Director of Hardware Engineering

At Niobium Microsystems, we develop high performance microelectronic products to enable the secure collection, processing, and distribution of critical data. We are a trusted partner for DoD and commercial customers whose solutions require lower power, higher efficiency, and proven security.

Founded as a 2021 spinout from a world-class security and computing systems R&D company, our team combines decades of experience in advanced semiconductor design with experience in advanced cryptography. Niobium is headquartered in Dayton, Ohio with additional locations in Portland, Oregon; Denver, Colorado; and Columbus, Ohio. Preferred location is Columbus Ohio, but we will not be limited geographically for the right candidate.

Our values are at the heart of every decision we make and we understand that each member of our talented team is the key to our on-going success. For those reasons, we’ve designed a highly competitive benefits program to support employees and their families. These include:

• Competitive salaries scaled based on experience

• Employer paid health care

• Employer contribution to health savings account

• Flexible time off

• Flexible work location with remote options

• 401K employer match

POSITION DESCRIPTION /

Niobium Microsystems is seeking a Hardware Director with 10+ years of leadership and department management experience. Reporting to the VP of Engineering, the successful candidate will scale a team of Hardware Engineers to deploy Niobium’s Fully Homomorphic Encryption (FHE) accelerator. This leadership role will involve owning the hiring, onboarding, managing, retaining, and scaling of our Hardware team while negotiating project priorities, resource managing, and collaborating with Engineering leaders. This role will be influential in supporting our commercial business development. The Niobium environment is fast-paced with overlapping priorities and requires the candidate to be highly flexible, agile, and resilient. This position is integral to the success and growth of Niobium Microsystems.

JOB RESPONSIBILITIES /

Primary Responsibilities:

• Engineering Management
  • Own the employee life cycle for the engineering staff, including: hiring, onboarding, managing and retaining.
  • Inspire, mentor, and develop your team of Soc engineers to both foster an environment of high output and encourage expertise in their respective areas.
  • Collaborate with adjacent areas such as System Architecture, Front-end Design, and Functional Verification to enhance project outcomes and team skill sets.
  • Establish and champion appropriate engineering standards, policies, and procedures.
  • Own development processes, including investigations, architecture, novel design implementation, verification, and physical implementation methodologies.
  • Evolve the organization to continue to deliver world-class products, solutions and services.

• Engineering Leadership
  • Equip the hardware engineering team with the infrastructure and tools necessary for success. dentify software needs and manage the required licenses, including negotiating with vendors.
  • Collaborate closely with the Information Technology team to ensure uninterrupted compute services.
  • Work closely with the engineering management team to develop and maintain the technology roadmap.
  • Act as a technology evangelist internally and externally.
  • Contribute as an individual contributor on select projects

• Program Management

  • Negotiate hardware project priorities within the project portfolio.

  • Align hardware engineering resources (people, time, assets) with business priorities.

  • Coordinate the delivery of hardware projects within the project portfolio.

  • Support commercial and services business development efforts.

  • Collaborate with sales, marketing, and external partners to understand market needs and align the team’s output with business goals.

  • Lead the team in adopting and refining new methodologies and technologies to stay at the forefront of SoC engineering.

  • Create and manage the hardware engineering budget.

DESIRED SKILLS & EXPERIENCE /

Required :

• Minimum of 10 years of experience in program optimization and engineering leadership.
• Industry track record of SoC design/architecture Leadership, with the ability to manage and inspire a team of engineers.record of building and leading successful teams through the delivery of commercial products.
• Experience in product lifecycle management, from ideation through to go-to-market strategies and launch. Ability to align technical capabilities with market demands.
• MS in Computer Science or Electrical Engineering, or equivalent hands-on industry experience applying hardware design technologies and methodologies
• 10 or more years of relevant industry experience in the development of processors, co-processors, or hardware accelerator ASICs is strongly preferred

Nice to have :

• Expertise in RTL Design using HVLs and HDLs (SystemVerilog, Verilog), SoC Integration, and Interconnect Protocols.

• Experience in modeling SoC architectures with FPGAs and understanding bussing protocols such as AXI/AMBA/TileLink.

• Proficiency in interface components (PCIe, DDR, USB), SoC Place and Route, and SoC design with CHISEL.

• Familiarity with RISC-V architecture, Asynchronous Logic design techniques, and SoC verification.

• Strong background in DFT methodologies, Hardware Emulation, Hardware/Software co-simulation, and programming skills in C/C++/Python.

• Solid experience in SoC physical implementation, including timing constraint development, clock tree synthesis, timing closure, and signoff flows.

• Expertise in power domain design and analysis, physical verification (DRC, LVS, ERC, DFM), and the ability to create and extend automation flows (RTL to GDSII).

• Experience with Synopsys tools flow (DC, ICC2, ICV, PT) is highly desirable.

CONTACT /

careers@niobiummicrosystems.com

444 E 2nd Street, Suite 250, Dayton, OH 45402

niobiummicrosystems.com