Vice President of Research & Development

MediSolution; Oklahoma; Hybrid; USD 125,000 - 135,000; Full time

Job summary

Harris seeks a senior engineering leader to drive AI fluency and agentic delivery across multi-product lines. You will own the roadmap, governance, security reviews, and drive measurable AI-enabled outcomes.

Lead teams across onshore/offshore capacity, balancing delivery with risk management and stakeholder communication. You will manage the R&D budget, forecast performance, and advance enterprise software delivery in regulated markets, ensuring security and compliance while enabling AI-driven

Qualifications

• Hands-on experience with AI development tools in daily work.
• Experience raising an engineering orgs way of working from AI assistance to agentic delivery, with governance and validation.
• Strong understanding of software architecture, cloud technologies, modern development methodologies, and enterprise software delivery.
• Proven ownership of multi-product development portfolios with budget accountability.

Responsibilities

• Set multi-year technical roadmap for Corrections and Law Enforcement product lines, incorporating AI-enabled delivery.
• Lead governance, reviews, and validation for AI-generated code and security.
• Own R&D budget, headcount planning, tooling spend, and quarterly executive reporting.
• Mentor engineering managers and directors, building succession depth in key roles.

Skills

AI tooling

Architectural governance

Cloud technologies

Security reviews

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science/Engineering/IT

Tools

CI/CD

Cloud platforms

Job description

AI Fluency and Agentic Delivery

Use AI development tools personally and daily, holding a current and practical command of what they can and cannot do rather than relying on secondhand reporting. Research and experiment continuously with new AI tooling, models, and workflows, then bring what proves out into the organization's standard practice. Lead every development team to agentic, human-on-the-loop delivery, where AI agents own bounded work end to end while engineers set goals, define guardrails, and review outcomes. Own the AI delivery-maturity roadmap across all actively supported products, applied stage by stage across the lifecycle rather than as a single global rating. Stand up the governance that makes delegated agent work safe, including review gates, validation, security review of AI-generated code, and measurable outcome reporting. Make the codebase and delivery pipeline accessible to AI agents through documentation, test coverage, CI/CD, and structured context. Build the tooling and training program that moves engineers from AI-assisted work, to AI-directed work, to fully delegated agent execution. Report AI delivery maturity and the business outcomes it produces on a recurring executive cadence.

Technical Roadmap and AI-Driven Opportunity

Set the multi-year technical roadmap for the Corrections and Law Enforcement product lines, planned against the pace agentic delivery now makes possible rather than the timelines conventional development assumed. Rebuild roadmap assumptions around that acceleration. Pull committed work forward where AI-enabled delivery shortens the build, and direct the recovered capacity toward customer problems that were previously out of reach. Plan the roadmap around customer problems as much as product features, judging each item on whether AI can reach the outcome faster than a conventional build cycle would. Decide deliberately where AI belongs embedded in the products customers buy and where it is better applied as a fast path to a customer outcome, and treat both as revenue opportunities rather than internal efficiency alone. Balance that acceleration against customer commitments already in flight and the realities of an installed base that cannot absorb change at an unlimited rate. Own technology standards, architectural direction, and technical documentation across the portfolio, and hold the development organizations to them. Evaluate build, buy, and consolidation options where product lines overlap, and bring recommendations with supporting analysis to the Executive Vice President. Monitor industry direction, competitor capability, and emerging technology relevant to law enforcement, corrections, and justice software.

Delivery and Execution

Own release commitments across every development team, including scope, sequencing, and the dates communicated to customers and to sales. Establish a single reporting cadence for status, blockers, and slips so that risk surfaces early rather than at the release gate. Standardize development process, tooling, and engineering metrics across companies that today operate independently. Resolve cross-team dependencies and resource contention, and elevate the trade-offs that require an executive decision.

Product Quality and Security

Set and enforce quality standards covering code review, automated testing, defect thresholds, and release readiness, applied equally to human-written and AI-generated code. Maintain the highest levels of product and platform security, promoting a culture and practice of security awareness in every development team. Ensure development activities meet the regulatory, contractual, and industry requirements that apply to public safety and justice customers. Partner with Support Services to close the loop between escalated customer issues and engineering priorities.

Team Leadership and Development

Lead, mentor, and develop the development managers and directors across the portfolio companies, setting clear goals and performance expectations. Recruit and retain engineering talent, and build succession depth in every key technical role. Set the expectation that every engineer works with AI tools as a normal part of the job, and give them the training, access, and time to get there. Structure the organization for the work ahead, including the balance between onshore, offshore, and contract capacity, and the reshaping that agentic delivery makes possible. Promote transparency and collaboration by making priorities, progress, and decisions visible across the organization.

Financial and Resource Ownership

Own the R&D budget across the portfolio, including headcount planning, capitalization, AI tooling spend, and vendor commitments. Contribute R&D inputs to the monthly forecast and to quarterly executive reporting, with explanations for variance against plan. Drive measurable improvement in development cost as a percentage of revenue without sacrificing delivery or quality. Allocate engineering capacity to the products and initiatives with the strongest return, and defend those choices with data.

Platform Modernization

Lead platform migration and modernization programs, including the sequencing and customer impact of each phase. Retire technical debt and legacy dependencies on a published schedule rather than opportunistically, recognizing that a cleaner codebase is also a more AI-accessible one. Measure adoption and business impact of new capability, and stop investment that does not earn its place.

Stakeholder and Executive Communication

Act as the primary liaison between R&D and Operations, Support, Product Management, Sales, and Finance. Present roadmap progress, AI maturity, risk, and investment recommendations to executive leadership in terms a non-technical audience can act on. Engage directly with customers, partners, and user groups to validate direction and to hear where the products fall short. Support due diligence and technical integration for acquisitions that join the portfolio.

Experience and Qualifications

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Information Technology, or a related field; advanced degree preferred. Ten or more years in software development with at least three years leading engineering organizations at director level or above. Demonstrated hands-on use of AI development tools in daily work, with a clear point of view on where they help, where they fail, and how quickly that is changing. Experience raising an engineering organization's way of working from individual AI assistance to agentic, human-on-the-loop delivery, including the governance and validation that makes it safe. Strong understanding of software architecture, cloud technologies, modern development methodologies, and enterprise software delivery. A record of translating AI capability into customer-facing value and revenue, not only internal development efficiency. Proven ownership of a multi-product or multi-company development portfolio, including budget accountability. Experience delivering enterprise software to public sector, public safety, or other regulated markets is strongly preferred. Track record modernizing legacy platforms while continuing to support an installed customer base. Working command of modern architecture, cloud delivery, and secure development practice, including security review of AI-generated code. Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, or equivalent professional experience.

Performance Measurement

Success in this role is measured on the following: AI delivery maturity: Teams advancing to agentic, human-on-the-loop delivery on the published stage-by-stage plan Roadmap acceleration: Committed work delivered ahead of conventional timelines, with the recovered capacity visibly redeployed AI-driven revenue: Customer problems solved and revenue generated through AI capability, whether embedded in the products or applied as a fast path to an outcome Release predictability: Committed releases delivered on the dates given to customers and to sales Product quality: Escaped defect and escalation volume trending down release over release Financial performance: R&D spend held to plan, with development cost as a percentage of revenue improving Organizational health: Retention of key engineering talent and depth in every critical technical role Cross-functional standing: Support, Sales, and Operations report a working, transparent relationship with R&D

Salary range: $125,000 - $135,000 USD per year.

At Harris, we believe great people build great software. We offer an environment where employees are empowered to make a real impact, grow their skills, and shape their careers. Our teams enjoy a supportive, award-winning culture, a casual and collaborative workplace, and opportunities to learn from a diverse group of businesses and industries.

We are financially strong and proudly part of Constellation Software Inc. (CSI), the largest software company in Canada, providing long-term stability alongside entrepreneurial autonomy. In addition to a competitive compensation and benefits package, we offer meaningful perks, flexibility, and -most importantly- a culture that values people, curiosity, and having fun while doing great work.

Follow us on LinkedIn to learn more about our culture, values, and career opportunities.

Harris is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, or protected veteran status and will not be discriminated against on the basis of disability.

Applicants who require a reasonable accommodation due to a disability may contact us by email at [e-mail]. Accommodation requests may be made at any time. This email address is dedicated solely to accommodation requests and cannot be used to inquire about application status.

Know Your Rights Poster EO 13496: Notification of Employee Rights under Federal Labor Laws Our commitment to fair and equitable hiring.

As part of our recruitment process, we use artificial intelligence (AI) tools during the initial screening phase to help identify candidates whose qualifications most closely align with the requirements of the role. This technology supports efficiency and consistency in the early stages, but it never replaces human judgement. All subsequent evaluations and final hiring decisions are made by our recruitment professionals. AI does not make final hiring decisions.