineering new sustainability solutions that conserve water and energy to creating the infrastructure for the smart cities of tomorrow, there’s no challenge too great for our pioneers. And there’s no shortage of opportunities for you to make a difference. Come and experience the dynamic, collaborative and creative environments where your ideas are welcome and new discoveries are waiting. To help you grow to your full potential, we strive to support our employees in their career aspirations and promote the freedom to explore new horizons.