Sr Director, SW Product Management

SiFive, Inc.; Oregon; On-site; USD 180,000 - 240,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Healthcare

Retirement plans

Paid time off

Equity opportunities

Job summary

SiFive, Inc. is seeking a technically strong Sr Director of Software Product Management to define and drive the software products and developer experiences enabling deployment of our semiconductor IP for the datacenter compute portfolio.

You will translate needs from hyperscalars, chip designers, software developers, system architects, end customers and the open source community into a cohesive software strategy.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree or higher in a relevant engineering field.
• Proven experience owning software products for semiconductors, embedded systems, or datacenter infrastructure.
• Strong communication skills and ability to influence cross-functional teams.

Responsibilities

• Own the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for software products supporting our semiconductor IP portfolio for our datacenter compute portfolio of products.
• Define requirements for SDKs, toolchains, compilers, debuggers, simulators, firmware, board-support packages, drivers, middleware, operating-system enablement, and developer tools.
• Develop a deep understanding of customer workflows, including IP evaluation, SoC integration, software porting, bring-up, validation, performance optimization, and production deployment.
• Engage directly with customers, partners, and software developers to identify pain points, validate product concepts, and prioritize improvements.
• Translate customer and ecosystem requirements into clear product requirements, user stories, release plans, and acceptance criteria.
• Partner with software, hardware, architecture, applications, and quality teams to deliver integrated hardware-software capabilities.
• Own software release planning and coordinate dependencies across product lines, silicon milestones, reference platforms, and customer programs.
• Define developer experience goals, including documentation quality, examples, APIs, installation workflows, support processes, and time to first success.
• Establish product metrics such as adoption, active users, build success, issue resolution time, software quality, release predictability, and customer satisfaction.
• Collaborate with open-source communities, operating-system projects, toolchain maintainers, cloud providers, and other ecosystem partners where appropriate.
• Develop product positioning, competitive differentiation, technical messaging, demonstrations, enablement materials, and launch plans.
• Support strategic customer engagements, design wins, evaluations, and production programs.
• Communicate roadmap decisions, trade-offs, risks, and priorities to executive, technical, and commercial stakeholders.

Skills

Software product management

Leadership in product teams

Embedded systems

Firmware development knowledge

Silicon development lifecycle

Developer tools (SDKs, APIs)

Cloud/hyperscale experience

Software licensing / pricing

Education

Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering

Master's degree or MBA preferred

Tools

SDKs

Toolchains

Compilers

Debuggers

Job description

About SiFive

As the pioneers who introduced RISC-V to the world, SiFive is transforming the future of compute by bringing the limitless potential of RISC-V to the highest performance and most data-intensive applications in the world. SiFive’s unrivaled compute platforms are continuing to enable leading technology companies around the world to innovate, optimize and deliver the most advanced solutions of tomorrow across every market segment of chip design, including artificial intelligence, machine learning, automotive, data center, mobile, and consumer. With SiFive, the future of RISC-V has no limits. At SiFive, we are always excited to connect with talented individuals, who are just as passionate about driving innovation and changing the world as we are. Our constant innovation and ongoing success is down to our amazing teams of incredibly talented people, who collaborate and support each other to come up with truly groundbreaking ideas and solutions. Solutions that will have a huge impact on people's lives; making the world a better place, one processor at a time. Are you ready? To learn more about SiFive’s phenomenal success and to see why we have won the GSA’s prestigious Most Respected Private Company Award (for the fourth time!), check out our website and Glassdoor pages.

Job Description

We are seeking a technically strong Sr Directorr of Software Product Management to define and drive the software products and developer experiences that enable customers to successfully deploy our semiconductor IP for our datacenter compute product portfolio. This role is responsible for translating the needs of hyperscalars, chip designers, software developers, system architects, end customers and the open source community into a coherent software strategy. You will work across product management, architecture, engineering, applications, sales, marketing, and external ecosystem partners to make our IP easy to evaluate, integrate, program, validate, and deploy in production systems. The ideal candidate understands both software development, Customer deployment needs and semiconductor development cycles. You can discuss developer workflows and APIs with software teams, while also understanding how firmware, toolchains, operating systems, hardware features, and silicon schedules interact. This person will:

• Own the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for software products supporting our semiconductor IP portfolio for our datacenter compute portfolio of products
• Define requirements for SDKs, toolchains, compilers, debuggers, simulators, firmware, board-support packages, drivers, middleware, operating-system enablement, and developer tools.
• Develop a deep understanding of customer workflows, including IP evaluation, SoC integration, software porting, bring-up, validation, performance optimization, and production deployment.
• Engage directly with customers, partners, and software developers to identify pain points, validate product concepts, and prioritize improvements.
• Translate customer and ecosystem requirements into clear product requirements, user stories, release plans, and acceptance criteria.
• Partner with software, hardware, architecture, applications, and quality teams to deliver integrated hardware-software capabilities.
• Own software release planning and coordinate dependencies across product lines, silicon milestones, reference platforms, and customer programs.
• Define developer experience goals, including documentation quality, examples, APIs, installation workflows, support processes, and time to first success.
• Establish product metrics such as adoption, active users, build success, issue resolution time, software quality, release predictability, and customer satisfaction.
• Collaborate with open-source communities, operating-system projects, toolchain maintainers, cloud providers, and other ecosystem partners where appropriate.
• Develop product positioning, competitive differentiation, technical messaging, demonstrations, enablement materials, and launch plans.
• Support strategic customer engagements, design wins, evaluations, and production programs.
• Communicate roadmap decisions, trade-offs, risks, and priorities to executive, technical, and commercial stakeholders.

A successful candidate will have:

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field.
• Master's degree or MBA preferred.
• At least 10 years of product management, product strategy, or technical program leadership experience, including at least 5 years in a senior leadership role.
• Demonstrated experience owning software products for semiconductors, embedded systems, or datacenter infrastructure.
• Working knowledge of software development for embedded or systems-level platforms, including firmware, BSPs, device drivers, operating system enablement, or compiler toolchains.
• Proven record of defining and shipping developer-facing products such as SDKs, APIs, or developer tools, and of growing their adoption.
• Experience managing and developing product managers or equivalent product leaders.
• Strong understanding of silicon development lifecycles, including architecture definition, pre-silicon enablement, validation, tape-out, and volume ramp.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to present technical content to executives and customers.
• Proven ability to influence cross-functional teams without direct authority.
• Experience with datacenter or AI/ML software stacks, such as compilers, runtime libraries, or framework integration.
• Experience with cloud or hyperscale customers, including co-development or co-design programs.
• Experience launching software for server-class processors, accelerators, or dev boards.
• Familiarity with software security, supply chain security, and secure boot or firmware update requirements.
• Track record of building partner ecosystems and managing software licensing or pricing models.

Additional Information

In addition to base pay, this role may be eligible for variable/ incentive compensation and/ or equity.

• In addition, this role is eligible for a comprehensive, competitive benefits package which may include healthcare and retirement plans, paid time off, and more!

This position requires a successful background and reference checks and satisfactory proof of your right to work in United States of America.

Any offer of employment for this position is also contingent on the Company verifying that you are a authorized for access to export-controlled technology under applicable export control laws or, if you are not already authorized, our ability to successfully obtain any necessary export license(s) or other approvals.

SiFive is an equal opportunity employer. We celebrate diversity and are committed to creating an inclusive environment for all employees. As an E-Verify employer, we use this system to confirm the employment eligibility of all new hires in accordance with federal law. All applicants will be required to complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, upon hire. We do not use E-Verify to pre-screen job candidates and will comply with all E-Verify regulations.

Championed by leaders who chose to make a real difference, SiFive led the RISC-V revolution—creating a tremendous wave with the strength to remove economic hurdles and create opportunities for all. Now that we’ve made history, you have the opportunity to write the future. If you love to be challenged, you can join the best of the best and get rewarded for doing something that truly matters.