Design Centre Director
Location: Bergamo, Italy
Who are we looking for?
We are looking for a senior engineering leader to establish and lead our Design Centre in Northern Italy. You will be the on-site leader for a growing team of silicon designers, validation engineers, and lab staff, and a key member of the company’s wider technical leadership team. This role is ideal for someone with strong silicon engineering credibility who enjoys turning architecture and strategy into high-quality execution, building teams and infrastructure, and creating an environment where engineers can do their best work.
You will work closely with our UK-based Director of Silicon, who owns global silicon architecture and technical direction, and with the CTO, ensuring that the Italian site delivers reliably, efficiently, and at the highest technical standards.
What will you be doing?
* Lead the Italian Design Centre, providing day-to-day leadership, people management, and operational oversight for silicon design, validation, and lab teams.
* Translate global silicon architecture, technical direction, and design methodologies (defined by the Director of Silicon) into effective local execution.
* Partner closely with the Director of Silicon to plan work allocation, schedules, and resourcing, ensuring alignment with programme milestones and tape-out goals.
* Ensure that design, verification, and validation work performed in Italy meets agreed technical standards, review practices, and quality expectations.
* Build and operate silicon labs and validation infrastructure, enabling efficient bring-up, characterisation, and debug activities.
* Provide technical leadership at the site level: mentoring engineers, supporting design reviews, and escalating technical risks appropriately.
* Own hiring, onboarding, performance management, and career development for Italy-based staff, in alignment with global engineering standards.
* Foster strong collaboration between Italy-based teams and UK-based leadership, reinforcing a single, coherent silicon organisation.
* Manage site-level budgets, facilities, and external vendors in coordination with the CTO.
What we need to see?
* Strong background in silicon engineering (ASIC, SoC, mixed-signal, or related domains).
* Proven experience leading engineering teams, ideally across multiple disciplines (design, validation, labs).
* Experience building or scaling teams, labs, or design centres in a startup or fast-growing environment.
* Excellent people leadership skills: coaching, feedback, conflict resolution, and trust.
* Ability to operate effectively in a matrix organisation, balancing local leadership with global technical authority.
* Comfortable working with remote leadership and international teams.
* Pragmatic, delivery-focused mindset with a bias for action.
* Fluency in English; Italian language skills strongly preferred.
[Our Ref E3.1]