COMPANY OVERVIEW:
Established in 1997 by Christopher A. Howard, Softeq employs over 400 people worldwide and has key locations in Munich, Germany; Vilnius, Lithuania; Monterrey Mexico and the Headquarters office is located in Houston, Texas. Softeq is a company that builds custom technical software, embedded electronics, and devices for startups and large corporations.
Softeq is a highly reputable innovation and technology consultancy specialized in building digital hardware and software products. On the innovation front, Softeq Venture Studio is connecting Softeq to the most innovative startups while the Softeq development team gets involved at the very early stages of product development. On the engineering front, Softeq is differentiated by being a Full Stack Development consultancy. Softeq’s software developers and hardware engineers are highly technical with the know how to work on the firmware and operating system level. The company also develops web, desktop, and mobile apps, as well as complex end-to-end IoT solutions.
Customers include marquee Enterprise tech companies including Intel, Verizon, Epson, AMD, Lenovo, NVIDIA and many others who depend on Softeq to deliver leading-edge projects. Softeq is especially well-suited to work with consumer electronics companies, leveraging an extensive amount of hardware knowledge to deliver firmware and software solutions.
Of equal and growing importance to Softeq are start-up companies that are imagining and building new, innovative solutions for a variety of industry challenges and new technology solutions for every day use. As Texas, and particularly Houston, are becoming important hubs for this activity, Softeq is taking an important leadership role in the development of these ventures through the establishment of the Softeq Venture Fund and the Softeq Venture Studio that will support this activity, both financially and in content development and other facets of their growth. This is a rapid and scalable initiative within Softeq and will result in a growing base of users of Softeq’s technical expertise.
Softeq has made the Inc. 5000 list of fastest growing private US companies for the last four years in a row, as well as the Houston Business Journal Fast 100 award for fastest growing companies in Houston. Hiring an experienced sales leader is one of the keys to sustaining this rapid growth.
Softeq has an aggressive growth plan over the next five years and is looking at expanding aggressively during this time. The majority of the company’s customers are located in Silicon Valley, with 70% of the customer base in the US, 20% in Europe, and the remaining 10% worldwide.
Company Culture: Chris Howard is interested in continuing to build businesses that excel while fostering a positive and creative work environment. The company’s mission is “Creating a Better Future with You.”
POSITION SUMMARY:
As a key member of the leadership team of Softeq, the Chief People Officer will provide HR guidance, advice, counsel and support to the CEO along with its business leaders as it prepares for significant growth globally. This Chief People Officer plays a key role in driving strategic HR approaches, program and processes across the group, from talent acquisition and talent management, including organization design, to the support of large transformation projects.
This individual closely interacts with line and functional managers at all levels. The Chief People Officer will be a credible and effective partner to the business, managing a large professional global team. The position integrates the best practices of Human Resources Management and IT Resource Management to enable sustainable growth and implementation of the overall Softeq strategy.
The Chief People Officer will report to the CEO, Chris Howard. In addition, this individual will work closely with the Leadership Team and the Corporate HR team in deploying Group-wide HR initiatives. Collaboration and teamwork will be essential in championing the culture change needed to move Softeq to the next level of achievement.
PRINCIPLE ACTIVITIES:
Talent Attraction and Management
- Work with the leadership team to assess and define talent requirements.
- Attract best in class talent – ensure recruitment processes are efficient and rigorous.
- Identify top talent/high potentials within the organization.
- Develop Policies for remote and worldwide hiring initiatives.
- Develop and implement specific strategies to develop and retain top talent.
- Drive succession planning process within the group, partnering with other business leaders.
- Drive strategic workforce planning tools and processes.
Development & Learning
- Drive effective performance management and goal setting processes.
- Drive selective training and skills development programs.
- Put in place strategies to develop key leaders – own the process.
PRINCIPLE ACTIVITIES: (Continued)
Organization and Transformation Projects
- Provide HR leadership to support organization design, major projects, company restructuring as necessary.
- Manages and promotes the HR brand of the Company.
- Manages Utilization within the Production Department.
- Due diligence and/or integration necessary for key expansion initiatives, globally.
- Strategic yet Tactical.
Employee Engagement & Culture
- Develop and lead actions and processes to enhance employee engagement.
- Implement bi-annual employee engagement surveys- along with periodic pulse surveys.
- Help develop and drive a high-performance culture within technology and maintain that culture during rapid growth.
- Be an effective ambassador for Softeq both internally and externally.
- Provide strong counsel as a true business partner to the CEO on all aspects of HR especially on the culture and talent of the organization.
EDUCATION and EXPERIENCE:
- Bachelor’s Degree in Management or Human Resources or related field – Masters preferred.
- Experience in the IT Industry.
- Experience with an international (and remote) workforce.
- Experience in a matrix environment.
- Experience with high growth environment, particularly inorganic in nature.
- Minimum of 12+ years of progressive HR, Global and executive experience.
CANDIDATE REQUIREMENTS:
Knowledge, Skills & Abilities
- Demonstrated ability to effectively interact with all levels of the organization.
- Global management experience and mindset working in a global organization.
- Excellent influencing and negotiation skills.
- Knowledge of people training and development processes.
- Knowledge of people assessment instruments.
- Knowledge in culture development and management.
- Knowledge in resource management and planning.
- Good knowledge of the technological landscape in IT outsourcing.
- Demonstrated ability to quickly establish professional credibility and effective working relationship with keen instincts for solving complex issues using strong analytical and creative problem-solving skills.
- Executive capability to work at the highest levels of the organization and provide true counsel to the CEO.
- Technically savvy with a solid knowledge of Microsoft Office applications.
- Fluent written and verbal English.
LOCATION:
As an important member of the Softeq senior management team, this position will require routine travel to the company’s corporate offices in Houston, Texas. It will be necessary for the successful candidate to be located in, or around Texas to facilitate that travel or ideally bases in Houston, Texas.
SUMMARY:
This is an excellent opportunity to be an integral part of a growing, dynamic and technology driven company committed to developing scalable solutions for some of the most well-known companies in the world. The Chief People Officer is afforded the opportunity to be part of the Leadership Team and be a driving force internally and directly responsible for transitioning Softeq to the next level of organization development, business expansion, as well as growing the Global Team.