Critical Knowledge Transfer Recovery Leader — Semiconductor Fabrication

The mandate

Critical process windows, excursion diagnosis and tool recovery depend on a small group whose expertise is visible in outcomes but poorly represented in procedures. Previous handovers produced documents without decision cues, boundary conditions or supervised practice. Concurrent node ramps and expected retirements have exposed single-expert dependencies that ordinary succession charts and learning completion cannot resolve.

The nine-month assignment starts within two weeks and covers dependency mapping, two node-ramp transfer waves, four independent demonstrations and permanent-leader induction. A process change, tool introduction, excursion, expert absence, retirement notice, site transfer or intellectual-property restriction becomes a governed knowledge event. Six weeks are reserved for handover; no extension will cover broad knowledge-management operations.

Exit requires consequence-ranked knowledge domains, named sources and receivers, decision decomposition, protected artefacts, practice and observation, proficiency evidence, fallback coverage and four transfer demonstrations. The successor must recover an unseen yield excursion after the original expert is deliberately unavailable and defend receiver readiness to the Fab Operations Committee before accepting authority.

The interim may protect expert time, halt document-only closure, require observed receiver performance, reallocate learning and engineering capacity, replace temporary transfer leads and control NT$1.2 billion of authorised continuity investment. Engineering leaders retain technical decisions; Quality owns deviation outcomes; Intellectual Property governs access; managers select individuals and approve deployment.

Process ownership, engineering approval, performance management, retirement negotiation, compensation, patent strategy and manufacturing command are outside scope. The leader may make knowledge dependency visible but cannot compel an expert to disclose protected information or certify engineering decisions. Transfer will not be declared complete because a repository is populated or a receiver attends a workshop.

Why this seat is open

The foundry captured explicit procedures while tacit diagnostic judgement and boundary conditions remained person-dependent, and simultaneous ramps made that fragility operationally material. Temporary authority must create observable receiver capability through live work and leave a permanent owner tested without access to the original expert.

What you will own

• Identify knowledge whose loss could affect safety, yield, quality, recovery time, ramp or customer commitment.
• Decompose expert judgement into signals, hypotheses, decisions, boundary conditions, escalation and failure modes.
• Select protected artefacts, case libraries, shadowing, simulation, supervised practice and observed performance by domain.
• Govern source capacity, receiver prerequisites, intellectual-property access, progress evidence and transfer closure.
• Build fallback coverage across shifts, tools, nodes and sites without assuming superficial skill interchangeability.
• Command two ramp waves plus excursion diagnosis, tool recovery and original-expert unavailability demonstrations.
• Transfer continuity authority after the designated permanent successor independently validates receivers through an unseen high-consequence case.

Candidate qualifications

• Led critical knowledge transfer in semiconductor fabrication, advanced manufacturing or another expert-dependent technical environment.
• Converted tacit diagnostic judgement into cases, cues, boundary conditions, supervised practice and observable performance.
• Protected expert capacity and intellectual property while building credible receiver readiness across shifts and sites.
• Rejected document completion as transfer proof and used independent high-consequence demonstrations instead.
• Preserved boundaries among workforce capability, engineering approval, Quality, performance and retirement decisions.
• Handed critical knowledge continuity to permanent leadership through repeated live ramps and deliberate expert-unavailability tests.

Non-negotiables

• Available within two weeks for Hsinchu leadership, six fab residencies and four controlled transfer demonstrations.
• Direct technical knowledge-transfer recovery is required; repository implementation or succession mapping alone is insufficient.
• Will disclose equipment, consulting, knowledge-platform, training and semiconductor partner relationships.
• Will not compel protected disclosure, approve engineering, manage performance or declare transfer from documents alone.

1. 49 words maximum. Describe expert judgement that could not be captured adequately in a procedure.
2. 49 words maximum. How did you prove receiver readiness when the original expert was unavailable?
3. 49 words maximum. Which yield-excursion case must the successor validate before handover?