Systems Engineer, Principal

About the role

At A-dec, we do more than create the highest quality products and services for the dental industry; we strive to deliver a superior employment experience for each of our team members. With an environment that encourages and assists each person in developing to their highest potential, a career at A-dec is incredibly rewarding.

Overview

The IT Systems Engineer, Principal is the primary hands-on technical authority for the design, integration, and sustainment of the organization's line-of-business software and enterprise application platforms. This role establishes system architecture and technical direction, spearheads the design of next-generation solutions, and drives the improvement and maintenance of current platforms, with minimal administrative duties.

The position works across multiple initiatives at a time while supporting individual projects and solutions, and serves as the technical "face" of enterprise systems engineering - partnering with leadership to identify, plan, evaluate, and road-map future capabilities while balancing investment and return.

Job Duties and Responsibilities

• Partner with Information Technology leadership, the Solutions Architecture team, business analysts, and engineers to define, evolve, and deliver the architecture and platforms that support current and future generations of the organization's line-of-business software.
• Serve as the primary hands-on technical authority for enterprise application systems, leading high-level configuration, design, and integration of line-of-business software and ensuring solutions comply with business, data-integrity, and applicable regulatory requirements.
• Establish and own system architecture direction, reusable reference patterns, software design patterns and standards, and integration strategies spanning infrastructure, platform, environment, and application layers. Completes architectural and platform documentation to support decision making and advancement of solutions within and adjacent to enterprise applications.
• Provide authoritative technical analysis and recommendations to strategic planning and business teams, serving as the champion for critical system, platform, and integration decisions.
• Operate as the subject-matter expert and primary technical escalation point for the most complex troubleshooting, with an emphasis on root-cause analysis, workaround identification, and near- and long-term fixes considering business impact, cost, and solution lifecycle.
• Contribute to building a talented, high-performing engineering organization by participating in recruiting, onboarding, and development of talent, while imparting knowledge through technical mentorship of senior and less-senior engineers and analysts. Provides input on subordinate performance reviews.
• Using considerable independent judgment and time management, assure technology is appropriate for the solution, solutions meet the needs of the customer and business, schedules are met, resources are used efficiently, design activities are well coordinated, and technical conflicts associated with competing ideas and priorities are quickly resolved.
• Evaluate and influence vendor and technology strategy, including build-versus-buy decisions, while remaining unbiased toward any specific technology or vendor and remaining focused on results rather than personal preferences.
• Accountable for processes, tools, and depth of knowledge for analyzing, qualifying, and testing solutions. Define and continuously improve work-execution processes and methodologies, partnering closely with IT Leadership to identify and implement process improvements.
• Actively maintain design skills and deep technical expertise by staying current with emerging technology trends, manufacturing and competitive technologies, industry standards and regulations, software development lifecycle practices, and project management; proactively evaluate and test tools and platforms to minimize unforeseen operational impacts.

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

• Expert knowledge of operating systems, databases, scripting, client-server, data communications, network technologies, AI Coding practice, and enterprise application platforms, with experience in complex problem solving.
• Full-stack software engineering expertise, including conceiving and creating fully custom applications leveraging modern architectural and design patterns.
• Able to create and manage a vision and think strategically, plan and organize, innovate, analyze complex solutions and situations, and exercise sound judgment. Must be able to communicate that vision, motivate and lead employees, and collaborate with other teams.
• Elite ability to translate business needs into solutions-architecture requirements and provide multiple solution options, assessing risks and mitigation strategies, while remaining unbiased toward any specific technology or vendor and more focused on results than personal preferences.
• Able to clearly assess, articulate, and manage risk with a sense of urgency to meet business requirements, on schedule and on budget. Must be able to see the big picture, prepare contingency plans, and ensure execution of plans through effective organizational awareness.
• Strong business acumen and domain knowledge, with a demonstrated track record of thinking beyond technology issues and integrating the technical with the business and information aspects for complete solutions.
• A desire to stay active in technology development, systems architecture, and professional organizations and other networks to remain current with technological innovations.

Education and Experience

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Software engineering, or other related field of study (or equivalent combination of education and experience) with a minimum of 15 years of experience in software or systems design, development, and integration.
• Demonstrated experience leading the architecture of complex, enterprise-wide systems and integration initiatives.
• Proven track record of mentoring senior engineers and defining, auditing, and shaping software design patterns and standards across teams.
• Preferred experience with one or more of the following business process areas: customer service, sales, product engineering, product visualization, manufacturing, warehousing, and logistics business processes.