Director, Technical Support Engineering

Description

The company makes test and measurement technology used across the semiconductor product life cycle, from characterization, modeling, reliability and design debug to qualification and production test. Chipmakers use its products and services to raise profitability by improving device performance and yield understanding. It operates facilities in Asia, Europe and North America.

This role leads the global technical support engineering group, the top point of product and application expertise in the service organization. You will guide escalations, service readiness, engineering collaboration and customer issue resolution across field, regional and factory service teams.

You will set strategy for product technical support, advanced troubleshooting, failure analysis, new product introduction service readiness, service documentation, training standards and continuous improvement. You will work with Engineering, Product Management, Manufacturing, Quality and Global Service Operations to keep customers supported through each product's life while making service delivery scalable and profitable.

In the first 12 to 24 months you will speed up issue resolution and escalation effectiveness, raise service readiness for new product introductions, strengthen collaboration between Engineering and Service, build global technical competency and certification programs, improve reliability insights fed back to Engineering, lift customer satisfaction and cut support-related downtime, and build global support capacity that matches the growth strategy.

Responsibilities

• Lead the global technical support engineering organization across all product lines.
• Set up and run a structured, multi-level escalation process.
• Act as executive owner for complex customer escalations and systemic product performance problems.
• Direct fast root-cause analysis and corrective actions to limit customer downtime.
• Define service engineering standards, best practices and troubleshooting methods.
• Build and maintain deep knowledge of hardware, software, applications and manufacturing processes.
• Oversee advanced troubleshooting, failure analysis and corrective action programs.
• Bridge Service, Engineering, Manufacturing and Product Management.
• Drive ongoing gains in reliability, serviceability and customer experience.
• Set global support strategies so products deploy successfully in every region.
• Keep technical consistency across site support centers, regional service centers, factory repair centers and partners.
• Create standard troubleshooting procedures, service documentation and repair methods.
• Set service qualification criteria before field deployment.
• Work with field service leadership on knowledge transfer and skill building.
• Own the global technical training strategy and certification programs.
• Design technical competency models and career paths.
• Build scalable knowledge management systems and technical documentation.
• Make sure field and regional engineers can support customers on their own.
• Define and track KPIs: escalation closure time, root cause completion rate, first-time resolution rate, product reliability trends, service readiness metrics and customer satisfaction.
• Run projects that improve quality, efficiency and customer experience, guided by data, Voice of Customer feedback and operating metrics.
• Build, coach and develop a global team of Technical Support Engineers and Subject Matter Experts.
• Foster a culture that is customer-focused, collaborative and accountable.
• Plan succession and technical talent development.
• Lead cross-functional work that improves organizational effectiveness and customer outcomes.

Requirements

• You have 12+ years of relevant leadership experience with a bachelor's degree, 10 years with a master's degree, 8 years with a PhD, or equivalent experience.
• You bring skill in escalation handling, root cause analysis, service documentation, service leadership, talent development, technical training and knowledge management.
• You have advanced troubleshooting and root-cause analysis expertise.
• You have experience managing product lifecycles.
• You have experience with failure analysis and FMEA.
• You know service readiness and Design for Serviceability methods.
• You have experience managing technical escalations.
• You use reliability engineering and continuous improvement tools.
• You understand quality systems and customer support processes.
• You show strong customer focus and commitment to service excellence.
• You combine strategic thinking with disciplined execution.
• You take ownership of business results.
• You lead through influence across global organizations.
• You communicate well and present confidently to executives.
• You develop and inspire high-performing technical teams.
• Preferred: degree in Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Physics, Semiconductor Engineering or a related technical field.
• Preferred: master's degree.
• Preferred: experience in technical engineering, customer support, field service or semiconductor equipment.
• Preferred: experience leading technical engineering or support organizations.
• Preferred: experience leading global technical teams in a complex, customer-facing environment.
• Preferred: understanding of semiconductor manufacturing, test, measurement, wafer probing or adjacent semiconductor capital equipment markets.
• Preferred: experience supporting products across the full lifecycle, from NPI through sustaining engineering and end-of-life.

Conditions

Day shift.

This role is in Livermore, California, and pays $192,400.00 to $252,525.00 per year, based on experience, skills and background. Pay may differ in other locations.

Benefits

• Medical, dental and vision coverage.
• Life insurance and disability coverage.
• 401(k) with company match.
• Employee stock purchase plan (ESPP).
• Paid time off.
• Quarterly profit-sharing bonuses.
• Flexible spending or savings accounts.