Hardware Design Manager

Yoh, A Day & Zimmermann Company; Southampton; On-site; GBP 150,000 - 180,000; Full time

Job summary

Yoh, A Day & Zimmermann Company is seeking a Hardware Design Manager to build the engineering capability needed to deliver an expanding portfolio of FPGA and ASIC products.

You will lead a distributed RTL design team, improve processes, and foster an environment where engineers can deliver complex hardware while removing friction and bottlenecks. This role requires strong leadership across architecture, RTL and verification, with experience in FPGA/ASIC and a track record of scaling teams.

Responsibilities

• Lead and develop teams delivering complex FPGA and ASIC technology
• Build the processes, structure and working practices required to support growth
• Recruit, mentor and retain digital hardware engineers across multiple locations
• Work with architects, project managers and senior stakeholders to deliver the product roadmap
• Take responsibility for engineering quality, performance and hardware delivery
• Introduce modern design methodologies, automation and AI-assisted development tools where they provide practical value

Job description

Circa £150,000 basic + 20% bonus, equity and benefits

Growing an RTL team is not simply a matter of hiring more engineers.

The architecture, verification methodology, design processes and technical leadership all need to scale with it. Otherwise, a larger team just creates more meetings, more dependencies and more opportunities for things to go wrong.

A communications technology company is preparing for significant growth following recent commercial success within the satellite sector. They are now looking for a Hardware Design Manager to build the engineering capability needed to deliver an expanding portfolio of FPGA and ASIC products.

You will lead and grow a distributed RTL design team, strengthen development processes and create an environment where engineers can deliver complex hardware without unnecessary organisational friction.

The role

• Lead and develop teams delivering complex FPGA and ASIC technology
• Build the processes, structure and working practices required to support growth
• Recruit, mentor and retain digital hardware engineers across multiple locations
• Work with architects, project managers and senior stakeholders to deliver the product roadmap
• Take responsibility for engineering quality, performance and hardware delivery
• Introduce modern design methodologies, automation and AI-assisted development tools where they provide practical value

Your background

You will have led and grown digital hardware teams delivering complex products or semiconductor IP.

Your technical background will include ASIC and/or FPGA development, with enough experience across architecture, RTL design and verification to make informed decisions and maintain credibility with experienced engineers.

You will also understand that engineering management is not just project tracking. It is developing people, improving how teams operate and removing the obstacles that prevent good engineers from doing effective work.

Experience within wireless communications, semiconductor IP, DSP, 5G, satellite communications or similarly demanding hardware environments would be useful but is not essential.

The technology exists. The commercial demand is creating the need to scale it.

The question is how to build the team and engineering organisation capable of delivering what comes next.