The Central R&D Senior Director supports the Vice President in leading and coordinating the Central R&D organization. This role helps drive strategic alignment, operational excellence, cross-functional collaboration, and execution of key R&D initiatives across the organization.
The Senior Director acts as a trusted partner to the Vice President, ensuring continuity of leadership, follow-up on priorities, and effective communication between R&D teams, senior management, and other business functions.
The Senior Director will translate strategic priorities into clear, measurable objectives and key results and operating metrics, and he/she drives consistent execution across Product development & related R&D functions. This role operates with the authority of the VP Central R&D and works closely with internal Central R&D functional leaders, MDRF General Manager & leaders to align R&D outcomes with MDRF & company priorities, resolve trade-offs, and ensure delivery against agreed results.
Key Responsibilities
1. Strategic Planning & Execution
- Translate R&D strategy and leadership priorities into actionable objectives and key results, achievements, and success metrics.
- Partner with the Head of R&D & key technologist leaders to define and operationalize long-term technology & Ips roadmaps (e.g., nodes, architectures, …).
- Drive execution of strategic initiatives across design, process, and product.
- Collaborate within CRD Operation & PMO group on tracking and report progress on critical R&D milestones (e.g., tape-outs, yield targets, PPA improvements)
- Monitor progress against strategic objectives and highlight risks, gaps, and opportunities.
- Prepare decision-making materials for leadership reviews and governance forums.
2. Cross-Functional Alignment
- Act as a central coordination point across R&D, product lines, and corporate functions
- Ensure tight coordination between central design teams and divisions (internal or external).
- Facilitate decision-making across MDRF CRD distributed teams.
- Drive collaboration across technical, operational, and business stakeholders
3. Operational Excellence
- Establish and run the operating cadence (quarterly planning, execution reviews, KPI tracking)
- Define and monitor R&D performance indicators , including:
- Development cycle time
- First-pass success rate
- Cost efficiency
- Improve execution discipline and scalability through process optimization and best practices
- Strengthen predictability and delivery reliability across the R&D organization
4. Executive Communication & Governance
- Develop clear, executive-level narratives and reporting on R&D performance and strategy
- Prepare board-level updates, strategy reviews, and leadership materials
- Ensure alignment on priorities, trade-offs, and decisions across senior leadership
- Run governance forums (staff meetings, roadmap reviews, execution reviews)
5. Organizational Effectiveness
- Act with continuous improvement approach in planning, delivery management, and metric rigor. Help teams improve predictability and outcomes in a performance driven environment.
- Support organizational design and workforce planning (skills, hiring, outsourcing).
- Lead strategic initiatives such as R&D site expansions, Post-merger integrations
- Foster a culture of innovation, accountability, and collaboration
6. Leadership Support
- Act as a delegate to the VP of R&D when required
- Support leadership communications, including town halls and strategic messaging
- Help steer organizational change and business transformation initiatives
- Operate with a high degree of autonomy, trust, and confidentiality
Education & Experiences
- Advanced degree (Master’s or PhD) in Electrical Engineering, Semiconductor Physics, or related field
- 15+ years of experience in semiconductor R&D, engineering leadership, or technology strategy
- Proven experience in leading complex programs or operations in a global, matrix organization
- Strong understanding of the end-to-end semiconductor lifecycle : design tape-out manufacturing test yield ramp
- Experience with technology nodes, chip architecture, or system-level design
- Track record of driving cross-functional initiatives and operational improvements
- Sound judgment, discretion, and ability to operate with executive-level trust and confidentiality.
- Data-driven decision-making and KPI tracking
- Exceptional communication and influencing skills
Leadership & Functional Skills
- Strong strategic thinking combined with execution discipline
- Ability to translate complex technical topics into actionable business decisions
- Excellent stakeholder management and influence at executive level
- Proven ability to drive alignment without direct authority
- Data-driven mindset with strong performance management capabilities
Personal Attributes
- Trusted partner with high integrity and discretion
- Structured and highly organized, with a focus on clarity and simplicity
- Proactive, results-oriented, and comfortable operating in ambiguity
- Strong communicator, able to engage both technical and executive audiences
- Resilient and adaptable in a fast-paced, high-complexity environment
Impact & Success Measures
- Success in this role will be defined by:
- Clear and consistently executed R&D priorities and performance metrics
- Improved predictability and delivery of innovation milestones
- Faster and more effective decision-making across teams
- Strong executive confidence in R&D execution and reporting
- Enhanced collaboration across engineering, product, and business functions
This role can be based at one of ST’s manufacturing sites in Europe
