Vice President – R&D and Operations

Quebec City or Montreal, QC

About EXFO

At EXFO, innovation is not a supporting function — it is the very engine of the company.

Since nearly 40 years, EXFO is a global leader in test, monitoring, and analytics solutions for the telecommunications industry, supporting the world's largest telecom operators, cloud providers, hyperscalers, and network equipment manufacturers in the deployment, optimization, and reliability of next-generation networks.

From optical fiber to cloud-native platforms, data center interconnection, AI-powered analytics, and critical network visibility, EXFO is evolving at the intersection of advanced engineering, operational excellence, and global connectivity.

As the industry accelerates its transition to software-defined infrastructures, cloud-native platforms, and AI-driven environments, EXFO is entering a new phase of transformation — a phase requiring even stronger convergence between innovation, execution, industrialization, and scalability.

This role is at the heart of this transformation.

The Opportunity EXFO is seeking a Vice President – R&D and Operations to lead the technological and industrial value chain of its Test & Measurement division.

Reporting directly to the General Manager of the division, this person will oversee:

• The global R&D organizations of the ND&O and MDR Business Units
• Global manufacturing operations
• Supply chain and industrialization activities
• Distribution centers and operational execution
• Cross-functional integration between development, production, and delivery

This is a strategic executive mandate aimed at evolving a historically engineering-strong organization into a faster, more integrated, platform-oriented, and execution-disciplined environment — while simultaneously reinforcing operational excellence across global industrial operations.

The selected person will play a pivotal role in accelerating EXFO's transformation towards cloud, SaaS, and scalable software platform offerings, while ensuring the company's operational engine remains performant and robust on a global scale.

This is not a maintenance role.

This is a transformation role.

Key Responsibilities

R&D and Technological Transformation Leadership

• Lead global-scale R&D organizations in environments combining hardware and software
• Strengthen execution discipline, deliverable predictability, and portfolio governance
• Accelerate time-to-market for new platforms and solutions
• Actively contribute to EXFO's evolution towards more cloud-native, SaaS, and platform-oriented offerings, in close collaboration with the CTO organization
• Modernize development practices, methodologies, and tools across teams
• Strengthen DevOps, CI/CD, automation, and large-scale software delivery capabilities
• Reduce technical debt while sustainably improving software quality, maintainability, and scalability
• Foster convergence, reuse, and architectural consistency across Business Units in close collaboration with the CTO organization

Industrial and Operational Excellence

• Lead global manufacturing operations, supply chain, industrialization, and distribution activities
• Ensure operational capacity aligned with growth ambitions and product transformation
• Improve performance related to costs, quality, timelines, and operational efficiency
• Strengthen supply chain resilience in an ever-evolving global environment
• Accelerate New Product Introduction (NPI) processes and reduce friction between R&D and production
• Support ongoing operational transformations in production and distribution environments
• Promote a strong culture of continuous improvement across industrial operations

R&D – Operations Integration

• Create stronger operational continuity between engineering, industrialization, manufacturing, and delivery
• Eliminate organizational silos and improve cross-functional accountability
• Align technological innovation with execution and operational scalability realities
• Deploy common performance indicators across different functions
• Foster a culture of collaboration, transparency, ownership, and execution excellence
• Desired Profile

Experience

• Significant executive experience leading large-scale R&D organizations (200+ engineers)
• Strong exposure to complex global manufacturing environments
• Tangible experience in transformations involving cloud, SaaS, software platforms, or hybrid hardware/software ecosystems
• Experience in technology companies balancing innovation speed and operational rigor
• Deep understanding of technological scalability, industrial execution, and organizational transformation challenges
• Leadership Profile
• The Person We Are Looking For Combines
• Strategic Technological Vision

Ability to understand the evolution of technological markets and align organizations accordingly.

Execution Discipline

Strong capacity for prioritization, governance, operational cadence, and accountability for results.

Operational Excellence

Deep understanding of large-scale manufacturing, industrial, and supply chain realities.

Integrative Leadership

Ability to mobilize technical, operational, and industrial teams with different realities and cultures.

Organizational Transformation

Ability to modernize organizations without compromising their operational stability.

Success Indicators (12–24 months)

• Measurable acceleration of product and platform delivery cycles
• Significant progress towards cloud-native and SaaS solutions
• Improvement in platform consistency and scalability across Business Units
• Better integration between R&D, industrialization, and manufacturing
• Continuous improvement in operational performance related to costs, quality, timelines, and efficiency
• Reduction in operational arbitrations requiring escalation to the General Manager level

Why This Role is Strategic

The person who fills this role will directly contribute to shaping the next generation of EXFO's platforms, technologies, operational capabilities, and competitive advantages in an evolving global market.

It Requires A Rare Combination Of

• technological depth
• operational credibility
• transformation leadership
• execution rigor
• and organizational influence

EXFO is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees.