Director Silicon Product & Test Engineering
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Job Summary
About Us
In just four years we have raised a total of $370 million and have built a world-class team of 220 employees (including 49 PhDs with more than 40000 citations) both remotely from 18 different countries and with offices in Belgium France Switzerland Italy the UK headquartered at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven Netherlands.
We have also launched our Metis AI Platform which achieves a 3-5x increase in efficiency and performance and have visibility into a strong business pipeline exceeding $100 million.
Our unwavering commitment to innovation has firmly established us as a global industry pioneer.
Are you up for the challenge
Position Overview
Youll own Silicon Product Engineering and our Bristol validation lab end-to-end from tapeout through NPI to volume production and lead the teams that get us there. The NPI Engineering Manager and Lab Manager report to you; you report to the executive team and partner closely with Design Sales and our external manufacturing ecosystem.
This is a director-level leadership role. It needs someone with the technical depth to make sound ATE NPI and OSAT calls and earn senior engineers respect plus the commercial judgement to own budgets headcount and the day-to-day running of two technical departments as we scale across concurrent chip programs.
Key responsibilities:
Product engineering & strategy
The product engineering roadmap across all silicon programs from tapeout planning to high-volume manufacturing
ATE strategy and major NPI decisions: build-vs-buy test-coverage trade-offs OSAT selection
Tapeout-to-production timelines surfacing risk early and coordinating resolution across design validation and partners
Product qualification strategy for datacentre and automotive markets
NPI governance: phase gates cross-functional reviews executive reporting
External partners
Strategic relationships with OSATs ATE vendors foundries and test houses selection negotiation production readiness
Test program transfer ramp and ongoing yield improvement with OSAT and foundry partners
Bristol lab
Evolving the validation lab into a scalable well-run operation; owning its budget standards and safety
Through the Lab Manager overseeing silicon bring-up characterization and production test development
Ensuring validation capability (power JTAG/scan signal integrity thermal) keeps pace with the roadmap
Team
Building leading and mentoring a multidisciplinary team of test engineers validation engineers and lab technicians
Recruiting and retaining senior talent in a competitive market
Translating executive strategy into clear direction and representing both functions to the exec team board and key customers
What we are looking for:
A background spanning product test assembly and qualification of complex SoCs ideally including hands-on lab time and exposure to startup or high-growth environments
Deep command of ATE platforms and test program development from early silicon to volume
Strong grasp of reliability physics and qualification methodology including automotive and datacentre standards
Working knowledge of DFT silicon debug/FA workflows and test/manufacturing economics
A proven track record leading and scaling technical teams in fast-moving semiconductor environments
Senior-level OSAT/foundry/test-house management including commercial negotiation
Director-level department ownership: budgets headcount resourcing
Strong executive communication able to take complex technical topics to a board-level audience
Comfort building process and infrastructure from scratch and making high-impact calls with incomplete information
Nice to have: automotive (AEC-Q100) or datacentre qualification experience; prior time in AI hardware or a high-growth deep-tech startup.
Success in the first 12 months
Next chip program brought up and qualified on schedule
Current products transitioned into qualified cost-effective production
A clear executive-aligned test and product engineering strategy across all active programs
A better-structured better-equipped better-controlled Bristol lab
Key OSAT and foundry partnerships strengthened and formalised
Location
Our Bristol (UK) office in an on-site / hybrid capacity.
What weoffer
This is your chance to shape and be part of a dynamic fast-growing international organisation. We offer an attractive compensation package including a pension plan extensive employee insurances and the option to get company shares.
An open culture that supports creativity and continual innovation is awaiting you. Collaborative ownership and freedom with responsibility is characteristic for the way we act and work as a team.
At Axelera AI we wholeheartedly embrace equal opportunity and hold diversity in the highest regard. Our steadfast commitment is to cultivate a warm and inclusive environment that empowers and celebrates every member of our team. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds to join us in shaping the future of AI.
Required Experience:
Director
About Company
Bring data insights to the edge, increasing the performance of your solutions with a cost-effective and efficient inference chip. Axelera’s AI processing unit is designed to seamlessly integrate into your innovations so you can focus on your customer!
