Chief of Staff to VP, HPC Hardware Engineering (HWEN)

Our client is a global semiconductor technology company specializing in embedded processing and system-level solutions for the automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT industries. With more than 20,000 employees across 30+ countries, the company develops scalable semiconductor technologies that enable high-performance, power-efficient systems and next-generation digital innovation.

We’re hiring a Chief of Staff to the VP of HPC Hardware Engineering to support a complex global organization responsible for digital design execution through tapeout across multiple engineering sites and programs.

In this role, you will serve as a strategic execution partner to the VP of Hardware Engineering, designing and running the information, governance, and operating systems that enable leadership to manage engineering execution with clarity, speed, and discipline.

The HWEN organization drives the execution and implementation of digital design programs through silicon tapeout. Today, a significant portion of leadership bandwidth is spent consolidating fragmented reporting, reconciling inconsistent execution data, and preparing materials for decision-making.

The Chief of Staff addresses this challenge by establishing structured information flow, standardized execution metrics, and a disciplined operating cadence, ensuring the VP receives decision-ready insights rather than raw status updates.

This role sits at the intersection of engineering execution, governance, and leadership strategy, ensuring risks, dependencies, and operational signals are surfaced early and clearly across the organization. It is not an administrative or executive assistant role, but a senior leadership partner position focused on execution clarity, operational alignment, and organizational health.

Information Flow & Decision Readiness (Primary Focus)

• Design and implement a standardized information flow across all HWEN sites (Japan, Vietnam, India) and horizontal functions to eliminate fragmented reporting and multiple versions of truth.
• Establish consistent definitions, templates, and health indicators for execution (milestones, readiness, risks, quality, dependencies, resourcing, and cost signals).
• Convert complex, bottom‑up execution data into clear, decision‑ready insights for the VP (what changed, why it matters, options, recommendation).
• Ensure leadership reviews focus on decisions and interventions—not status collection.

Execution Governance & Operating Rhythm

• Own the HWEN execution cadence, including leadership reviews, tapeout readiness checkpoints, cross‑site syncs, and risk reviews.
• Drive alignment on KPIs and execution metrics across functions and geographies.
• Surface risks, tradeoffs, and cross‑functional dependencies early—especially those that threaten schedule, quality, or tapeout readiness.
• Maintain a single, trusted roll‑up view of execution health across all programs.

Cross-Site and Cross-Functional Integration

• Act as the integration point across sites and horizontal functions to improve coordination, handoffs, and decision speed.
• Identify recurring friction points (unclear ownership, inconsistent readiness criteria, handoff breakdowns, reporting noise) and drive standard ways of working.
• Ensure issues are escalated with clarity, context, and ownership—not as late surprises.

Innovation & Improvement Initiatives (Within HWEN)

• Track and govern HWEN’s innovation and improvement initiatives (design methodology upgrades, automation, flow improvements, productivity and quality initiatives).
• Ensure initiative work is visible, prioritized, and measured.
• Help leadership make deliberate tradeoffs between tapeout‑critical execution and longer‑term improvement work.

Executive Communication & Leadership Support

• Prepare the VP of HWEN for engagements with the SVP and broader leadership by providing a crisp execution narrative, top risks, mitigations, and decisions needed.
• Synthesize technical and operational inputs into executive‑ready materials (dashboards, one‑pagers, review decks).
• Ensure consistent messaging and clarity across the HWEN leadership team.

Organizational Insight & Leadership Judgment

• Maintain a continuous pulse on organizational health, including morale, capacity strain, friction points, and execution stress.
• Bring early signals to the VP with context and options—before issues become systemic.
• Handle sensitive information with discretion and sound judgment.

Requirements

• 10+ years of experience in semiconductors or adjacent deep‑tech industries, with strong exposure to
  engineering‑led, execution‑intensive organizations.
• Proven experience in roles such as Chief of Staff, Engineering Operations, Technical Program Leadership, Business Operations, or Strategy & Operations supporting senior engineering leaders.
• Demonstrated ability to build information systems and operating mechanisms that improve execution clarity and leadership decision‑making.
• Strong analytical and synthesis skills; able to turn complex, messy inputs into clear insights.
• Ability to influence without authority across global, matrixed teams.
• Executive‑level written and verbal communication skills.

Preferred Qualifications

• Familiarity with hardware development and digital design execution through tapeout, including typical risks, dependencies, and readiness gates.
• Experience working across multi‑site global engineering organizations.
• Experience building dashboards, KPIs, or execution governance frameworks.
• MBA or equivalent advanced degree, or equivalent demonstrated experience.

Success Measures

• The VP of HWEN receives timely, decision‑ready information without needing to chase status.
• Execution health is visible, consistent, and predictable across sites and functions.
• Risks and cross‑functional issues are surfaced early, with clear ownership and mitigation paths.
• HWEN innovation and improvement initiatives are tracked, prioritized, and measured without destabilizing tapeout execution.
• Leadership time shifts from information gathering to high‑leverage decisions and interventions.
• The HWEN organization operates with greater clarity, alignment, and trust in its execution data.

Role Boundaries

This role does not function as an Executive Assistant or general administrative role. It does not own calendar management, meeting scheduling, or day‑to‑day task tracking. Its value is in information flow, governance, insight, and judgment—not logistics.