Director, Strategic Innovation

Your Job

The Director of Strategic Innovation will lead strategic innovation initiatives that align with Molex's long-term business and technology goals. This role is responsible for driving the development of cutting-edge technologies, securing intellectual property through patents, and shaping the Copper Solutions Advanced Development technology roadmap to meet future customer needs. The Director will identify and evaluate emerging technologies, foster external partnerships, and guide cross-functional collaboration to ensure seamless integration of R&D into product development. This position requires a visionary leader with deep technical expertise in high-speed connectivity products and a strong understanding of commercialization processes.

The ideal candidate will possess a proven track record in technology development, stakeholder engagement, and risk management, along with the ability to mentor engineering teams and represent Molex in technical forums and industry events. A high degree of initiative, creativity, and strategic thinking is essential to succeed in this role.

Our Team

Are you looking to make a connection to your career? Come to Molex where we create connections for life. We use innovation, engineering excellence, commitment to quality and reliability, and superior customer experience to improve communication, elevate experiences, and engage and inspire people everywhere.

Molex's Copper Solutions Business Unit (CSBU) is a global team that works together to deliver exceptional products to worldwide telecommunication and data center customers. CSBU is one of the most highly technically advanced business units within Molex.

What You Will Do

• Develop and implement innovation strategies that align with the company's overall business goals.
• Develop new technology ideas, patents, and patent strategies that protect the intellectual property of Molex.
• Help create, influence, and drive the CSBU Advanced Development technology roadmaps that align with future customer product needs.
• Help prioritize technology projects based on long term value, alignment with Molex strategies/goals, and anticipated future customer needs.
• Identify/evaluate new business opportunities, emerging technologies, and potential external partnerships that deliver differentiated capabilities that increase Molex's technical capabilities.
• Drive continuous innovation by staying updated with emerging technologies, market trends, competitive landscape, end user's system architecture, industry standards, and general industry advancements.
• Encourage and facilitate research activities to develop new products, technologies, or processes.
• Foster collaboration between AD, R&D, product development, engineering, and other departments to ensure seamless integration of R&D initiatives into product development cycles.
• Identify potential risks and challenges in R&D projects and develop mitigation strategies to address them proactively.
• Develop strong relationships with both internal and external innovation leaders.
• Create and host technical presentations, discussions, white papers, etc. with customers and at industry conferences.
• Provide technical mentorship, training, and guidance to the engineering community within CSBU.
• Help establish partner agreements as needed to advance technology roadmap and coordinate any NDA's, JDA's, and IP sharing.
• Apply effective risk management to mitigate technical, schedule, and partnership-related challenges.
• Present innovative concepts and technology development activities to both internal stakeholders and customers.

Who You Are (Basic Qualifications)

• Advanced engineering degree (M.S. or Ph.D.) in Electrical, Mechanical, Materials Science, or related discipline.
• 10+ years of relevant engineering experience, with a track record of successful technology development and transfer.
• Proven ability to develop, manage, and grow external partnerships across academia, research institutes, and industry.
• Direct experience in high-speed connectivity products (connectors, cables, optical/electrical interconnects, or related).
• In-depth knowledge of technology readiness levels and commercialization processes.
• Demonstrated ability to think creatively and solve complex problems and possess an innovative mindset.
• Demonstrated experience in stakeholder and project management, preferably in AI, datacenter, or telecom sectors.
• Familiarity with manufacturing processes such as molding, stamping, plating, and high-speed cable/cable assembly manufacturing.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills in English; able to present to and influence at all levels.
• Proven ability to work in multi-cultural teams and work across boundaries to deliver complex initiatives.
• Possesses high degree of initiative, technical competence, hands-on experience, and engineering process knowledge.

For this role, we anticipate paying $150,000 - 200,000 per year. This role is eligible for variable pay, issued as a monetary bonus or in another form.

At Koch companies, we are entrepreneurs. This means we openly challenge the status quo, find new ways to create value and get rewarded for our individual contributions. Any compensation range provided for a role is an estimate determined by available market data. The actual amount may be higher or lower than the range provided considering each candidate's knowledge, skills, abilities, and geographic location. If you have questions, please speak to your recruiter about the flexibility and detail of our compensation philosophy.

Hiring Philosophy

All Koch companies value diversity of thought, perspectives, aptitudes, experiences, and backgrounds. We are Military Ready and Second Chance employers. Learn more about our hiring philosophy here.

Who We Are

At Koch, employees are empowered to do what they do best to make life better. Learn how our business philosophy helps employees unleash their potential while creating value for themselves and the company.

Our Benefits

Our goal is for each employee, and their families, to live fulfilling and healthy lives. We provide essential resources and support to build and maintain physical, financial, and emotional strength - focusing on overall wellbeing so you can focus on what matters most. Our benefits plan includes - medical, dental, vision, flexible spending and health savings accounts, life insurance, ADD, disability, retirement, paid vacation/time off, educational assistance, and may also include infertility assistance, paid parental leave and adoption assistance. Specific eligibility criteria is set by the applicable Summary Plan Description, policy or guideline and benefits may vary by geographic region. If you have questions on what benefits apply to you, please speak to your recruiter.

Additionally, everyone has individual work and personal needs. We seek to enable the best work environment that helps you and the business work together to produce superior results.

Equal Opportunities

Equal Opportunity Employer, including disability and protected veteran status. Except where prohibited by state law, some offers of employment are conditioned upon successfully passing a drug test. This employer uses E-Verify. Please click here for additional information. (For Illinois E-Verify information click here, aqui, or tu).