Head of Business Development - Taiwan
Head of Business Development - Taiwan
Location: Hsinchu, Taiwan (with regular travel to Taepei, Taichung, Tainan and periodic travel to San Jose, CA)
Ayar Labs is shattering AI data bottlenecks by moving data at the speed of light. As pioneers of co-packaged optics (CPO), we are using light instead of electricity to move data faster, further, and with a fraction of the energy needed to fuel the explosive growth of AI models.
Backed by industry giants like NVIDIA, AMD and Intel and manufactured in partnership with the world's leading semiconductor ecosystem, Ayar Labs' co-packaged optics solution is key to unleashing next-generation AI scale-up architectures.
Taiwan is the center of gravity for our manufacturing and system ecosystem. As we move toward first high-volume manufacturing of our optical engine, the depth and quality of our relationships across the foundry, OSAT, ASIC design services, connector, and ODM/system-builder ecosystem in Taiwan will determine how fast and how well we scale.
We are seeking a Head of Business Development to be our first dedicated leader in Taiwan. This is a founding role in the geography. You will personally own and build the relationships that carry our products from design-in through qualification to volume, act as Ayar Labs' senior representative in-region, and lay the foundation for a larger Taiwan organization over time. This role suits a seasoned ecosystem operator who is energized by building something from nothing and who already has the standing and network to open doors on day one.
Key Responsibilities
- Ecosystem relationship ownership
- Own and deepen executive and working-level relationships across the Taiwan semiconductor ecosystem — foundry, OSAT and advanced packaging, wafer and final test, ASIC design services, optical connector and fiber-attach suppliers
- Serve as the in-region senior point of contact for our foundry partnership, coordinating closely with the U.S. technical, program management, and operations teams
- Establish Ayar Labs as a known, credible and preferred partner within an ecosystem where most participants are still early in their CPO learning curve
- Identify, qualify and bring forward new supply chain and packaging partners as our product roadmap expands
- Customer and partner development
- Develop business with Taiwan-headquartered silicon, networking and system customers, and support the Taiwan-based supply chain and manufacturing arms of our global accounts
- Work with ODMs and system builders to position our optical engine into rack- and cluster-level architectures
- Build relationships with ASIC design service providers who integrate our technology into customer silicon
- Partner with Product Management and Engineering to translate customer and partner requirements into roadmap input
- Manufacturing scale-up support
- Support the alignment of backend partners around test, assembly and qualification requirements ahead of and through high-volume launch
- Help secure capacity, tooling and engineering commitments from partners on timelines that match our product schedule
- Escalate and resolve in-region commercial and relationship issues that put program schedules at risk
- Represent Ayar Labs' interests in commercial negotiations covering NRE, capacity, pricing and multi-year supply
- Market intelligence and voice of the region
- Provide structured, timely intelligence on competitive activity, ecosystem capability, capacity and technology direction in Taiwan
- Bring the regional view into corporate strategy, roadmap and partnership decisions
- Represent Ayar Labs at industry events, technical symposia and standards or consortium activities in the region
- Building the geography
- Act as the seed for Ayar Labs' Taiwan presence: establish local operating rhythm, working practices and cross-functional coordination with San Jose
- Partner with HR, Legal, Finance and Operations on the practical work of standing up and growing an in-country team
- Define, recruit and eventually lead the next wave of Taiwan-based hires across business development, applications and operations as the business scales
Basic Qualifications
- BS in Electrical Engineering, Physics, Materials Science, or a related technical field
- 15+ years in the semiconductor or optical components industry, with substantial time in business development, ecosystem/partner management, key account management, or a comparable senior commercial role
- Based in Taiwan, with an established and active network across the Taiwan semiconductor ecosystem — foundry, OSAT, test, ASIC design services, and/or ODM and system builders
- Demonstrated ownership of a major foundry, OSAT or ODM relationship, carrying a product from early engagement through qualification and into volume production
- Working knowledge of advanced packaging (2.5D/3D integration, chip-on-wafer, substrate and assembly flows), test, or silicon photonics, sufficient to hold a credible technical conversation with partner engineering teams
- Track record structuring and negotiating complex commercial agreements — NRE, capacity, supply, pricing, joint development
- Native or near-native Mandarin and professional fluency in English, including the ability to represent the company in both languages at executive level
- Proven ability to operate independently and with sound judgment as a senior representative of a company headquartered elsewhere, across time zones and cultures
- Willingness to travel domestically within Taiwan on a frequent basis and internationally on a periodic basis
Preferred Qualifications
- MS or MBA
- Direct experience with silicon photonics, co-packaged optics, optical interconnect, or high-speed SerDes-based products
- Familiarity with foundry value chain aggregator / design service partner models and how they operate in practice
- Experience building a country or regional organization from a standing start, including early hiring and operational setup
- Existing relationships within hyperscaler-facing ODM programs in Taiwan
- Working familiarity with scale-up interconnect standards and ecosystems (UCIe, NVLink Fusion, UALink, and related efforts)
- Prior experience at a growth-stage company as well as at a large multinational
NOTE TO RECRUITERS:
Principals only. We are not accepting resumes from recruiters for this position. Remuneration for recruiting activities is only applicable subject to a signed and executed agreement between the parties. Please don't send candidates to Ayar Labs, and do not contact our managers.