Engineering Leader

I build teams that ship complex products that matter to people.

I'm drawn to work that has a positive societal impact — but you can't help people if you don't ship. I work backwards from user needs, set direction, stay close to the technical work, translate complexity into clear decisions for executives and engineers alike, and deliver.

Jacob Scarpaci

The Technologist

Full-Cycle & Cross-Functional — I have direct experience in every phase of the design cycle and serve as the connective tissue that keeps all disciplines moving together.

The Player-Coach

Technical People Leader — I lead teams through trust and empowerment, but stay close to technical decisions to better support and unblock where needed.

The Builder

Organizational Systems Builder — I build the mechanisms, SOPs, and standards that allow multi-disciplinary teams to scale without losing judgment or efficiency.

The User Advocate

User-Centric Designer — I work backwards from user needs, keep them visible to the team when making design choices, and measure success against them.

The Pragmatist

Prioritize to Deliver — I own the technical, business, and user need tradeoffs so when constraints or plans change I keep the team focused on delivering what's most important.

The Translator

Complexity Made Legible — I synthesize data-driven technical information for executives, regulators, and non-technical partners without losing precision.

My Work

Examples of my work.

Click any card for more details.

About

20 years leading teams to deliver complex solutions at the intersection of hardware, software, and people.

I've spent 20 years leading cross-functional teams through technically complex products: a home dialysis machine from concept to FDA regulatory clearance in three countries, a consumer hardware line shifted from IT-aesthetic to something designed for living rooms, warehouse automation at Amazon scale. I work backwards from user needs, own the tradeoffs between technical goals, business priorities, and schedule, and keep the team focused on what matters when those don't line up. I build the organizations that can actually deliver: a 140-person V&V department at DEKA, a centralized systems architecture team at Amazon, the mechanisms and standards that keep large multi-disciplinary teams efficient without losing judgment as they grow.

Timeline

DEKA R&D

2006 – 2020 · 14 years

Medical devices, from concept to scaled release.

Engineering Director V&V
Project Manager
Lead Systems Engineer

Minim

2020 – 2022 · 2 years

Secure home internet devices and management.

SVP Product & Hardware Engineering

Amazon Robotics

2022 – 2026 · 4 years

Multi-system warehouse automation at the scale of Amazon.

Sr. Manager, Systems Architecture

20 Years shipping products
140+ Largest org led
Class II FDA regulatory depth
Ph.D. Biomedical Engineering · BU

Expertise

Leadership & Strategy

  • Cross-Functional Leadership
  • Organization Building
  • Hiring & Talent Development
  • Stakeholder Management
  • Executive Communication
  • Budgeting & Resource Planning
  • Ownership and Earning Trust

Technical Systems

  • Systems Architecture & Decomposition
  • Verification and Validation
  • Risk Management - ISO 14971
  • FDA 510(k) Submissions
  • Requirements Management
  • DFMEA / PFMEA
  • Building Engineering Mechanisms

Product Excellence

  • Program Management
  • Tradespace Analysis
  • Product Roadmap Strategy
  • KPI & Metrics Management
  • User-Centric Design
  • Human Factors Engineering
  • AI-Augmented Workflows

Contact

Let's build something together.

The best way to connect with me is through LinkedIn.