Head - IT Hardware Products - Research & Development Centre - Electronics Department

Head - IT Hardware Products

Experience Required:

15+ years in IT hardware (PC, server, embedded or industrial compute), including 5+ years converting BD / customer requirements into shipped products.

Education:

BE / B.Tech in Electronics, Electrical or Computer Engineering (M.Tech or MBA is an advantage)

Location:

Bangalore

About The Job:

The company is looking for talented, mature, self-motivated and dynamic individuals for its Research & Development centre in Bangalore, to become part of the NextGen Team in the Electronics department.

Reporting directly to the Chief Technology Officer, you will drive the business needs of the IT hardware portfolio and own the path from a business opportunity to a mass-production-ready product.

The role involves translating BD and customer needs into clear technical product requirements, prioritising them against business value, and driving four independent engineering teams - Motherboard, BIOS, Product Integration and Product Testing - to one consolidated, customer-ready solution. You will be the single point of accountability for every IT hardware program: scope, schedule, cost budget, material readiness, manufacturing handover and post-launch field quality.

Key Roles & Responsibilities:

1. BD Requirements to Product Definition:

- Engage with BD and customers to understand the business need, target segment, volumes, price points and timelines behind each opportunity.

- Translate BD inputs into a technical Product Requirements Document (PRD): platform, CPU / chipset, memory, I/O, form factor, thermals, power, firmware features, certifications and compliance.

- Assess feasibility, cost and time-to-market for each requirement, and recommend build, reuse or partner options.

- Prioritise requirements and programs by business impact, customer commitment and engineering capacity; make and communicate trade-off decisions.

- Own requirement change control so that scope changes are evaluated for cost, schedule and risk before acceptance.

2. Cross-Team Technical Leadership:

- Drive the Motherboard Development, BIOS Development, Product Integration and Product Testing teams towards one consolidated solution for the end customer.

- Align the four teams on a common architecture, interface definitions, milestones and integration plan (EVT, DVT, PVT, MP).

- Resolve cross-team dependencies, technical conflicts and escalations quickly, and keep the customer view at the centre of decisions.

- Conduct design reviews and phase-gate reviews; confirm entry and exit criteria are met before each phase.

3. Program Tracking & Execution:

- Maintain a single master tracker for all IT hardware projects: milestones, owners, risks, issues, open actions and status.

- Publish regular program reviews to the CTO, BD and management, with clear red / amber / green status and decisions needed.

- Identify schedule and technical risks early and drive mitigation plans.

4. Cost & Budget Ownership:

- Maintain the cost budget sheet for each project: NRE, tooling, prototypes, certification, and BOM cost versus target.

- Track actual spend against budget and flag variances with corrective actions.

- Drive BOM cost optimisation with engineering and SCM to meet target product cost.

5. Material Readiness with SCM:

- Work with SCM to track material progress for every project: long-lead items, sample and pilot builds, and MP material.

- Flag shortages, EOL / obsolescence and single-source risks; drive alternate parts qualification with the design team.

- Ensure material availability is aligned with build schedules.

6. Handover to Mass Production:

- Ensure the engineering and manufacturing teams receive complete, controlled data for mass production: released BOM, Gerbers, assembly drawings, BIOS / firmware release, test specifications, fixtures and test programs, programming instructions, packaging and labelling specs.

- Drive pilot run and PVT closure; confirm yield, test coverage and quality targets before MP sign-off.

- Ensure all Indian and global certifications required by the customer are completed before shipment.

7. Field Quality, Failure Analysis & ECN Control:

- Coordinate customer failure analysis with the design engineering team; ensure timely 8D / RCA and corrective actions.

- Maintain a tracker of all customer failures, root causes, corrective actions and closure status.

- Track all ECNs / ECOs across projects: reason, impact on cost and inventory, implementation date and verification.

- Feed lessons learned back into requirements and design guidelines for future programs.

8. Product Testing & Global Certification:

- Drive the Product Testing team and track test status for every project: test plans, coverage, open defects and sign-off at each phase.

- Ensure functional, reliability, environmental, compatibility and pre-compliance testing is completed before each phase gate.

- Capture each customer's target markets and certification needs at the requirement stage, so certifications are planned upfront rather than after design freeze.

- Plan and drive global certifications as per customer requirements, such as CE, FCC, UL / CB (IEC 62368-1), RoHS, REACH, WEEE, Energy Star / EPEAT and radio approvals, along with BIS, TEC and STQC for India.

- Manage accredited test labs, certification timelines and costs; track certificate status per project and per market in the master tracker.

- Keep certifications valid through ECNs and design changes, and re-certify where required.

Key Deliverables:

- Product Requirements Document (PRD)

- Feasibility and cost assessments

- Requirement change-control log

- Master program tracker

- Program review reports (RAG status)

- Project cost budget and BOM cost sheet

- Material readiness tracker

- Controlled MP data pack

- Pilot run / PVT closure and MP sign-off

- Test plans and phase-gate sign-offs

- Certification plan and certificate status

- Customer failure and 8D / RCA tracker

- ECN / ECO tracker

- Lessons learned and design guidelines

Required Skills - Technical:

- x86 (Intel / AMD) platform architecture

- Motherboard design and board bring-up

- BIOS / UEFI firmware

- System integration and validation

- NPI lifecycle (EVT / DVT / PVT / MP)

- DFM / DFT and EMS handover

- BOM costing and Excel-based cost models

- RCA / 8D and ECN / ECO processes

- Product testing and global certification

- PLM / ERP and project tracking tools

Mandatory Skills:

- Proven track record in a similar role, converting BD or customer requirements into technical requirements and taking products through to mass production.

- Hands-on understanding of x86 (Intel / AMD) platform architecture, motherboard design, BIOS / UEFI firmware and system integration.

- Experience leading multiple independent engineering teams to a single integrated product.

- Strong knowledge of the NPI lifecycle (EVT / DVT / PVT / MP), DFM / DFT, and handover to EMS or in-house manufacturing.

- Experience running project cost budgets, BOM costing and working closely with SCM on material planning.

- Experience managing customer field failures, RCA / 8D and ECN / ECO processes.

- Working knowledge of product testing and global certification processes (CE, FCC, UL / CB, RoHS, REACH) and of managing accredited test labs.

Additional Skills - Good To Have:

- Experience with Make-in-India / PLI programs and Indian certifications (BIS, TEC, STQC).

- Exposure to silicon vendor programs and reference platforms.

- PMP or equivalent program management certification.

Soft Skills:

- Business acumen and prioritisation

- Disciplined program management

- Business and technical communication

- Decisiveness, closure and accountability