Senior Engineering Director - AI Integrated Systems
Join Axelera AI as a Senior Engineering Director – AI Integrated Systems. In this leadership role you will own and drive the full hardware development organization, from concept design to volume production of our AI accelerator cards and system‑level solutions.
About Us
Axelera AI is a deep‑tech startup building the next‑generation AI platform that enables anyone to help advance humanity. In four years we have raised $120 million, grown a world‑class team of 220+ employees (including 49 PhDs with over 40,000 citations), and launched the Metis™ AI Platform which achieves a 3‑5× increase in efficiency and performance.
Position Overview
You will be the hands‑on, strategic engineering leader for our hardware team, responsible for the end‑to‑end design of the company’s accelerator chips and integrated systems. You will partner closely with the Director of AI Integrated Systems to translate product strategy into technical execution.
Key Responsibilities
* Serve as the technical authority for all hardware designs, guiding architecture, schematics, PCB stack‑ups, high‑speed routing, power delivery, SI/PI, thermal and mechanical engineering.
* Own end‑to‑end hardware execution—from design reviews and bring‑up to validation, reliability testing, DFM/DFT/DFR and mass‑production readiness.
* Oversee all hardware development activities in partnership with the Hardware R&D Manager, ensuring technical robustness, compliance, and performance across all products.
* Define and enforce engineering processes, documentation standards, validation methodologies, and quality gates across the organisation.
* Identify and mitigate technical risks, resolve engineering escalations, and drive debugging and root‑cause analysis during development and early production.
* Partner with product technical leaders to ensure strong product requirements, architectural clarity, and lean, manufacturable design execution.
* Occasionally lead project technical execution when needed.
* Lead and mentor an experienced engineering organisation, ensuring clear roles, accountability, and growth paths for senior technical talent.
* Align hardware execution with system integration, silicon, SDK/software, supply chain, productization, and operations.
* Partner with the division Director to translate product development strategy into actionable engineering plans, schedules, and development priorities.
Qualifications
* 15+ years in hardware engineering for complex electronics products and 5+ years in senior leadership roles.
* Experience with embedded compute, firmware or board‑bring‑up and familiarity with structured NPI processes.
* Experience with high‑speed interfaces, power delivery/VRM, high‑density PCB layout, thermal/mechanical design, simulations and product validation/compliance.
* Proven track record of delivering hardware designs into volume production.
* Hands‑on ability to review schematics, layouts, simulations, and lab validation data.
* Experience with AI accelerators is a plus.
* Experience with server‑level engineering is a plus.
* Leadership experience across multidisciplinary teams.
* Strong strategic thinker, excellent communicator and skilled at decision‑making in fast‑moving environments.
Location
We offer a flexible working arrangement with the following options:
* Work from an Axelera AI office (Leuven in Belgium, Amsterdam and Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Zurich in Switzerland, Florence and Milan in Italy or Bristol in the United Kingdom) if you are already based nearby.
* Work fully remotely from any European country (including the UK).
* Relocate with us and work from Italy (Florence or Milan) or the Netherlands (Amsterdam or Eindhoven).
What We Offer
This is your chance to shape a dynamic, fast‑growing, international organisation. We offer an attractive compensation package, including a pension plan, extensive employee insurances and the option to acquire company shares. An open culture that supports creativity and continual innovation awaits you, with collaborative ownership and freedom with responsibility as our core values.
Equal Opportunity: At Axelera AI, we wholeheartedly embrace equal opportunity and hold diversity in the highest regard. Our steadfast commitment is to cultivate a warm and inclusive environment that empowers and celebrates every member of our team. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds.
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