Senior Director - SoC Front-End Engineering

Job Title

Senior Director - SoC Front-End Engineering

Role Summary

Lead front-end digital design and verification for Ambiq's Edge AI MCU portfolio, overseeing RTL, integration, verification, and delivery from architecture through production.

Hands-on strategic leader responsible for building and scaling a front-end engineering organization and aligning cross-functional teams to achieve first-silicon success and industry-leading energy efficiency.

Experience Level

Senior — 20+ years in semiconductor front-end design and verification, with 15+ years in leadership roles.

Responsibilities

Accountable for technical direction, program execution, and people leadership across multiple MCU programs.

• Drive architecture definition, RTL design, and subsystem integration for CPU subsystems, neural accelerators, security, memory, and peripherals.
• Establish and enforce RTL, UVM verification, and static-check methodologies (lint, CDC, DFT readiness).
• Partner with architecture and physical design teams for PPA optimization and first-pass silicon success.
• Manage concurrent MCU programs from concept through tapeout: define milestones, track deliverables, and mitigate risks.
• Deploy and evaluate EDA tools, design automation, and verification infrastructure to accelerate tapeout readiness.
• Recruit, mentor, and grow front-end design, verification, and integration teams; build technical career paths.
• Collaborate with product, analog/mixed-signal, validation, operations, and test teams to meet DFT, yield, and manufacturability goals.

Requirements

Must-have technical experience and leadership capabilities; preferred items listed separately.

• Proven track record delivering MCU, SoC, or ASIC products into high-volume production.
• Expertise in low-power digital design, including multi-voltage domains, power gating, and clock management.
• Hands-on experience with SystemVerilog and UVM; strong familiarity with synthesis and STA methodologies.
• Familiarity with ARM Cortex-M/R/A or RISC-V architectures and on-chip interconnects (AHB/AXI).
• Experience defining design methodologies, verification infrastructure, and advanced-node EDA tool flows.
• Strong communication skills and proven ability to lead complex, cross-site teams.
• Ability to manage multiple programs concurrently and establish predictable delivery and sign-off criteria.
• Must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer; Ambiq does not provide visa sponsorship for this role.

Nice-to-have:

• Experience with subthreshold or near-threshold design techniques and power modeling.
• Experience with EDA flows at 16nm and below.
• Experience integrating neural accelerators and optimizing AI compute for power efficiency.

Education Requirements

BS or MS in Electrical Engineering or Computer Engineering required; Ph.D. preferred.

About the Company

Company: Ambiq

Headquarters: Austin, TX, United States

Semiconductor company developing ultra-low-power microcontroller units (MCUs) and system-on-chip (SoC) platforms for battery-powered and edge devices, focusing on low-power IP, RTL, and production silicon solutions.