A site leader for a new or expanding facility
Retained search maps the small population of leaders who have ramped a site before and manages relocation and compensation conversations with care.
Explore solution
Practice
Semiconductors
Leadership and specialist talent for chip designers, fabs, equipment makers and packaging operators scaling capacity under supply, talent and geopolitical pressure at once.
Market view
What we are seeing
Semiconductor leadership is being asked to build new capacity, qualify new sites and protect yield while the talent pool for process, equipment and design roles stays thin. We appoint the executives who carry those programs and staff the engineering and operations teams beneath them.
Capacity expansionAdvanced packagingYield and qualitySupply chain resilience
Roles we place
Leadership
- Fab or Site General Manager
- Vice President of Manufacturing Operations
- Head of Process Engineering
- Vice President of Quality and Reliability
- Head of Supply Chain and Materials
Technology
- Process and yield engineers
- Equipment and automation engineers
- MES and factory systems engineers
- Physical design and verification engineers
Specialist
- Reliability and failure analysis engineers
- Metrology and inspection specialists
- EHS leads for fab environments
- Trade compliance and export control specialists
Industry context
What is shaping this practice
- New fabrication, assembly and test capacity is being built across North America, Europe and Asia, and every new site competes for the same experienced operations and engineering leaders.
- Government incentive programs have accelerated timelines, which raises the cost of a slow or failed senior appointment on a greenfield site.
- Advanced packaging, chiplet architectures and specialty materials are creating new leadership roles that did not exist at scale five years ago.
- Export controls and supply chain resilience requirements now shape where companies build, who they hire and how they structure teams across borders.
Challenges
Where the pressure sits
- Fab and site leadership with greenfield ramp experience is scarce and heavily contested
- Process, yield, equipment and reliability engineers take years to develop and are rarely on the open market
- New sites often need leaders willing to relocate to regions without an established semiconductor workforce
- Design and verification talent is pulled between chip companies, hyperscalers and AI hardware startups
- Compliance with export control and security requirements affects who can be hired into certain roles
Talent needs
Leadership and technology
Leadership
- Site and fab general managers for new and expanding facilities
- Vice Presidents of Operations, Manufacturing and Quality
- Heads of Process Engineering, Yield and Equipment Engineering
- Supply chain, materials and procurement leadership for critical inputs
- Engineering leadership for design, verification and advanced packaging
Technology
- Manufacturing execution systems, automation and equipment integration
- Yield analytics, statistical process control and factory data platforms
- Physical design, verification and EDA tooling specialists
- Industrial cybersecurity for fab and operational technology environments
- Applied AI in defect detection, predictive maintenance and yield improvement
Engagement
Ways to start
Engineering capacity for a ramp or tool install
Specialist engineers are often needed for a defined window. Staffing gives you qualified people quickly without committing to permanent headcount first.
Explore solutionA long-term design or verification center
A capability center gives you sustained engineering capacity you own over time rather than a rotating bench of contractors.
Explore solutionProcess considerations
- Search universes account for non-compete exposure, export control eligibility and relocation readiness from the first conversation.
- Technical assessment for engineering roles is designed with your hiring managers so it reflects your process node, tools and environment.
- Staffing requirements for fab environments include site access, safety and cleanroom readiness agreed before mobilization.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Can you find site leaders willing to relocate to a new facility?
Yes. Relocation readiness is assessed early in every site leadership search, along with family, timing and compensation considerations, so the shortlist reflects people who can actually make the move.
Do you staff process and equipment engineers as well as executives?
Yes. Our staffing services cover process, yield, equipment, automation and verification specialists. Qualified submittals are typically provided within 48 hours of a fully scoped requirement.
How do you handle export control and security requirements in hiring?
Eligibility requirements are agreed with you and your counsel at the start of the engagement and built into screening. Final eligibility determinations remain with the hiring company.
Can you support design and verification as well as manufacturing?
Yes. The practice covers chip design, verification, advanced packaging and manufacturing operations, and we can build sustained engineering capacity through an India capability center.
How we help
Solutions applied in this practice
Search, staffing, delivery and capability work, sequenced to the problem rather than sold as a bundle.
Retained Executive Search
Board and C-suite appointments run as a disciplined research process.
Staffing Solutions
Contract, contract to hire and direct hire technology and engineering talent.
GCC Services
Set up a capability center in India, run it while it matures, then hand it over.
Leadership Advisory and Human Capital Strategy
Decide the shape of the leadership team before you decide who fills it.
SOW and Managed Teams
Buy an outcome and a team that owns it, not a stack of individual requisitions.
AI and Technology Solutions
Leadership, talent and delivery teams for AI and technology initiatives.
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Other practices
Start here
Hiring in semiconductors?
Start with a market conversation. We will share what the role looks like in the current market before anyone commits.