Senior Director Wafer Planning

Role Summary

The Senior Director, Wafer Planning leads the company’s global wafer planning strategy across internal fabs and external foundry partners. This role is accountable for translating demand forecasts and business priorities into executable wafer loading plans that maximize factory utilization, ensure supply continuity, and optimize cost and working capital. The role owns wafer capacity planning, internal vs. external sourcing decisions, entitlement management, and medium- to long-term wafer supply strategy across 6” and 8” technologies.

The Senior Director partners closely with Fab Operations, Demand Planning, Assembly & Test, Engineering, and Finance to balance growth, risk, and efficiency in a constrained manufacturing environment.

• Own global wafer loading plans across all internal fabs and external foundries, balancing demand requirements, technology mix, and capacity constraints.
• Lead wafer capacity entitlement management with internal fabs and external foundry partners, including upside/downside scenarios and escalation.
• Drive internal vs. external sourcing decisions to maximize internal utilization and reduce external spend while protecting supply continuity.

• Translate demand forecasts and long-range plans into actionable wafer supply strategies across product lines and process technologies.
• Define and manage wafer inventory strategy (baseline, buffer, and risk builds) to balance lead time, utilization, and working capital.
• Lead response strategies to supply disruptions, capacity shortages, and major mix shifts.

• Partner with Fab Operations and Engineering on ramp, qualification, porting, and process-node transition plans.
• Align wafer plans with Assembly & Test capacity and constraints to ensure end-to-end feasibility.
• Work with Demand Planning and Sales Operations to reconcile forecast changes and priority tradeoffs.

• Provide strategic direction and oversight for external wafer sourcing, including allocation negotiations, long-term agreements, and performance management.
• Ensure wafer plans reflect contractual commitments, lead times, and risk profiles across foundry partners.

• Establish clear governance, metrics, and review cadences for wafer planning performance (utilization, coverage, backlog risk, and cost).
• Lead executive-level reviews of wafer supply outlook, risks, and mitigation plans.
• Build scalable planning processes, tools, and analytics to improve visibility and decision quality.

• Lead and develop the global wafer planning organization, setting clear ownership, decision rights, and accountability.
• Mentor senior managers and planning leaders; build a strong succession pipeline.

• 10+ years of experience in semiconductor planning, supply chain, or manufacturing operations in semiconductor manufacturing.
• Deep understanding of wafer fab capacity planning, technology mix constraints, and internal vs. external sourcing dynamics.
• Proven experience leading cross-functional teams across fabs, foundries, and operations.
• Strong executive communication skills with the ability to clearly articulate tradeoffs and recommendations.
• Demonstrated ability to operate in highly constrained, fast-changing environments.

• Experience driving factory utilization improvement and internalization strategies.
• Global leadership experience across U.S. and Asia manufacturing organizations.
• Ability to speak Mandarin is a strong plus, given close collaboration with Asia-based fabs, foundry partners, and operations teams.

• Strategic, data-driven decision maker with strong business judgment
• Comfortable making tradeoffs and driving alignment in ambiguous situations
• Collaborative, accountable, and execution-oriented
• Able to balance near-term execution with long-term strategic planning