Head of Product Development (w/m/d)

Description

You will lead a multidisciplinary engineering group of more than 100 engineers and specialists in Austria, Hungary and the Balkan region.

The group builds, maintains and evolves safety-critical railway technology, from established signalling to cloud-native platforms.

The company is a full system supplier of train control and traffic management, including ETCS, electronic interlockings, operation control centres, dispatch systems and field elements.

The role is based in Vienna and is not remote.

Responsibilities

• Set the product development and engineering direction for the region and carry it out.
• Lead and grow a multicultural organisation.
• Build a high-performing engineering culture around innovation, quality, accountability and teamwork.
• Balance the long-term evolution of products against delivery commitments to customers.
• Modernise a broad technology landscape, from legacy railway interfaces and long-life systems to cloud-native architectures and current software practices.
• Make sure railway standards, safety regulations and cybersecurity requirements are met.
• Manage resource planning, organisational development, budgets and talent.
• Work closely with product management, operations, certification bodies, customers and international engineering teams.
• Maintain and improve a mature product portfolio, including systems with a 30-year engineering history.
• Hold end-to-end leadership over product design and requirements management, software development (safety-critical and non-safety-critical), cloud platform development, engineering tools and toolchain development, hardware development, solution and end-to-end system integration, and cybersecurity engineering.

Requirements

• Several years of successful leadership in a large engineering organisation.
• You have led leaders, managers and multidisciplinary teams in an international setting.
• You are strong at developing people and enjoy coaching and mentoring.
• You have managed organisational change, transformation and growth.
• You have a broad engineering background in software, hardware, systems engineering or safety-critical product development.
• You have worked with complex product ecosystems that mix legacy and modern technology.
• Ideally, you have worked in safety-critical environments in railway, aerospace, automotive, industrial automation or another regulated industry.
• You understand cloud technologies, modern software architecture, cybersecurity principles and large-scale system integration.
• You communicate well and manage stakeholders effectively at every level.
• You build trust across cultures, disciplines and organisational boundaries.
• You think strategically and deliver results.
• You take ownership, stay resilient and make sound decisions.
• You can move between executive discussions and deep technical problems.
• The ideal candidate is an excellent engineering leader and people leader who can unite diverse teams, modernise technology and drive innovation while holding the highest standards of safety, quality and customer focus.

Conditions

Full-time position based in Vienna, Austria.

Not remote.

Job ID R0146598, posted 2026-10-15.

Job category: Engineering & Science.

The company is an equal opportunity employer that values differences in background, age, gender, sexuality, family status, disability, race, nationality, ethnicity, religion and world view.

Benefits

• Starting salary of €95.000 gross per year, depending on experience and qualifications.
• Good public transport access at Vienna Handelskai, with public transport subsidies.
• Flexible working hours and, depending on the role, up to 60% home office.
• Paid holidays on 24.12 and 31.12.
• Employee discounts on canteen, shops, corporate benefits and tickets.
• Training through online, internal and external courses.
• A stable employer with a collegial, international team.