CRO – Enterprise Risk — Mixed-Signal Portfolio

The mandate

A US mixed-signal portfolio is ramping products whose average yield is improving, yet parameter tails, test escapes and package constraints remain unstable. Customer commitments and capacity decisions are governed separately from technical uncertainty. The CRO – Enterprise Risk will aggregate the risks before an optimistic ramp becomes an irreversible promise.

Approximately 1,675 employees and material partners fall within the portfolio. The CRO owns enterprise and programme risk, third-party assurance, resilience, cyber coordination and board reporting. Engineering, quality and business leaders own delivery and release; risk challenges evidence and reports accepted downside.

Ramp risk will be defined by customer-usable product, not gross yield. Bin distribution, reliability, test coverage and application conditions can make averages misleading. The CRO will require transparent population and assumptions.

Cumulative dependencies need aggregation. A yield tail, limited sockets, late substrate and absent expert may each be locally accepted but jointly threaten a customer launch. Exceptions need owner, expiry and contingency.

Third-party resilience includes foundry, package, test, materials, equipment service and data. Contracted alternates must be physically tested and customer-qualified before risk credit.

Commercial and sample governance will ensure customers know status and limitations. Risk will escalate commitments based on unsupported recovery dates without replacing sales authority.

Model risk belongs inside ramp governance. Yield projections, schedule simulations and allocation optimisers require source, version, assumptions and back-testing. Management overlays should be documented and reviewed. A statistical correlation cannot become a root-cause conclusion or product disposition without technical evidence.

Intellectual-property and customer confidentiality can be strained during joint debug. Data rooms, logs and sample analyses will be purpose-limited and segregated. The CRO will test whether suppliers and customers receive enough evidence to act without exposing another party’s process or product information.

People concentration will be measured by decision capability. Several engineers may share a title while one understands a rare analogue failure or customer application. The risk plan will require observed backup, retention and workload control and will exercise a successor under realistic pressure.

Insurance and contract limitations will be included in downside, but not counted as recovery. Re-spin cost, customer line impact and loss of future sockets may exceed recoverable amounts. The board will see uninsured exposure before accepting compressed schedules or weak contingencies.

Near misses will be reviewed for decision timing and incentives. If teams improved status by delaying disclosure, the control failure extends beyond technical process. The CRO will protect independent escalation and ensure actions address behaviour, measures and governance as well as the immediate defect.

Cyber-physical risk will cover test, laboratory and manufacturing interfaces. Compromised limits, scripts or product data can create a quality event without stopping systems. The CRO will ensure monitoring, access, reconciliation and recovery address product integrity and that vendor support cannot alter controlled content without authorised change.

Customer concentration and channel inventory will enter risk scenarios. A large account or distributor may amplify schedule changes and obscure actual consumption. Risk reporting will separate booked demand, end use and cancellation and expose when capacity commitments rely on one unverified forecast.

Risk appetite will include sample and experimental use. Approved exceptions must define quantity, customer purpose, traceability and prohibited use. The CRO will verify expiry and prevent repeated exceptions from creating an undocumented commercial product state.

Board reporting will identify both accepted downside and the executive authorised to retain it, avoiding collective language that obscures accountability during ramp pressure.

The prior CRO departed after governance redesign. This onsite San Jose role has direct board-committee access and authority to build a small technical risk team.

What you will own

• Set risk appetite and ramp evidence.
• Aggregate yield, test, supply, customer and people dependencies.
• Govern exceptions, acceptance and expiry.
• Test supplier and technical recovery routes.
• Challenge sample, capacity and customer promises.
• Lead crisis exercises and action closure.
• Report independent risk to the board committee.
• Build semiconductor risk leadership.

The first 12 months

In the first 45 days, review critical ramps, reconstruct customer-usable yield and identify cumulative exposure. Establish interim acceptance.

By month six, implement risk gates, test key contingencies and exercise a combined yield and supply disruption. Close severe findings.

At twelve months, reduce overdue high-risk exceptions by 75%, verify 90% of critical recovery routes and place all material customer commitments under risk evidence. No major launch should fail from a known unaccepted combined risk.

What the board will measure

• Yield risk expressed through customer-usable distributions.
• Combined dependencies visible across functions.
• Alternatives tested before risk reduction is claimed.
• Exceptions retired rather than normalised.
• Customer commitments challenged before irreversibility.
• Independent risk preserving technical authority.

The person

You bring 18–22 years in semiconductor risk, product engineering, quality or resilience, including mixed-signal ramp. You have changed a customer or capacity decision through risk evidence.

Your prior scope should include 1,200 employees and partners or US$1 billion programme value. Evidence must include cumulative risk, contingency testing and direct board reporting.

Compensation and terms

Base compensation is US$430,000–575,000 plus annual incentive and equity linked to ramp risk, tested recovery, board confidence and leadership. This permanent onsite San Jose role reports to the Group Chief Executive and relevant board committee. Prompt transition is required.

Confidentiality

The portfolio, products, yield data, customers, suppliers and risk reports remain confidential. Detail follows fit, conflicts and signed confidentiality. Applicants must not contact ecosystem parties to identify the business.