Chief of Staff to VP, HPC Hardware Engineering

Job Level: Director or Sr Director (non‑executive)
Reporting to: VP & Head of Hardware Engineering
Location: Austin, TX
Organization: Hardware Engineering (HWEN)
Scope: Global execution organization with sites in Japan, Vietnam, and India; horizontal functions including Back-End Engineering, Design Enablement, Design Verification, Functional Safety, Security, and related disciplines

Role Overview

The Chief of Staff to the VP of HPC Hardware Engineering (HWEN) is a senior execution‑effectiveness and information‑flow leader who enables the Head of HWEN to run a complex, global hardware organization with clarity, speed, and discipline.

The Chief of Staff’s primary objective is to ensure that accurate and relevant information is accessible at the appropriate level of detail and delivered precisely when required—across all sites, functions, execution metrics, innovation initiatives, and cost considerations. At present, a considerable amount of leadership time is dedicated to monitoring status updates, reconciling inconsistent data sources, and preparing materials for decision-making.

The Chief of Staff designs and runs the information, governance, and insight system for HWEN—streamlining inputs, standardizing outputs, maintaining an accurate pulse of the organization, and ensuring the VP receives decision‑ready synthesis, not raw noise. This is not an administrative or EA role; it is a senior leadership partner role focused on execution clarity and organizational health.

Key Responsibilities

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, Improvements, and 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 Pulse, Judgment, and Discretion

• 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

Required

• 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

• 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 (What “Great” Looks Like)

• 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.

Renesas is an embedded semiconductor solution provider driven by its Purpose ‘To Make Our Lives Easier.’ As the industry’s leading expert in embedded processing with unmatched quality and system-level know-how, we have evolved to provide scalable and comprehensive semiconductor solutions for automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT industries based on the broadest product portfolio, including High Performance Computing, Embedded Processing, Analog & Connectivity, and Power.
 
With a diverse team of over 22,000 professionals in more than 30 countries, we continue to expand our boundaries to offer enhanced user experiences through digitalization and usher into a new era of innovation. We design and develop sustainable, power-efficient solutions today that help people and communities thrive tomorrow, ‘To Make Our Lives Easier.’     
 
At Renesas, you can: 

• Launch and advance your career in technical and business roles across four Product Groups and various corporate functions. You will have the opportunities to explore our hardware and software capabilities and try new things.  

• Make a real impact by developing innovative products and solutions to meet our global customers' evolving needs and help make people’s lives easier, safe and secure. 

• Maximize your performance and wellbeing in our flexible and inclusive work environment. Our people-first culture and global support system, including the remote work option and Employee Resource Groups, will help you excel from the first day.    

Are you ready to own your success and make your mark?  

Join Renesas. Shape Your Future with Us.  

Renesas Electronics is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer, committed to celebrating diversity and fostering a work environment free of discrimination on the basis of sex, race, religion, national origin, gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, sexual orientation, military status, veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. For more information, please read our Diversity & Inclusion Statement.

Renesas Electronics deals with dual-use technology that is subject to U.S. export controls regulations. Under these regulations it may be necessary for Renesas to obtain U.S. government export license prior to release of technology to certain persons. The decision whether or not to file or pursue an export license application is at the sole discretion of Renesas.

We have adopted a hybrid model that gives employees the ability to work remotely two days a week while ensuring that we come together as a team in the office the rest of the time. The designated in-office days are Tuesday through Thursday for innovation, collaboration and continuous learning.