Global Director, Engineering- Distributed IT

What You’ll Do

Eaton’s Distributed IT organization within the Electrical Sector is seeking a dynamic Global Director of Engineering. Preferred location is in Woodridge, Illinois. Willing to consider remote work with required travel.

Eaton’s Distributed IT (D IT) division is seeking a Global Engineering Leader to drive innovation, product development, and systems engineering across our portfolio of data center and distributed infrastructure solutions. This executive will lead a global, multi‑disciplinary engineering organization and play a critical role in shaping the future of power, cooling, connectivity, and digital infrastructure solutions for hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise customers.

• Define and execute the global engineering and technology strategy aligned to business growth priorities
• Drive innovation across integrated solutions spanning hardware, software, and services
• Partner with senior leadership to deliver business and functional objectives

• Lead end‑to‑end product development, including new product introductions (NPI) and lifecycle management
• Establish reference designs, system architectures, and validated configurations to accelerate deployment
• Translate customer requirements into scalable product and system roadmaps

• Lead customer co‑design and development partnerships with hyperscale, colocation, and enterprise clients
• Implement structured voice‑of‑customer (VOC) processes to convert insights into engineering requirements
• Ensure solutions meet evolving needs in data centers, edge computing, and energy‑efficient infrastructure

• Establish robust system validation, testing, and qualification frameworks
• Ensure high performance in reliability, scalability, and compliance
• Drive improvements in speed‑to‑market, cost, and quality

• Build and lead a high‑performing, global engineering team across disciplines
• Foster a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement
• Develop leadership capability and technical depth across the organization

• Partner with Product Management, Operations, Supply Chain, and Quality to deliver end‑to‑end solutions
• Ensure alignment across the full product lifecycle—from concept through deployment and sustainment

• Bachelor's Degree in Engineering (preferred: Master's in Engineering or MBA)

• Minimum of 15 years professional engineering roles (power engineering background desirable)
• Minimum of 7 years of people management experience

• Significant experience in electrical components/systems design, new product development, and program management. Advanced degree may be substituted for some experience

• Knowledge of current engineering techniques, practices and engineering standards
• Demonstrated success leading and influencing geographically dispersed teams through a collaborative leadership style, while ensuring compliance and accountability
• Proven ability to build, develop, and lead high‑performing teams
• Ability to influence and partner across a global matrix
• Collaborative orientation; the ability to succeed in a highly team‑oriented environment
• Globally astute; understands how to adapt communication style to fit different cultures
• Demonstrated strategic thinking, drive for results, and managerial courage
• Must have experience developing strategic plans and creating presentations to communicate the plans
• Proficiency in data center infrastructure, including cooling, power conversion, distribution, intelligent software monitoring systems and redundancy

• Supervisor:
  President of Global D‑IT
• Functional Manager (if applicable): VP of Global Data Center Engineering
• Direct Reports (if applicable):
  Engineering directors and senior managers
• Scope of Responsibilities:
  Global leader with reports across multiple countries
• Directly impacts Global D‑IT annual revenue ($1B and growing)
• Span of control: 70+ engineers of various disciplines; additional engineering…