Product Line Director, Frontend RCA & Coverage
ChipAgents· startup· Computer Software· Jul 10, 2026 · 4mo agoPosted 109 days ago
San Jose
In office
Full-time
Director
$200K–$278K est.
7+ years exp
Before you apply
Ghost Signal:
Open since July 10, 2026 — 109 days, and still accepting applications.
Job description
ABOUT CHIPAGENTS
ChipAgents is revolutionizing chip design and verification with agentic-AI workflows. Founded by experts in AI and semiconductor design, we partner with top-10 semiconductor companies, hyperscale cloud providers, and cutting-edge startups. Our platform accelerates RTL development, functional verification, and simulation—unlocking new levels of productivity and design quality.
ROLE OVERVIEW
We are building AI agents that transform how semiconductor design gets done. The Product Line Director for Frontend RCA & Coverage owns the digital front-end verification vertical end-to-end, from customer problem definition through R&D, demo, evaluation, and sale. This is a customer-facing leadership role: you are the voice of the customer inside the company and the voice of the product in front of the customer.
You will own two flagship verification product lines: RCA (AI-driven root-cause analysis of regression failures and bugs, from block level to system level and gate-level simulation) and Coverage (AI-driven coverage analysis and closure, from block level to large SoCs), with adjacent capabilities in formal, lint/CDC, and harness optimization, and drive them from wedge use cases to north-star products.
KEY RESPONSIBILITIES
- Own the vertical, problem to purchase order. Drive the full lifecycle from customer problem definition → R&D direction → demo → customer evaluation → sales conversion, working up and down the stack with R&D, AI Engineering, and Sales.
- Validate value with customers. Sit with DV leads, verification engineers, and CAD teams at customer sites. Identify the wedge use case that gets us in the door (e.g., block-level triage of regression failures, coverage-hole closure), quantify the value (debug hours saved, regression turnaround, tape-out risk reduction), and validate willingness to pay before we build.
- Define and drive the roadmap. Translate business goals into a prioritized roadmap: RCA depth (needle-in-haystack bug isolation, verilator/GLS flows, system-level debug), coverage scope (block level → big SoC), and where formal, lint/CDC, and harness optimization fit. Set the quality bar for moving each capability from "works sometimes" to dependable product.
- Own go-to-market. Shape positioning, pricing input, demo flows, and evaluation success criteria. Support Sales through evals and drive conversion, run demos, follow-ups, and customer pushes yourself when needed.
- Analyze and prioritize against business goals. Set measurable targets per product line, track eval outcomes and revenue signals, and ruthlessly prioritize the backlog, including data acquisition, tooling, and headcount asks (research, software, customer engineering) against revenue impact.
- Work cross-functionally. Partner daily with R&D on feasibility and quality bars, with AI/software engineering on agent behavior and product stability, and with Sales on account strategy and scaling from block-level wins to full-SoC deployments.
QUALIFICATIONS
- 7+ years in digital design verification, verification methodology, or EDA product roles. Deep familiarity with the front-end verification flow (testbench/UVM, simulation regressions, debug/triage, coverage closure, formal, lint/CDC, GLS).
- First-hand understanding of verification pain: regression failure triage at scale, root-cause analysis across block and system levels, coverage signoff on large SoCs.
- Proven ability to know the customer: strong existing network among DV and CAD leadership at semiconductor companies, and credibility in technical conversations with senior verification engineers.
- Track record of validating product value with customers and converting evaluations into revenue.
- Strong business judgment: can connect a technical capability to a dollar figure, and prioritize accordingly.
- Execution and program-management muscle: comfortable driving R&D, engineering, and sales teams to a shared plan.
- Excellent communication. You'll present to customer VPs and debug priorities with researchers on the same day.
NICE TO HAVES
- Experience taking an early-stage ("sort of works") capability to a production-quality product.
- Prior product management or product line management experience in EDA, semiconductor IP, or AI-for-engineering tools.
- Familiarity with formal verification and static checks (lint/CDC) as adjacent product surfaces
- Experience defining eval criteria and success metrics for enterprise pilots.
WHY CHIPAGENTS
- You'll be defining the product strategy for a category leader at the intersection of the two most important technology waves of the decade, AI and semiconductors, alongside a world-class technical team and an advisory board of EDA legends. This is a rare opportunity to own the digital front-end verification vertical from the ground up at a company with real product, real customers, and the ambition (and backing) to become a generational outcome.
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY
ChipAgents is an equal opportunity employer. We welcome applicants of all backgrounds.
WHAT WE OFFER
- $180K/yr – $450K/yr base salary + equity. Open to above-scale compensation for exceptional candidates.
- Unlimited PTO and full benefits (medical, vision, dental, 401k).
- Two engineering-centric offices with free parking, private gym, and free lunch, drinks and snacks.
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Keywords to mirror
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Benefits
Benefits detected in the listing.
Dental
Vision
401k
Pto