At Polaris Inc., we have fun doing what we love by driving change and innovation. We empower employees to take on challenging assignments and roles with an elevated level of responsibility in our agile working environment. Our people make us who we are, and we create incredible products and experiences that empower us to THINK OUTSIDE.
Position Overview
Functional Safety and Product Cybersecurity are essential engineering capabilities that help Polaris create innovative products customers can trust. In this leadership role, you will guide a growing, multi-site Safety & Security organization and partner with Chief Engineers, product teams, technical experts, and business leaders to expand capability and product coverage. The position shapes pragmatic, risk-based approaches that meet applicable regulatory obligations while balancing customer value, engineering complexity, cost, and development speed. This is an opportunity to advance Foundational Safety & Quality through strong engineering judgment, clear decision-making, and fit-for-purpose practices tailored to the demands of powersports.
Key Responsibilities
- Lead, develop, and grow the Functional Safety and Product Cybersecurity organization across sites and engineering disciplines.
- Own hiring, coaching, performance management, resource planning, succession planning, and capability development for the organization.
- Partner with Chief Engineers and technical experts to translate technical strategy into clear priorities, plans, and execution.
- Continue to improve risk-based, fit-for-purpose safety and cybersecurity approaches aligned with Polaris products, customers, markets, production scale, and operating conditions.
- Balance safety and cybersecurity risk, regulatory requirements, customer value, complexity, cost, and speed when guiding engineering and business decisions.
- Improve methods, tools, automation, governance, measures, and product coverage while maintaining an appropriate balance of rigor and efficiency.
- Build alignment across product engineering, business units, systems, electrical, software, validation, quality, compliance, legal, supply chain, and senior leadership.
- Translate complex product safety and cybersecurity risks into clear engineering and business decisions, distinguishing required actions, meaningful risk reduction, and proportionate responses.
- Integrate Functional Safety and Product Cybersecurity throughout the product lifecycle by prioritizing resources, providing early architecture and program input, and driving issue resolution and escalation.
- Ensure appropriate application of ISO 26262, ISO/SAE 21434, and applicable regulatory requirements, and manage plans, budgets, commitments, support, roadmaps, and measures.
Desired Competencies
- Leadership: You inspire, guide, and empower others to achieve their best by setting clear direction, fostering trust, and creating an environment where people feel supported, motivated, and accountable for delivering results.
- Critical Thinking: You analyze information objectively, evaluate options, and apply sound judgment to solve problems and make informed decisions.
- Collaboration: You work effectively with others across functions and levels, contributing to shared goals while respecting different perspectives.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's degree in Electrical, Computer, Systems, or Software Engineering, or a related technical discipline.
- Minimum of 10 years of progressive experience in product development, embedded systems, systems, software, electronics, Functional Safety, Product Cybersecurity, or a related engineering discipline, including a minimum of 5 years leading teams or complex cross-functional initiatives.
- Demonstrated success making and influencing risk-based decisions, translating technical risk for business leaders, developing talent, building capability, and leading change.
- Practical experience applying Functional Safety and Product Cybersecurity methods, including hazard and risk analysis, requirements, architecture, standards, and risk treatment throughout the product lifecycle.
- Experience with ISO 26262, ISO/SAE 21434, HARA, TARA, embedded or connected products, or safety-related industries is preferred.
- Familiarity with secure product development, requirements management, ASPICE, AUTOSAR, DevSecOps, or comparable approaches is preferred.
- Experience building or scaling engineering capability is strongly preferred.
- This position is not eligible for sponsorship.
The starting pay range for Minnesota is $155,000 to $195,000 per year. Individual salaries and positioning within the range are determined through a wide variety of factors including but not limited to education, experience, knowledge, skills, and geography. While individual pay could fall anywhere in the range based on these factors, it is not common to start at the high end or top of the range.
To qualify for this position, former employees must be eligible for rehire, and c