Director - Silicon Validation

Company Overview

Ambiq  is on a mission to enable intelligence everywhere - powering the AI edge revolution with the world's lowest-power semiconductor solutions.

Built on our proprietary sub- and near-threshold technology, our chips deliver multi-fold improvements in energy efficiency without costly process scaling. Since 2010, we've shipped over 300 million units to customers building smarter wearables, medical devices, IoT products, and AI-powered edge applications.

Our cross-functional teams span design, research, development, production, marketing, sales, and operations across Austin, Hsinchu, Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Singapore. We move fast, tackle hard problems, and create space for people to grow through complex, meaningful work that shapes the future of technology.

We're looking for self-motivated, creative problem-solvers who are eager to push technological limits and make a real impact in energy efficiency.

At Ambiq, we live by five values: Innovate. Collaborate. Focus. Learn. Achieve.

If that's you, join us - the intelligence everywhere revolution starts here.

This role will be on-site 5 days a week in NW Austin.

Position Summary   

The Director, Silicon Validation Engineering is a senior technical leadership role responsible for defining and executing Ambiq's post-silicon validation strategy across multiple generations of SoCs and edge AI products. 

Reporting directly to the Engineering Fellow, this leader will provide strategic and organizational leadership for silicon validation, characterization, bring-up, debug, and validation methodology across multiple product families. The role serves as a key technical partner to architecture, design, verification, firmware, systems, product engineering, and executive engineering leadership to ensure first-pass silicon success and rapid product commercialization. 

In addition to leading day-to-day execution, this individual will establish the long-term vision for Ambiq's validation organization by developing scalable validation methodologies, expanding automation infrastructure, building globally distributed engineering teams, and driving engineering excellence across the company. 

Key Responsibilities  

• Lead Ambiq's silicon validation organization across multiple SoC and edge AI product families. 

• Define validation strategy, methodologies, automation, and engineering best practices. 

• Drive post-silicon bring-up, validation, characterization, debug, and production test correlation. 

• Build, mentor, and lead a high-performing global validation team across engineering sites. 

• Partner with Architecture, Design, Verification, Firmware, Systems, Product Engineering, and Applications teams to ensure successful product execution. 

• Establish scalable validation infrastructure, automation frameworks, and lab capabilities that improve engineering productivity and product quality. 

• Manage project priorities, staffing, schedules, and technical risk across multiple concurrent development programs. 

• Provide technical leadership for complex silicon debug and customer issue resolution. 

• Influence engineering direction across multiple product families while fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous improvement. 

Required Qualifications  

• BS or MS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related field. 

• 15+ years of semiconductor engineering experience, including post-silicon validation, characterization, or silicon bring-up. 

• 5+ years leading engineering teams, including hiring, mentoring, and organizational development. 

• Demonstrated success validating complex mixed-signal SoCs and bringing products from first silicon to production. 

• Strong understanding of digital, analog, embedded software, and power management systems. 

• Experience developing validation automation using Python, TCL, C/C++, or similar languages. 

• Hands-on experience with lab instrumentation, silicon debug, and characterization. 

• Proven ability to lead cross-functional teams and drive execution across globally distributed engineering organization. 

• Experience with ultra-low-power SoCs, edge AI devices, and ARM core architectures. 

• Experience with advanced power management architectures, low-power design techniques, dynamic voltage/frequency scaling, and power optimization. 

• Experience supporting wireless SoCs including Bluetooth LE, Matter, Thread, Wi-Fi, or similar technologies. 

• Experience developing validation methodologies, workflows, and reusable automation frameworks. 

• Experience with statistical characterization and production data analytics.  

• Experience supporting customer escalations, silicon debug, and RMAs. 

• Strong analytical, communication, and organizational leadership skills. 

Must be currently authorized to work in the United States for any employer.