Director of Software Development R&D - AI

Job Title

Director of Software Development R&D - AI

Role Summary

Lead engineering for Siemens EDA's applied AI and agentic systems, delivering production-grade generative and multi-agent AI capabilities across semiconductor and electronic systems design workflows. The role coordinates R&D, product, platform, customers, foundries, and ecosystem partners to build secure, verifiable, and scalable AI-powered engineering flows.

Position is based in Saskatoon, SK with a hybrid work model and reports into Digital Industries / Research & Development.

Experience Level

Senior-level. The role expects extensive leadership experience: typically 10+ years of professional software engineering experience with 5+ years leading teams that deliver commercial platforms or production-grade AI-enabled engineering systems.

Responsibilities

Drive strategy, architecture, productization, and delivery of AI-native capabilities for Siemens EDA.

• Define and execute the engineering roadmap for generative and agentic AI capabilities across EDA workflows (design, verification, manufacturing, 3D IC, PCB, system-level).
• Architect scalable multi-agent runtimes, tool-calling protocols, and integrations with Siemens EDA engines and third-party tools while preserving deterministic fallbacks and signoff-quality validation.
• Establish shared AI platform layers, unified APIs, common agent capabilities, telemetry, and reusable infrastructure across product divisions.
• Engage with strategic customers, lead technical evaluations, co-develop workflows, and translate customer problems into product capabilities.
• Collaborate with foundries, IP providers, cloud and ecosystem partners to incorporate PDKs, design rules, and reference flows into secure, auditable AI runtimes.
• Recruit, mentor, and lead cross-functional teams of applied-AI engineers, agent systems architects, domain experts, and MLOps/AgentOps engineers.
• Drive disciplined engineering practices, product-quality delivery, and cross-business-unit execution to convert prototypes into production offerings.

Requirements

Necessary technical and leadership qualifications for successful performance in this role.

• Proven executive-level customer engagement experience with semiconductor or hyperscale customers (deep-dive technical discovery, QBRs, advisory boards).
• Hands-on architectural fluency in multi-agent orchestration, generative AI, retrieval-augmented generation, knowledge graphs, and multimodal EDA data.
• Experience with graph-based models for circuits/netlists and domain-adapted LLMs for RTL and design collateral.
• Strong software systems expertise: modern C++ (C++17/20), Python, distributed microservices, GPU inference scaling, and on-prem/hybrid HPC environments.
• Proven ability to design secure deployment patterns and governance for proprietary semiconductor data (access controls, auditability, IP protection).
• Deep understanding of semiconductor design and verification flows including RTL, physical verification, signoff, test, custom IC and PCB/system design, and manufacturing readiness.
• Demonstrated success driving technical consensus and unified architecture across geographically distributed product teams.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience deploying AI solutions in on-premises, hybrid, air-gapped, or multi-tenant enterprise environments.
• Track record of converting customer PoCs or lighthouse deployments into production-scale product adoption.
• Active contributions to industry forums, standards bodies, or conferences relevant to EDA and AI.

Education Requirements

Master's or Ph.D. in Computer Science, Computer or Electrical Engineering, Applied Mathematics, or a related technical field.

About the Company

Company: Siemens

Headquarters: Munich, Germany

Siemens EDA is a leading global provider of Electronic Design Automation (EDA) products and systems. Their innovative solutions enable companies to enhance the development of electronic products efficiently and effectively, keeping pace with the complex demands of technology and physics. Siemens is committed to delivering advanced workflow solutions that integrate both EDA and MCAD tools for multi-domain design and manufacturing in the semiconductor industry.