Director, NPI

Director, NPI (New Product Introduction)

San Jose, CA / Hillsboro, OR / St. Louis, MO (Hybrid)

The Global NPI Leader owns the strategy, governance, and execution of Watlow’s New Product Introduction system, integrating product development, manufacturing engineering, supply chain, and quality to deliver scalable, high-performance thermal solutions for leading semiconductor OEMs and device manufacturers. This role ensures every new product is designed, industrialized, and ramped with superior manufacturability, quality, cost, and responsiveness across Watlow’s global operations.

Reporting to the Senior Director of Global Semiconductor Customer Focus Teams, the NPI Leader is a key member of the Global Operations Leadership Team and a primary driver of operational capability, throughput, and readiness aligned to fast‑moving semiconductor market demands.

• Lead NPI Excellence:
  Standardize and own the end‑to‑end NPD‑to‑NPI process, driving faster time‑to‑market while maintaining quality, cost, and delivery commitments.
• Drive Phase‑Gate Success:
  Establish rigorous phase‑gate structures with clear ownership, readiness criteria, and accountability across Product Engineering, Operations, and BUs.
• Manufacturing Innovation:
  Design and deploy high‑volume semiconductor manufacturing systems, including tooling, automation, and process flows.
• Build Scalable Standards:
  Develop repeatable, scalable processes and digital solutions to maximize yield and operational efficiency.
• Champion DfX Practices:
  Integrate manufacturability, reliability, testability, and cost considerations into all new product designs.
• Optimize Supply Chain & Costs:
  Ensure supplier readiness, improve material quality, and leverage analytics to reduce cost and enhance performance.
• Enable Operational Excellence:
  Lead NPI and manufacturing teams, fostering collaboration, accountability, and continuous improvement.
• Influence Leadership Decisions:
  Communicate priorities, risks, and results to executives and key semiconductor customers.

• Bachelor’s degree in engineering (mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, or industrial engineering) with 10‑15 years of experience working in a manufacturing environment.
• Minimum 5 years of experience building and leading high‑performance manufacturing engineering teams.
• Skilled at setting challenging objectives and working through teams to achieve those objectives; knows how to constructively hold teams and individuals accountable.
• Proven experience in developing, deploying, and improving effective manufacturing solutions that enhance factory flow and throughput.
• Excellent communication skills; fluent English speaking and writing skills; able to work globally with international teams and leaders.
• Ability to travel as needed to support NPI activities across Watlow (may be up to 30%).

• Master’s degree in engineering (mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, or industrial engineering) is a plus.
• Strong bias for action. If it’s not right, fix it!
• Minimum of 10 years developing and deploying new products, or directly supporting the introduction of new products into manufacturing.
• Demonstrated skill at building relationships and mutual understanding with operations teams.
• Biased to be in the factory; understands that “gemba” is where the value is created.
• Ability to coach and teach manufacturing system fundamentals, standards, and techniques including basic manufacturing system sizing, manufacturing process planning, manufacturing process development, and machine capacity evaluation based on takt and flow.
• Experienced in applying effective poke‑yoke across a range of machines and manufacturing processes.
• Demonstrated ability to work on multiple initiatives of varying size, scope and complexity to meet organizational objectives.
• Experience in deploying manufacturing process automation and/or digitalization is a plus.

The annual salary base pay for California is between $163,687 and $205,000 annually. This range is a good‑faith hiring range and may vary based on location, function and experience. Additional compensation may be above the posted range for candidates whose…