Technical Chief of Staff for ASIC Engineering

Astera Labs (NASDAQ: ALAB) provides rack-scale AI infrastructure through purpose-built connectivity solutions. By collaborating with hyperscalers and ecosystem partners, Astera Labs enables organizations to unlock the full potential of modern AI. Astera Labs’ Intelligent Connectivity Platform integrates CXL®, Ethernet, NVLink, PCIe®, and UALink™ semiconductor-based technologies with the company’s COSMOS software suite to unify diverse components into cohesive, flexible systems that deliver end-to-end scale-up, and scale-out connectivity. The company’s custom connectivity solutions business complements its standards-based portfolio, enabling customers to deploy tailored architectures to meet their unique infrastructure requirements. Discover more at www.asteralabs.com.

Role Summary
We are seeking a technically strong Chief of Staff to the Head of Engineering who will also lead Engineering Program Management across Silicon Engineering. This role is a force-multiplier for Engineering leadership — driving org scale, decision velocity, and execution rigor. The ideal candidate brings deep technical fluency, structured problem-solving, and the ability to drive outcomes through influence rather than hierarchy. The role is fully in person in San Jose.

Responsibilities — What You Will Own

1) Chief of Staff to Head of Engineering

•    Drive operational cadence: engineering all hands, staff meetings, agenda/material prep, tech talks, university engagements, action follow-through, and leadership syncs. 
•    Frame and resolve high-leverage decisions — proactively surface blockers (technical, operational, organizational) before they escalate. 
•    Manage escalations and organizational friction — diagnose root causes, coordinate resolution paths, and ensure durable fixes.
•    Partner cross-functionally with Hardware, Product, and Quality teams to ensure clarity of communication, alignment on priorities, and disciplined follow-through on decisions.
•    Support org design, headcount planning, and hiring prioritization for engineering teams.
•    Maintain alignment across functions through clear messaging and communication, validate exitance and validation of processes
•    Navigate org dynamics, build trust, and constructively challenge assumptions; maintain psychological safety.
•    Support the head of engineering with administrative and org related activities

2) Lead ASIC Tape out Management  (Silicon Programs)

•    Status management — collect and track status across functions contributing to ASIC tapeouts.
•    Milestone tracking — maintain methodology checklists and boundary agreements to ensure schedule adherence.
•    IP and vendor tracking — own visibility into IP deliveries, version inventory, vendor issues, and escalation loops.
•    Quality & documentation — monitor quality KPIs, ensure engineering documentation completeness.
•    Requirements tracking — ensure PRDs/features are captured, tracked, baselined.
•    Resource monitoring — track compute, hardware, storage consumption and thresholds.
•    Internal reporting — generate status reporting for Silicon Engineering leadership.

3) Influence Without Authority

•    Drive cross-engineering outcomes through credibility, clarity, and follow-through — not hierarchy.
•    Create order in ambiguous spaces; shape scope where it is undefined.

Qualifications

•    10+ years in semiconductor/SoC/ASIC or adjacent high-complexity engineering environment (e.g., CPU/IP/System companies).
•    Proven success in Chief of Staff, Staff Program Manager, TPM Director, or similar technical leadership-enablement role.  
•    Strong technical acumen — able to understand engineering trade-offs and make decisions with limited information, challenge assumptions, and earn credibility with senior ICs.
•    Demonstrated experience running program cadence for complex silicon programs (tapeout, IP integration, etc.).
•    Proven ability to organize complex workflows and drive consistent follow-through.
•    High EQ and organizational awareness; can navigate tension and align diverse viewpoints. 
•    Exceptional written/verbal communication, structured thinking, and execution discipline.
•    Prior experience in leading RTL2GDSII chip design is a huge plus.

What Success Looks Like

•    Engineering leadership spends more time on strategic and technical decisions, less on coordination.
•    Milestones hit with fewer escalations and clearer accountability.
•    Status, risks, and decisions are crisp — never ad hoc or late.
•    Teams feel supported, not policed — trust increases, fri