Staff Engineer – EDA Business Strategy

Our vision is to transform how the world uses information to enrich life for all.

Micron Technology is a world leader in innovating memory and storage solutions that accelerate the transformation of information into intelligence, inspiring the world to learn, communicate and advance faster than ever.

About the Role

The EDA Business Strategy role is a senior individual contributor position within the Engineering Automation (EA) organization at Micron. This role is responsible for aligning Micron’s Electronic Design Automation (EDA) tool investments with business and technology goals across DRAM, NAND, HBM, and emerging memory product lines.

You will serve as the primary interface between Micron’s design engineering teams and major EDA vendors (Cadence, Synopsys, Siemens EDA, Keysight and others), ensuring our tool portfolio delivers maximum value and supports next-generation design challenges. This role combines deep technical understanding of semiconductor design flows with strategic business insight in vendor management, contract negotiation, and technology roadmap alignment.

Responsibilities and Tasks

Responsibilities include, but are not limited to:

Vendor Strategy & Relationship Management

• Own strategic relationships with major EDA vendors (Cadence, Synopsys, Siemens EDA, Keysight) and emerging tool providers
• Evaluate and benchmark new EDA tools, platforms, and technologies for adoption into Micron’s design flows
• Handle vendor technical workshops, benchmarks, and proof-of-concept evaluations with CAD and design teams
• Lead multi-year EDA contract renewals, and commercial terms in partnership with Procurement and Legal

Portfolio & License Management

• Define and maintain the enterprise EDA product portfolio across design domains: analog/mixed-signal design, digital implementation, physical verification (DRC, LVS, PERC), simulation (SPICE, Verilog), timing analysis, parasitic extraction, OPC/lithography, characterization, and reliability
• Support license allocation, utilization tracking, and resource forecasting across global sites
• Drive license optimization to reduce cost while improving engineering productivity
• Lead all aspects of license server infrastructure strategy and coordinate with IT on server health and availability.

Planning and Business Analysis

• Develop 3–5 year EDA technology roadmaps aligned with Micron’s product and process node roadmaps
• Perform total cost of ownership (TCO) analysis for EDA investments and present recommendations to senior leadership
• Evaluate build vs. buy decisions for invented automation capabilities, including EDA tools powered by artificial intelligence and machine learning
• Track industry trends (cloud EDA, AI-assisted design, open-source EDA) and advise leadership on strategic positioning
• Manage annual EDA budgets and forecast spend across vendor portfolios

Collaboration Across Multiple Functions

• Partner with Design Engineering, CAD/CE, IT, Procurement, and Legal to ensure EDA strategy meets technical and business needs
• Engage with functional safety (FuSa) and compliance teams on tool qualification requirements for automotive and safety-critical applications
• Coordinate with global design centers to harmonize tool environments and reduce redundancy
• Communicate EDA strategy, roadmaps, and investment rationale to engineering leadership and executive partners.

Successful candidates will have the following

Required

• Demonstrated ability in semiconductor design, EDA tool management, CAD engineering, or EDA vendor roles
• Deep understanding of the EDA ecosystem and semiconductor design flows: custom/analog design, digital implementation, physical verification, circuit simulation, timing analysis, parasitic extraction, and tape out
• Proven experience negotiating enterprise software agreements with EDA vendors
• Strong analytical skills for license utilization analysis, cost modeling, and return on investment assessment
• Ability to communicate effectively across both technical engineering and executive business audiences
• Experience managing multi-million dollar EDA tool budgets

Preferred

• Experience in memory semiconductor design environments (DRAM, NAND, HBM)
• Familiarity with EDA licensing models
• Experience with AI/ML applications in semiconductor build and awareness of emerging EDA tools powered by artificial intelligence
• Knowledge of CAD infrastructure (Linux, LSF/HPC, license servers, distributed computing)
• Experience with EDA vendor qualification and tool release management processes
• MBA or business strategy