Vice President of Software Engineering

Rite-Hite is the global leader in the manufacture and distribution of industrial loading dock and door equipment. Our innovative products and world class sales organization ensure solid, consistent growth, both for our company and our staff. We are always looking ahead to develop innovative new products and services to improve our customers' safety, security, and productivity.

Rite-Hite provides competitive compensation and a comprehensive benefits package with medical, dental, and vision coverage along with life and paid medical leave. We also provide a retirement savings plan that combines 401(K) with company match and profit sharing. Paid holidays, vacation, and up to five paid personal/sick days per year round out the package.

Rite-Hite is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action employer offering a drug free workplace for our customers and employees.

Rite-Hite is a global leader in industrial safety and efficiency solutions-and we're on a bold digital transformation journey. We are seeking a visionary Vice President of Software Engineering to architect and scale Rite-Hite ONE
-our next-generation, AI-enabled platform that will revolutionize dock and yard operations, empower customer self-service, and drive real-time equipment lifecycle intelligence across the globe. This hybrid role is based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
.

This is not a role for a caretaker. This is a role for a builder, innovator, and trailblazer ready to scale a world-class software engineering organization and help lead transformative innovation at the intersection of software, hardware and real-world industrial impact.

Why this role matters:

• Be the architect of change: Define the technical vision for our enterprise-grade SaaS platform-designed to transform how our customers run their operations.
• Scale with impact: Build and grow a high-performing team of engineers, architects, and Dev Ops professionals while shaping an innovation-first culture.
• Drive frontier tech: Harness AI, machine learning, and natural language models to enable predictive analytics, intelligent automation, and conversational interfaces.
• Lead across the ecosystem: Connect cloud software, IoT hardware, and real-world service workflows to deliver game-changing industrial solutions.

• Architect the future: Define and execute the technical roadmap for Rite-Hite ONE
  , our cloud-native SaaS platform designed for enterprise-scale performance, extensibility, and integration.
• Build an open ecosystem: Architect a modular platform with robust APIs, SDKs, and low/no-code frameworks that enable third-party development and seamless integration with IoT, ERP, WMS, TMS, CMMS, and EAM systems
  .
• Embed intelligence everywhere: Drive the incorporation of AI/ML and natural language models (NLMs) for predictive analytics, equipment health scoring, real-time anomaly detection, digital assistants, intelligent document summarization, and conversational interfaces.
• Operationalize AI at scale: Partner with Data Science, IT, and Product to implement full-lifecycle ML operations
  -including model retraining pipelines, feature stores, and real-time inference architecture-treating data as a product and AI as a core platform differentiator
  .
• Engineer for reliability and velocity: Champion modern engineering practices
  - CI/CD pipelines, microservices, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), infrastructure as code, and observability
  -to deliver secure, high-quality releases at speed.
• Design for resilience and performance: Ensure the platform can ingest high-volume real-time IoT data
  , maintain 99.9%+ uptime
  , and meet rigorous security, privacy, and compliance standards (SOC2, ISO, GDPR, IEC 62443).
• Scale the organization: Recruit, develop, and inspire a high-performing software engineering organization
  -fostering a culture of innovation, technical excellence, and continuous learning across engineering, Dev Ops, architecture, and QA.
• Lead cross-functional impact: Collaborate with Product Management, Customer Success, and Field Service teams to deliver user-centric, enterprise-ready capabilities that drive measurable customer value and unlock new business models.

• Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, engineering, or related technical field.
• 10+ years of software engineering experience, including 5+ in senior leadership (VP, Director, or Head of Engineering).
• Proven success delivering enterprise-grade cloud platforms in industrial, logistics, or field service domains.
• Expertise with machine learning, natural language platforms and real-time inference frameworks.
• Expertise in Java, Python, React, Micro-services, or similar modern languages and frameworks.
• Depth in AI/ML, cloud architecture (AWS/Azure/GCP), real-time data systems, and modern engineering practices (CI/CD, microservices, containerization).
• Familiarity with IoT data ingestion, real-time analytics, and third-party system integrations (ERP, WMS, TMS).
• Strong foundation in Dev Ops, infrastructure as code, and…