Director - R&D Technical Head

RESPONSIBILITIES:

Technical Leadership & Strategy (40%):

- Define and own the end-to-end chip design strategy, methodology, and technology roadmap across all design verticals - SoC, Analog, Digital, Product & Test Engineering, Design Packaging, Verification and DFT.

- Establish design standards, best practices, and quality benchmarks to ensure silicon correctness, power-performance-area (PPA) targets, and first-silicon success rates.

- Evaluate and adopt state-of-the-art EDA toolchains (Cadence, Synopsys, Siemens EDA) and emerging design methodologies to maintain competitive advantage.

- Provide architectural guidance on SoC partitioning, IP integration, mixed-signal co-design, and design-for-manufacturability (DFM) across advanced process nodes.

Team Management & People Leadership (30%):

- Directly manage all vertical leads and engineering managers SoC, Analog, Digital, Product & Test Engineering, Design Packaging, Verification and DFT.

- Set clear goals, conduct regular reviews, and create individual development plans to build a high-performing, future-ready engineering organization.

- Drive talent acquisition strategy in partnership with HR; define technical interview frameworks and competency benchmarks for senior engineering hires.

- Foster a culture of technical excellence, collaboration, and continuous learning across a team of 12 - 20+ direct and indirect reports.

Project Monitoring & Cross-Vertical Coordination (15%):

- Engage regularly with all vertical leaders and project managers to understand project status, interdependencies, resource constraints, and technical risks.

- Supervise and monitor all active R&D projects from architecture definition through tapeout, ensuring milestones are met and technical blockers are resolved promptly.

- Facilitate cross-functional design reviews, tapeout readiness reviews, and silicon bring-up planning sessions to align all engineering verticals.

- Serve as the primary technical escalation point for critical design issues, guiding root-cause analysis and resolution across SoC, analog, digital, physical, and DFT domains.

Stakeholder Communication & Reporting (10%):

- Prepare and present comprehensive R&D project status reports, technical risk assessments, and resource utilization dashboards to senior leadership.

- Interface with global counterparts, foundry partners (e.g., TSMC, GlobalFoundries), and IP vendors to optimize design flows and process node qualifications.

Other Duties (5%):

- Champion R&D innovation initiatives; evaluate emerging technologies such as advanced packaging, chiplets, AI-driven EDA, and next-generation process nodes.

- Support IP strategy, design reuse frameworks, and internal knowledge management across the India R&D center.

- Undertake additional responsibilities as assigned by executive leadership.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS:

- Bachelor's degree (B.E. / B.Tech) in Electronics & Communication Engineering, Electrical Engineering, VLSI Design, or a closely related field; Master's degree (M.E. / M.Tech / M.S.) strongly preferred.

- 20+ years of progressive experience in the semiconductor / VLSI industry, with a minimum of 5 years in a senior engineering leadership or technical management role.

- Proven, hands-on expertise across the complete chip design flow: SoC Architecture, Physical Design, Analog Design, Product & Test Engineering, Design Packaging, Verification Digital RTL Design, and DFT.

- Demonstrated experience managing and delivering multiple concurrent chip design projects from specification through GDS tapeout.

- Deep proficiency with industry-standard EDA tools: Cadence Innovus/Virtuoso, Synopsys Design Compiler/IC Compiler/PrimeTime.

- Excellent written and verbal communication skills in English with demonstrated ability to present complex technical concepts to executive stakeholders.

DESIRED QUALIFICATIONS:

- Experience in leading R&D organizations of 25+ engineers across geographically distributed teams.

- Exposure to advanced packaging technologies (2.5D/3D IC, chiplet architectures) and multi-die integration methodologies.

- Familiarity with AI/ML-assisted EDA flows and next-generation design automation trends.

- Prior experience with automotive-grade semiconductor design (AEC-Q100, ISO 26262 / ASIL compliance) or high-reliability industrial semiconductor products.

- Strong publication record or patents in semiconductor design, device physics, or related fields.

- Experience working with global foundry partners (TSMC, GlobalFoundries) on advanced process node qualification and PDK evaluation.

- Demonstrated track record in building and scaling engineering teams; prior exposure to HR processes including headcount planning, compensation benchmarking, and performance management.