Vice President, IT

Natcast (short for The National Center for the Advancement of Semiconductor Technology) is a new, purpose-built, non-profit entity created to operate the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC) consortium, established by the CHIPS Act of the U.S. government.

Working at Natcast represents an opportunity to help extend America’s leadership in semiconductor technology, significantly reduce the time and cost of moving from idea to commercialization, and build and sustain a semiconductor workforce development ecosystem.

These efforts to advance semiconductor technology and seed new industries built on the capabilities of a wide range of advanced chips hold the potential to benefit the country and the world for generations to come.

This is a rare greenfield opportunity for a visionary leader who thrives in a start-up culture to architect and execute Natcast’s comprehensive technology strategy and rapidly achieve enterprise level scale for capabilities and operations. As Vice President, you will spearhead the creation of a transformative digital foundation for America’s semiconductor innovation ecosystem, encompassing chip hardware design, manufacturing, and workforce development.

This role demands a hands-on, nimble leader willing to dive into the nuts and bolts of building world-class IT capabilities and an organization from the ground up and making numerous critical decisions to help shape the future of U.S. semiconductor research and manufacturing. This technical leader will embrace cutting-edge technologies and architectures to meet strategic business objectives, lead complex initiatives in advanced high-performance computing, cybersecurity frameworks and specialized semiconductor applications.

Responsibilities

Strategic Planning and Roadmap Definition

• Develop and execute a comprehensive technology strategy aligned with Natcast’s mission to advance semiconductor research, industry partnerships, chip design, and manufacturing.
• Create technology roadmaps to enable scalable growth across multiple business lines (Chip Design, Manufacturing, Investment Fund, Workforce Development).
• Formulate and implement a strategic roadmap for engineering IT infrastructure.
• Align IT infrastructure objectives with business goals, ensuring scalability, reliability, and high performance.
• Stay informed of industry trends in semiconductor research and IT infrastructure to maintain a competitive advantage.
  
  

Infrastructure Design and Optimization

• Oversee the design, deployment, and maintenance of high-performance computing (HPC) environments, including on-premises data centers, cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud), and hybrid solutions balancing cost and usability.
• Ensure infrastructure supports compute-intensive engineering compute tools for Natcast and NSTC ecosystem.
• Optimize storage, networking, and compute resources to manage large datasets and complex workflows.
• Monitor and enhance compute infrastructure performance to minimize design cycle times and maximize engineering productivity.
  
  

Cybersecurity and Data Protection

• Establish robust cybersecurity measures to protect intellectual property (IP) and proprietary data for Natcast and its member companies and research institutions.
• Design and implement secure data segregation frameworks to enable collaboration while safeguarding intellectual property.
  
  

Team Leadership and Development

• Lead, mentor, and expand a team of IT engineers, system administrators, and DevOps professionals supporting engineering compute and manufacturing.
  
  

Collaboration and Stakeholder Management

• Collaborate with hardware design and research teams to understand computational requirements and deliver optimized solutions.
• Manage relationships with IT vendors, cloud providers, and hardware suppliers to ensure compatibility, performance, and cost-effectiveness.
  
  

Technology Implementation and Innovation

• Rapidly develop technology infrastructure to serve internal and external member companies across fabrication, grants, research, and services.
• Guide the development of data analytics and AI/ML/GenAI solutions to accelerate semiconductor innovation across research, development, and manufacturing.
• Drive the adoption of emerging technologies to enhance engineering efficiency.
• Implement wafer fabrication and package/assembly manufacturing automation to support R&D pilot line operations and research workflows.
  
  

Budget and Resource Management

• Manage budgets and program costs from CHIPS Act funding with transparency and accountability.
  
  

Required Skills And Experience

• Advanced degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• 15+ years of technology leadership experience.
• Proven success in implementing large-scale technical infrastructure.
• Demonstrated proficiency in cybersecurity and data protection in engineering and manufacturing while facilitating ease of collaboration.
• Familiarity with AI/ML application at enterprise scale.
• Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, Azure, Google Cloud) and hybrid cloud architectures for engineering compute.
• Proven track record of building high-performing technical teams , stakeholder management across diverse groups and strong strategic planning/execution capabilities.
• Drive innovation in a greenfield dynamic engineering environment.
  
  

Preferred Skills And Experience

• Experience in a semiconductor startup environment.
• Experience in semiconductor industry software, EDA workloads, chip design and manufacturing
• Deep understanding of HPC environments (CPU/GPU clusters), parallel file systems and high-speed networking.
• Experience with industry consortia or collaborative ecosystems.
• Familiarity with semiconductor fabrication operations (tools, workflows, etc.)
• Experience building online portals for collaboration with member companies and eco system partners.
• Experience with 300mm factory automation implementation.
• Experience implementing data analytics platforms for end-to-end traceability in manufacturing.
  
  

Natcast is an equal opportunity employer. We do not discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, gender expression, age, national origin, disability, marital status, sexual orientation, military status, or any protected attribute. We encourage qualified candidates from all backgrounds to apply and join us in our mission. If you require accommodation at any stage of the application process due to a disability, please let us know.

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