Director, AI Memory Business Development & Ecosystem Strategy

Sandisk; Milpitas (CA); On-site; USD 187,000 - 318,000; Full time

Job summary

Sandisk seeks a visionary Director of AI Memory Business Development to lead market momentum for emerging AI memory technologies and shape a global ecosystem. This high-impact role focuses on securing lighthouse customers, establishing reference designs, and defining the value proposition for future AI hardware.

You will lead strategic partnerships, perform market explorations, and work across engineering, product and sales to drive early commercial success while expanding Sandisk’s leadership

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in CS, Engineering, or related field; MBA preferred.
• 12+ years in business development, strategic partnerships, or product management in AI hardware/semiconductor/memory sectors.
• Proven success building multi-party technology alliances and navigating AI infrastructure partner landscape.
• Deep knowledge of AI Data Center system architecture and memory technologies (HBM, LPDDR, LPW DRAM).

Responsibilities

• Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Orchestration: identify and engage with critical partners to build a robust ecosystem around our new memory architectures.
• Strategic market entry and use case explorations: identify early adopters, secure design-ins and PoCs, stay close to AI market Developments.
• Market Intelligence & Trend Scouting: monitor AI landscape and translate insights into product and GTM strategy discussions.

Skills

Strategic partnerships

AI hardware expertise

Leadership by influence

Zero-to-one mindset

Market strategy

Education

Bachelor's degree in CS/Engineering

MBA

Job description

Director, AI Memory Business Development & Ecosystem Strategy

• Full-time
• Salary Range: 186,900.00-317,800.00
• Job Type (exemption status): Exempt position - Please see related compensation & benefits details below
• Business Function: Corporate Strategy & Development

Sandisk understands how people and businesses consume data and we relentlessly innovate to deliver solutions that enable today’s needs and tomorrow’s next big ideas. With a rich history of groundbreaking innovations in Flash and advanced memory technologies, our solutions have become the beating heart of the digital world we’re living in and that we have the power to shape.

Sandisk meets people and businesses at the intersection of their aspirations and the moment, enabling them to keep moving and pushing possibility forward. We do this through the balance of our powerhouse manufacturing capabilities and our industry-leading portfolio of products that are recognized globally for innovation, performance and quality.

Sandisk has two facilities recognized by the World Economic Forum as part of the Global Lighthouse Network for advanced 4IR innovations. These facilities were also recognized as Sustainability Lighthouses for breakthroughs in efficient operations. With our global reach, we ensure the global supply chain has access to the Flash memory it needed to keep our world moving forward.

As the AI revolution transitions from general-purpose computing to specialized, high-performance architectures, the demand for innovative memory solutions has never been higher. Sandisk is at the forefront of this shift, developing next-generation technologies—including High Bandwidth Flash—designed to eliminate the bottlenecks of modern AI workloads.

We are seeking a visionary Director of AI Memory Business Development to lead the charge in establishing market momentum for our emerging AI memory technologies. This is a high-impact, entrepreneurial role centered on shaping a global ecosystem, securing lighthouse customers, and defining the value proposition for the future of AI hardware. This role sits in our Memory Technology Business Develop & Partnerships team.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Orchestration: Identify and engage with critical technology and business partners to build a robust ecosystem around our new memory architectures. Negotiate and manage high-level partnerships that ensure Sandisk’s AI memory technologies are integrated into reference designs and hardware stacks of the future

Strategic market entry and use case explorations: Identify and nurture early adopters and system use cases for our new technologies. You will help "sell the vision", and work alongside Product and Sales teams securing design-ins and strategic proof-of-concepts (PoCs). You will stay close to latest AI market and technology developments and champion market explorations of applying our new technology in emerging AI use cases

Market Intelligence & Trend Scouting: Serve as a voice of intelligence internally on the evolving AI landscape. You will monitor emerging hardware/software trends and maintain deep connections within the AI startup ecosystem to identify shifts in model deployment and inference infrastructure demands. You will help translate market intelligence into actional insights, feed information into internal product development and GTM strategy discussions, ensuring our product and business strategy anticipates the next generation of AI workloads.

REQUIRED:

• Bachelor's degree required in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field.Preferred: MBA or equivalent graduate business degree.
• 12+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, or product management within AI hardware, server systems, semiconductor and memory sectors.
• Demonstrated success in building multi-party technology alliances and navigating the complex landscape of AI infrastructure partners
• Rich technical knowledgeof AI Data Center system architecture, server systems hardware including memory hierarchies and their specific applications in AI training and inference, and AI Data Center software stack ecosystem. Deep understanding of different AI memories technologies (HBM, LPDDR, LPW DRAM etc.) would be a plus. Academic background in Engineering and Science fields is preferred.
• Exceptional ability to lead through influence, working effectively across engineering, product, and global sales organizations
• Proven track record of taking a "Version 1.0" technology to initial commercial success before a standard category exists.
• Proven ability to thrive in "zero-to-one" environments. You are a proactive builder who can operate with minimal infrastructure, create your own roadmap, and drive results in an ambiguous, rapidly evolving market.

Additional Information

Sandisk is committed to providing equal opportunities to all applicants and employees and will not discriminate against any applicant or employee based on their race, color, ancestry, religion (including religious dress and grooming standards), sex (including pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, breastfeeding or related medical conditions), gender (including a person’s gender identity, gender expression, and gender-related appearance and behavior, whether or not stereotypically associated with the person’s assigned sex at birth), age, national origin, sexual orientation, medical condition, marital status (including domestic partnership status), physical disability, mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, protected medical and family care leave, Civil Air Patrol status, military and veteran status, or other legally protected characteristics. We also prohibit harassment of any individual on any of the characteristics listed above. Our non-discrimination policy applies to all aspects of employment. We comply with the laws and regulations set forth in the "Know Your Rights: Workplace Discrimination is Illegal ” poster. Our pay transparency policy is availablehere .

Sandisk thrives on the power and potential of diversity. As a global company, we believe the most effective way to embrace the diversity of our customers and communities is to mirror it from within. We believe the fusion of various perspectives results in the best outcomes for our employees, our company, our customers, and the world around us. We are committed to an inclusive environment where every individual can thrive through a sense of belonging, respect and contribution.

Sandisk is committed to offering opportunities to applicants with disabilities and ensuring all candidates can successfully navigate our careers website and our hiring process. Please contact us at [email protected] to advise us of your accommodation request. In your email, please include a description of the specific accommodation you are requesting as well as the job title and requisition number of the position for which you are applying.

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will 11/25/2026(3 months from posting), although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

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Compensation & Benefits Details

• An employee’s pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
• The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York. This range may be modified in the future.
• You will be eligible to participate in Sandisk's Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance. Depending on your role and your performance, you may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan.RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to Sandisk's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.
• We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program, employee stock purchase plan, and the Sandisk's Savings 401(k) Plan.
• Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company’s sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company’s sole discretion, consistent with the law.

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