Program Manager and Chief of Staff – R&D
Overview:
Act as Chief of Staff to the Head of R&D, accountable for technical execution effectiveness, cost and delivery governance, and operating system scalability across the BU R&D portfolio.
This role ensures that R&D execution is structured, aligned, and delivered predictably at scale, while establishing governance, decision frameworks, and organizational discipline required to achieve business and transformation targets.
Responsibilities:
1. Execution System Ownership (Core Accountability)
- Own R&D execution system and governance across the portfolio
- Responsible for people and project cost governance.
- Accountable for delivery effectiveness and predictability across programs
- Establish standardized operating models, cadence, and execution discipline
- Strengthen manager accountability, ownership, and execution consistency
- Drive transformation from leader‑driven execution to system‑driven, scalable execution.
2. Technical Governance & Decision Frameworks
- Define and enforce decision frameworks with clear ownership, accountability, and timing
- Establish structured trade‑off mechanisms enabling domain owners to make decisions across:
- cost
- performance
- schedule
- complexity
- resource constraints
- Ensure effective cross‑organization technical and non‑technical alignment
- Minimize unnecessary escalation and improve decision quality at the right level
3. Lifecycle Alignment
- Ensure end‑to‑end consistency across Definition → Execution → Release
- Reduce upstream and downstream disconnects
- Balance workload across execution phases and functional teams
- Improve execution flow stability and early‑stage alignment
4. Complexity & Efficiency Improvement
- Reduce iteration loops and improve convergence efficiency
- Identify and remove systemic execution bottlenecks
- Drive simplification of processes and reduction of unnecessary complexity
- Improve overall R&D productivity and cycle time
5. Site Load Isolation & Operational Integration
- Structure and take ownership of non-core site operational responsibilities
- Isolate operational load from R&D execution to protect engineering focus
- Support smooth transition of responsibilities following JV changes
- Ensure operational topics do not disrupt technical execution effectiveness
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or related field (or equivalent experience)
- Experience in complex R&D / engineering environments (e.g., semiconductor, hardware, systems)
- Proven ability to drive cross-functional execution and organizational change
- Strong systems thinking and problem-solving capability
- Excellent influencing and communication skills at senior levels