Senior Director, Hardware Engineering

Job Title

Senior Director, Hardware Engineering

Role Summary

The Senior Director, Central Engineering leads SoC architecture, system modeling, and design methodology development across multiple product lines. The role establishes scalable design and verification methodologies, SystemC/SystemVerilog model development, and AI-driven engineering practices to improve productivity, quality, and time-to-market.

The role partners with product groups, platform teams, and executive leadership to deploy next-generation design methodologies and enable cross-organization reuse.

Experience Level

Senior-level. Requires 15+ years in semiconductor or SoC development and 8+ years of technical leadership managing large engineering organizations and complex programs.

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities cover technical leadership, model and methodology development, AI-driven automation, and organizational enablement.

• Define and drive the company-wide roadmap for SoC design and verification methodologies.
• Lead architecture reviews and provide technical direction for complex SoC and subsystem developments.
• Develop transaction-level and architectural models using SystemC/TLM and align models with RTL and software environments.
• Establish executable SoC specifications and virtual platforms to enable early software development and system validation.
• Standardize SystemVerilog/UVM verification flows; promote reusable IP, subsystem, and SoC-level modeling frameworks.
• Define and implement AI-enabled workflows for model generation, verification, coverage analysis, and documentation.
• Build and mentor high-performing engineering teams; influence long-term semiconductor technology and platform strategy.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills, leadership experience, and proven delivery in SoC development.

• 15+ years in semiconductor or SoC development; 8+ years of technical leadership managing large engineering organizations and complex programs.
• Proven experience leading SoC architecture, design, or verification teams and driving methodology adoption across product groups.
• Deep expertise in SoC architecture, digital design methodologies, IP and subsystem development, and hardware/software co-design.
• Hands-on experience with SystemC/TLM model development.
• Hands-on experience with SystemVerilog and UVM-based verification environments.
• Experience with virtual platforms, executable specifications, SoC performance modeling, and verification automation flows.
• Demonstrated ability to apply AI/ML techniques (including generative AI/LLMs) to semiconductor design and verification workflows.
• Strong executive communication, stakeholder management, and ability to drive organizational change.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with heterogeneous compute architectures, AI accelerators, MCUs/MPUs, automotive SoCs, or cloud-based EDA infrastructure.
• Experience defining organization-wide engineering frameworks, KPIs for productivity, and model-accuracy metrics.

Education Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline required. Master's degree or Ph.D. preferred.

About the Company

Company: Renesas

Headquarters: Hitachinaka, Japan

Renesas is a global leader in embedded semiconductor solutions, providing high-quality products across automotive, industrial, infrastructure, and IoT sectors. With over 22,000 employees in more than 30 countries, the company focuses on scalable solutions that enhance user experience and drive innovation while committed to sustainability and energy efficiency.