VP, Tech & Innovation

Trane Technologies · Davidson · $240,000–$308,000 (stated in the posting)

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Be a part of our mission! As a world leader in creating comfortable, sustainable, and efficient climate solutions for buildings, homes and transportation, it's our responsibility to put the planet first. For us at Trane Technologies, and through our businesses including Trane® and Thermo King,  sustainability is not just how we do business—it is our business.  Do you dare to look at the world's challenges and see impactful possibilities?  Do you want to contribute to making a better future?  If the answer is yes, we invite you to consider joining us in boldly challenging what's possible for a sustainable world.

Learn about our benefits designed for you to Thrive at work and at home. 

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Job summary

The Vice President, Technology & Innovation will lead the company’s technology and innovation agenda, helping the enterprise use technology to improve personal productivity, create new capabilities, and solve important business problems.

This leader will establish a practical innovation engine that combines technology scouting, rapid experimentation, platform and data-product enablement, AI adoption, and disciplined value realization. The VP will help the organization move beyond isolated pilots by creating reusable capabilities and clear pathways for scaling what works.

The successful candidate will be equally comfortable discussing a multi-year technology vision with senior leaders, working with users to understand a workflow, evaluating an emerging technology, shaping a proof of concept, and establishing the operating mechanisms required to scale a trusted capability.

Key responsibilities

Technology and innovation strategy

• Define and communicate an enterprise technology and innovation strategy aligned to business priorities and employee needs.
• Translate technology trends, emerging capabilities, and external signals into a focused portfolio of opportunities.
• Establish clear investment choices, stage gates, decision rights, and portfolio review mechanisms.
• Balance near-term productivity opportunities with longer-term capabilities that can differentiate the enterprise.

AI, digital, and productivity enablement

• Identify and prioritize opportunities where AI, automation, analytics, and digital tools can improve employee productivity and decision quality.
• Make approved capabilities easy to discover, access, use, and support.
• Partner with functions and business units to embed technology into real workflows rather than treating adoption as a post-launch activity.
• Support responsible experimentation and practical AI literacy across the enterprise.

Platform, data, and reusable capability building

• Build and scale secure, reliable, and reusable platforms for AI, analytics, automation, and emerging technology.
• Establish reference architectures, reusable components, APIs, data products, and patterns that reduce duplication and technical fragmentation.
• Partner with data governance and domain owners to ensure data products are trusted, documented, governed, and sustainable.
• Integrate new capabilities appropriately with enterprise applications, ERP, connected products, edge environments, and other technology foundations.

Rapid experimentation and incubation

• Establish a technology radar and a disciplined pipeline for evaluating emerging technologies, startups, research, and ecosystem opportunities.
• Lead proofs of value, proofs of technology, and proofs of concept that test user value, technical feasibility, risk, economics, and scalability.
• Create a safe experimentation environment with proportionate controls that do not impose production-level friction on low-risk exploration.
• Use clear criteria to pivot, stop, transition, or scale experiments.
• Ensure every material experiment has a problem statement, business or functional sponsor, value hypothesis, owner, and next-step decision.

Enablement and stakeholder partnership

• Enable functions, business units, analytics, product, technology, and other teams through shared platforms, reusable patterns, communities of practice, and targeted expertise.
• Build strong partnerships across IT and the business while maintaining clear accountability for decisions and outcomes.
• Establish mechanisms that allow local innovation within enterprise standards and guardrails.
• Create an ecosystem of internal talent, external partners, universities, startups, and technology providers that expands the organization’s capacity to learn and deliver.

Governance, trust, and value realization

• Embed security, privacy, architecture, data quality, responsible AI, compliance, and cost management into the capability lifecycle.
• Partner with data governance to clarify ownership, quality expectations, metadata, access, lineage, and lifecycle requirements for data products.
• Establish adoption, usage, benefit, and risk measures before scaling material capabilities.
• Review whether expected benefits are realized and redirect resources when they are not.
• Communicate progress, tradeoffs, risks, and value clearly to executive leadership.

Leadership and culture

• Build and lead a high-performing team with the skills to scout, design, prototype, productize, and scale technology-enabled capabilities.
• Foster a culture of curiosity, experimentation, learning, accountability, and responsible risk-taking.
• Develop leaders and practitioners through communities of practice, coaching, and exposure to real business problems.
• Model collaboration, transparency, inclusion, and disciplined follow-through.

Annual Base Salary Range or Hourly Base Pay Range:

Compensation Type:

Incentive Eligible:

Sales Commission Eligible:

Disclaimer: We strive to provide competitive compensation for this position, tailored to a variety of factors. The actual compensation will depend on elements such as seniority, merit, geographic location, education, experience,  travel requirements, and union designation.   Our compensation range is generally based on the national average for the country.  Additionally, benefits may vary depending on the region, business alignment, union involvement, and employee status.

Thrive at work and at home:

• Benefits kick in on DAY ONE for you and your family, including health insurance and holistic wellness programs that include generous incentives – WE DARE TO CARE!
• Family building benefits include fertility coverage and adoption/surrogacy assistance.
• Paid time off includes  up to 15 vacation days, paid holidays, sick leave, and additional options to support volunteer and parental leave. 
• 401K match up, educational and training opportunities through company programs along with tuition assistance and student debt support.    

Disclaimer:  Benefit offerings may vary by site as well as Collective Bargaining Agreements and local/state regulations

Safety Sensitive Role:

The company designates certain roles as Safety Sensitive. Safety Sensitive roles may require that you pass additional drug screening.

We offer competitive compensation and comprehensive benefits and programs. We are an equal opportunity employer; all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, pregnancy, age, marital status, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any legally protected status.

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