Sr Director, SW Product Management

SiFive, Inc.; Santa Clara (CA); On-site; USD 180,000 - 260,000; Full time

Job summary

SiFive, Inc. seeks a technically strong Sr Director of Software Product Management to define and drive software products and developer experiences that enable customers to deploy our semiconductor IP for the datacenter compute portfolio.

This role translates hyperscalers, chip designers, and software developers' needs into a coherent software strategy, working with product, architecture, engineering, applications, sales, and partners to drive easy evaluation, integration, and production

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or related field (Master's/MBA preferred).
• 10+ years in product management, strategy, or technical leadership; 5+ years in senior leadership.
• Experience owning software products for semiconductors, embedded systems, or datacenter infra.
• Knowledge of software development for embedded/system-level platforms (firmware, BSPs, drivers, OS enablement).
• Proven track record shipping developer-facing products (SDKs, APIs, tools) and growing adoption.
• Experience leading product teams and cross-functional collaboration.
• Understanding silicon development lifecycles (pre-silicon enablement, tape-out, ramp).
• Strong written and verbal communication; ability to present to execs and customers.

Responsibilities

• Own the product vision, strategy, and roadmap for software products supporting our semiconductor IP for datacenter compute.
• Define requirements for SDKs, toolchains, compilers, debuggers, simulators, firmware, BSPs, drivers, and developer tools.
• Understand customer workflows: IP evaluation, SoC integration, software porting, bring-up, validation, and production deployment.
• Engage with customers, partners, and developers to identify pain points and prioritize improvements.
• Translate customer needs into clear product requirements, user stories, release plans, and acceptance criteria.
• Partner with software, hardware, architecture, apps, and QA teams to deliver integrated HW-SW capabilities.
• Own software release planning and coordinate dependencies across silicon milestones and reference platforms.
• Define developer experience goals: docs, examples, APIs, install flows, support processes, time-to-first-success.
• Establish product metrics: adoption, active users, build success, resolution time, release predictability, satisfaction.
• Collaborate with open-source, OS projects, toolchains, cloud providers, and ecosystem partners.
• Develop product positioning, differentiation, messaging, demos, enablement materials, and launch plans.
• Support strategic engagements, design wins, evaluations, and production programs.
• Communicate roadmap decisions, trade-offs, risks, and priorities to execs and stakeholders.

Skills

Product management

Semiconductor software

Embedded systems

Developer tools

Cloud / hyperscale

Leadership

Executive communication

Cross-functional leadership

Education

Bachelor's in Computer Engineering / CS / EE

Master's or MBA preferred

Tools

SDKs

APIs

Compiler toolchains

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.

• 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.

• 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!

Additional Information

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.