Senior Director, Chief of Staff: Hardware Engineering

Altera•San Jose, CA

6d•$231,500 - $341,070•Onsite

About The Position

Altera is undergoing a high-velocity transformation to re-establish leadership in the FPGA market. Sustaining that velocity requires a tight operating system, sharp strategic synthesis, and disciplined executive communication across one of the largest engineering organizations in the company. We are seeking a Senior Director, Chief of Staff to serve as the strategic and operational right hand to the Head of Hardware Engineering. This is a non-technical leadership role focused on running the operating cadence of the organization, driving the strategic agenda, owning executive communications, and ensuring decisions move fast with clarity and rigor. This role operates as a peer to the Senior Director, Technical Program Enablement. The Chief of Staff owns how the organization runs, plans, communicates, and decides. Technical program execution is owned by Program Enablement.

Requirements

Proven experience as a Chief of Staff, business operations leader, or strategy lead for a large engineering, product, or technology organization.
Track record of running the operating cadence of a complex, multi-functional org at scale.
Demonstrated ability to drive strategic agendas without owning a P&L or a technical function.
Exceptional written communication, board materials, exec memos, leadership narratives.
Strong verbal presence; comfortable representing senior leadership in cross-functional and external forums.
Ability to compress complex topics into one-page, decision-ready framing.
High judgment under ambiguity; comfortable making calls with incomplete information.
Influences without authority across senior leaders and cross-functional stakeholders.
Direct, candid, and willing to push back on the principal when warranted.
High ownership and accountability.
Structured thinker with strong attention to signal vs. noise.
Discretion and trust: handles sensitive organizational and strategic information.
Bias for action with disciplined follow-through.
Applicants must be eligible for any required U.S. export authorizations.

Responsibilities

Own the Operating System of the Organization: Run the staff meeting cadence, leadership offsites, quarterly business reviews, and operational rhythms. Design and maintain the planning calendar, annual planning, mid-year reviews, OKR cycles, and headcount cycles. Establish a single source of truth for organizational priorities, commitments, and decisions. Drive follow-through on executive decisions; close the loop on actions and ensure nothing falls through.
Drive the Strategic Agenda: Partner with the Head of Hardware Engineering to shape the multi-year strategic narrative for the organization. Frame strategic decisions with clear options, tradeoffs, and recommendations. Build executive-level synthesis on market dynamics, organizational performance, and strategic bets. Pressure-test assumptions and challenge weak logic before decisions reach the leadership table.
Lead Executive Communications: Own the executive communication portfolio: board materials, all-hands narratives, leadership memos, talking points, and customer/exec briefings. Translate complex organizational topics into crisp, decision-ready framing for senior audiences. Maintain consistency of voice, message, and positioning across leadership communications. Prepare the Head of Hardware Engineering for high-stakes internal and external engagements.
Organizational Effectiveness and Talent: Partner with HR on talent reviews, succession planning, leadership development, and organizational design. Drive headcount planning and prioritization in coordination with Finance and HR. Surface organizational friction, layering issues, and span-of-control concerns; recommend structural improvements. Champion the culture standards of the organization - accountability, transparency, speed, and direct communication.
Cross-Functional Alignment: Serve as the connective tissue between Hardware Engineering and Product, Business Units, Finance, HR, and corporate functions. Represent the Head of Hardware Engineering in cross-functional forums where appropriate. Resolve friction points across functional boundaries before they escalate.
Special Initiatives and Decision Support: Lead high-priority initiatives that cut across the organization and do not fit cleanly within a single program or function. Run targeted strategic studies, market reviews, or organizational deep-dives as the agenda requires. Act as a critical thinking partner - challenge, refine, and sharpen recommendations before they go live.