VP, Strategy - Fire & Safety

IDEX; Ocala (FL); On-site; USD 180,000 - 250,000; Full time

Job summary

IDEX seeks a VP Strategy – Fire & Safety to lead the platform's strategy, growth, and governance on a global scale. You will shape where to play, how to win, and how to align resource allocation with measurable revenue and margin outcomes across business units.

You’ll partner with senior leaders to translate strategy into disciplined execution, build market intelligence, and drive inorganic and organic growth programs while embedding a data-driven narrative for the platform's success.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, engineering, economics, finance, or related field required.
• MBA or relevant advanced degree preferred.

Responsibilities

• Define and embed a clear Fire & Safety platform strategy that identifies where to play, how to win, and the capabilities needed to achieve sustained profitable growth.
• Partner with business unit leaders to align strategic priorities, resource allocation, and execution plans across the Fire & Safety portfolio.
• Lead portfolio assessment work to identify growth opportunities, adjacency plays, margin expansion opportunities, whitespace, underpenetrated markets, and areas requiring strategic repositioning.
• Identify and prioritize the highest-value organic growth opportunities across Fire & Safety, including customer segments, applications, geographies, product platforms, services, and solution-led offerings.
• Partner with commercial and business leaders to shape go-to-market strategy, channel priorities, customer segmentation, solution selling opportunities, and differentiated value propositions.
• Strengthening innovation strategy by linking product vitality, customer needs, market trends, and growth priorities to measurable revenue and margin outcomes.
• Establish clear governance, KPIs, and value tracking for strategic initiatives, innovation programs, AI-enabled use cases, and commercial growth bets.
• Build a robust market intelligence capability for Fire & Safety, including credible insight into market size, growth rates, customer needs, competitive dynamics, technology shifts, regulatory trends, and emerging adjacencies.
• Partner with business units to raise the quality of strategic planning through stronger analytics, sharper choices, and more actionable execution plans.
• Translate strategy into a disciplined execution roadmap with clear owners, milestones, KPIs, and value tracking.
• Partner with business and functional leaders to ensure top strategic initiatives deliver measurable impact on revenue, margin, return on investment, and enterprise value.
• Own synergy goals in partnership with business leaders, identifying opportunities to leverage common capabilities, customers, channels, technologies, sourcing, operations, and commercial practices across the platform.

Skills

Strategic thinking

Analytical mindset

Growth mindset

Financial acumen

Leadership

Education

Bachelor's degree in business/engineering/economics/finance

MBA or advanced degree preferred

Job description

If you’re looking for a special place to build or grow your career, you’ve found it. Whether you’re an experienced professional, a recent college graduate or somewhere in between, IDEX is a place where you can apply your existing skills and learn new ones in an environment where you can make an impact. With interesting opportunities in engineering, marketing, sales, supply chain, operations, HR, finance, and more across more than 40 diverse businesses around the globe, chances are, we have something special for you.

VP Strategy – Fire & Safety

Fire and Safety is a global platform within IDEX, serving mission critical customers across fire suppression, emergency response, rescue, industrial safety and related highly engineered solutions. The platform includes a diverse portfolio of businesses and brands serving municipal fire, industrial, OEM, emergency rescue, specialty vehicle, and critical infrastructure customers. The VP, Strategy — Fire & Safety will serve as the platform’s strategist, growth architect, and thought partner. This leader will sit on the Fire & Safety leadership team and collaborate closely with the president, business unit leaders, commercial leaders, functional leaders, and corporate development to shape where Fire & Safety plays, how it wins, and how the platform delivers sustained profitable growth.

Summary Role Overview

Reporting to the FSDP and FMT Segment, VP of Strategy, the VP Strategy – Fire & Safety will build and lead a best-in-class strategy capability that enables sustainable, profitable growth across the global platform. This leader will be responsible for developing a clear, differentiated Fire & Safety strategy that guides portfolio choices, where-to-play/how-to-win decisions, commercial focus, innovation priorities, inorganic growth, and execution across business units and regions. The VP Strategy – Fire & Safety will function as the strategic architect and execution partner to the President and the Fire & Safety leadership team. They will define and embed the platform strategy, shape long-term direction, identify major go-to-market shifts, and prioritize the highest-value organic and inorganic growth bets. The role will partner closely with business unit leaders to ensure strategy is not a stand‑alone planning exercise, but a practical operating system that informs resource allocation, commercial focus, product vitality, M&A priorities, and measurable business outcomes. This leader will also play a critical role in strengthening Fire & Safety’s external and internal strategic narrative ensuring the platform has a compelling, data‑driven story supported by strong market intelligence, customer insight, competitive understanding, and clear value creation logic.

Responsibilities

• Define and embed a clear Fire & Safety platform strategy that identifies where to play, how to win, and the capabilities needed to achieve sustained profitable growth.
• Partner with business unit leaders to align strategic priorities, resource allocation, and execution plans across the Fire & Safety portfolio.
• Lead portfolio assessment work to identify growth opportunities, adjacency plays, margin expansion opportunities, whitespace, underpenetrated markets, and areas requiring strategic repositioning.
• Identify and prioritize the highest-value organic growth opportunities across Fire & Safety, including customer segments, applications, geographies, product platforms, services, and solution-led offerings.
• Partner with commercial and business leaders to shape go‑to‑market strategy, channel priorities, customer segmentation, solution selling opportunities, and differentiated value propositions.
• Strengthening innovation strategy by linking product vitality, customer needs, market trends, and growth priorities to measurable revenue and margin outcomes.
• Establish clear governance, KPIs, and value tracking for strategic initiatives, innovation programs, AI‑enabled use cases, and commercial growth bets.
• Build a robust market intelligence capability for Fire & Safety, including credible insight into market size, growth rates, customer needs, competitive dynamics, technology shifts, regulatory trends, and emerging adjacencies.
• Partner with business units to raise the quality of strategic planning through stronger analytics, sharper choices, and more actionable execution plans.
• Translate strategy into a disciplined execution roadmap with clear owners, milestones, KPIs, and value tracking.
• Partner with business and functional leaders to ensure top strategic initiatives deliver measurable impact on revenue, margin, return on investment, and enterprise value.
• Own synergy goals in partnership with business leaders, identifying opportunities to leverage common capabilities, customers, channels, technologies, sourcing, operations, and commercial practices across the platform.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s degree in business, Engineering, Economics, Finance, or a related field required, MBA or relevant advanced degree preferred.
• Approximately 8+ years of experience in strategy, corporate development, general management, commercial strategy, or related leadership roles.
• Experience in industrials, manufacturing, engineered products, mission‑critical equipment, safety, emergency response, fluid management, or complex B2B environments strongly preferred.
• Proven track record developing and executing growth strategies that deliver above‑market performance.
• Strong experience with portfolio strategy, market assessment, competitive analysis, commercial strategy, and business case development.
• Strong financial and analytical skills, with the ability to connect market insights, strategic choices, and business outcomes.
• Experience building or elevating strategy capabilities, processes, teams, or governance models across a business platform.

Attributes and Skills

• Strategic thinker who simplifies complexity, frames clear choices, and brings focus to the highest-value opportunities.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to connect customer needs, market dynamics, competitive insight, financial performance, and operational capability.
• Highly analytical and comfortable working with data, financials, market intelligence, and business performance metrics.
• Demonstrated ability to translate strategy into disciplined execution, clear governance, accountability, and measurable outcomes.
• Growth‑minded, curious, proactive, and comfortable navigating ambiguity, change, and transformation.
• Talent champion who builds capability, develops team members, and fosters a culture of accountability, collaboration, and execution.

Are you ready to join a different kind of company where our people, our culture, and our commitments are centered around providing trusted solutions that improve lives around the world?

IDEX is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IDEX gives consideration for employment to qualified applicants without regard to race, color, religion, creed, genetic information, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, marital status, age, national origin, disability, protected veteran status, or any other consideration or protected category made unlawful by federal, state or local laws.

IDEX (NYSE: IEX) is a company that has undoubtedly touched your life in some way. In fact, IDEX businesses make thousands of products that are mission‑critical components in everyday activities. Chances are the car you’re driving has a BAND‑IT® clamp holding your side airbag safely in place. If you were ever in a car accident, a Hurst Jaws of Life® rescue tool may have saved your life. If you or a family member is battling cancer, your doctor may have tested your DNA in a quest to find the best targeted medicine for you. It’s likely your DNA test was run on equipment that contains components made by our growing IDEX Health & Science team.