GENERAL PURPOSE OF THE JOB: The Director of Warranty will oversee the strategic management and operational execution of the warranty programs for the company's product lines. This leadership role ensures the effective design, implementation, and continuous improvement of warranty policies, processes, and services that align with both customer satisfaction and business profitability goals. The Director will collaborate closely with product management, engineering, customer service, and operations teams to influence product development and ensure products meet high-quality standards, minimizing warranty claims. Additionally, the Director will oversee field trials, ensuring that products are rigorously tested in real-world conditions before market release, identifying potential quality issues, and reducing future warranty claims. This position is key to balancing customer satisfaction with cost-effective warranty management and plays a vital role in identifying product quality trends that can inform product development and refinement. ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES: List the job's essential or principal functions and responsibilities. Include all critical aspects of the job -- whether performed daily, weekly, monthly, or annually; and any that occur at irregular intervals. Warranty Program Strategy & Management: Develop and implement warranty policies and programs for all product lines, ensuring they align with business goals and regulatory requirements. Establish clear warranty terms, conditions, and procedures that optimize customer experience and business profitability. Lead efforts to improve warranty processes, reduce claims, and manage warranty cost exposure. Product Lifecycle Management: Collaborate with the product management team to understand product designs, features, and lifecycle from inception through end-of-life, ensuring warranty coverage is appropriate for each product. Provide product feedback based on warranty claims data to influence future product improvements. Analyze warranty data to identify trends, root causes of product failures, and opportunities for quality improvements. Oversight of Field Trials: Manage the planning and execute the field trials for new products, ensuring they are tested under real-world conditions. Collaborate with product management, R&D, and sales teams to define field trial objectives, select trial sites, and manage trial execution. Collect and analyze data from field trials to identify potential quality issues or performance concerns before full-scale market release. Provide feedback from field trials to the product and R&D teams, driving early-stage product improvements that can reduce warranty claims. Work with field technicians and customers during trials to capture and assess performance and usability, ensuring that trials reflect actual contractor or WTI usage. Cross-Functional Collaboration: Work closely with R&D, field CSS / quality assurance, and product management teams to ensure products meet reliability and quality standards that reduce warranty claims. Partner with legal and compliance teams to ensure that warranty terms comply with all relevant laws and regulations. Data Analytics & Reporting: Implement data-driven decision-making processes to identify failure modes, reduce defects, and improve product quality. Leverage insights from customer feedback, field trials, and product returns to enhance product performance, by working with product management and R&D teams. Leadership & Team Management: Lead and develop a team responsible for managing contractor and customer escalations, and field trial management. Foster a culture of continuous improvement, accountability, and customer-centricity within the warranty team. Establish KPIs to measure the performance of the warranty department and field