Director, Engineering IT Operations

Director, Engineering IT Operations

Full-Time 63000 - 77000 £ / year (est.) No working from home possible
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At a Glance

  • Tasks: Lead IT operations for semiconductor design, ensuring reliability and scalability of critical infrastructure.
  • Company: Join Cirrus Logic, a leader in mixed-signal processing with an award-winning culture.
  • Benefits: Enjoy competitive salary, inclusive culture, and opportunities for career growth.
  • Other info: Dynamic role with a focus on innovation and operational excellence.
  • Why this job: Make a real impact on engineering workflows and support top consumer brands.
  • Qualifications: Extensive experience in Linux infrastructure and enterprise storage management required.

The predicted salary is between 63000 - 77000 £ per year.

For over four decades, Cirrus Logic has been propelled by the top engineers in mixed-signal processing. Our rockstar team thrives on solving complex challenges with innovative end-user solutions for the world's top consumer brands. Cirrus Logic is also known for its award-winning culture, built on a foundation of inclusion and fairness, meaningful community engagement, and delivering enjoyable employee experiences at every turn. But we couldn't do it without our extraordinary workforce - and that's where you come in. Join our team and help us continue to make Cirrus Logic an exceptional place to grow your career!

Cirrus Logic is seeking a Director, Engineering IT Operations to lead the strategy, scalability, reliability, and day-to-day operations of the infrastructure that supports more than 1,000 semiconductor design engineers across global sites. In this role, you will oversee the platforms and services that are essential to chip development, including high-performance compute environments, EDA tool infrastructure, job scheduling systems, revision control platforms, enterprise storage, automation, and engineering productivity tooling. The ideal candidate combines deep technical expertise with strong organizational leadership and a proven ability to deliver highly available, secure, and scalable infrastructure for mission-critical engineering workflows.

Key responsibilities

  • Define and lead the infrastructure strategy supporting semiconductor design and engineering operations across global locations
  • Ensure the availability, performance, scalability, and security of platforms used for chip development workflows
  • Lead teams responsible for Linux infrastructure, compute farms, enterprise storage, revision control, automation, and observability
  • Drive operational excellence across 24x7 production environments, including incident response, root cause analysis, change management, and disaster recovery planning
  • Partner with silicon engineering, CAD/EDA teams, IT, security, program management, and executive leadership to align infrastructure priorities with business and product development goals
  • Improve engineering productivity by advancing automation, self-service capabilities, and platform reliability
  • Develop capacity plans and long-range infrastructure roadmaps to support continued growth in compute, storage, and engineering demand
  • Establish and maintain service-level expectations, performance metrics, and continuous improvement practices across engineering IT operations

Who you are

  • Linux Infrastructure
    • Extensive experience architecting, deploying, and supporting Linux platforms used for complex engineering applications
    • Demonstrated experience administering large-scale Linux environments
    • Strong expertise with RHEL, CentOS, or other Linux variants
    • Deep knowledge of NFS, LDAP and Active Directory integration, DNS and DHCP, SSH, PAM, and security hardening, Filesystem permissions, ACLs, groups, and identity management
  • Enterprise Storage Infrastructure
    • Deep expertise in enterprise storage infrastructure, including NAS and SAN topologies
    • Management of tens or hundreds of petabytes of storage
    • Data backup, disaster recovery, and business continuity strategies for large volumes of engineering data
  • HPC and Compute Farm Administration
    • Extensive experience operating and scaling distributed compute environments that support semiconductor design workloads
    • Strong working knowledge of IBM Spectrum LSF, including job scheduling and prioritization, queue architecture, resource allocation policies, fair-share scheduling, compute farm optimization, regression infrastructure, EDA workload tuning, distributed job execution, and license-aware scheduling
    • Experience with millions of jobs per day preferred, CPU and memory optimization, farm utilization analytics, and capacity forecasting
  • Semiconductor and EDA Environment Knowledge
    • Strong understanding of semiconductor engineering workflows and their infrastructure dependencies
    • Familiarity with RTL-to-GDSII flows, verification regressions, simulation farms, synthesis and place-and-route infrastructure, EDA license management, Cadence, Synopsys, and Mentor environments, and tapeout-critical infrastructure reliability
    • Clear understanding of the impact of downtime on tapeout schedules, the importance of deterministic engineering environments, reproducibility requirements, and common performance bottlenecks in EDA workflows
  • Revision Control and Data Management
    • Deep operational knowledge of Perforce administration at enterprise scale

Director, Engineering IT Operations employer: Cirrus

Cirrus Logic is an exceptional employer that fosters a vibrant and inclusive work culture, where innovation thrives through collaboration and diverse perspectives. With a strong commitment to employee growth, the company offers meaningful career development opportunities in a hybrid work environment based in Newbury, allowing for flexibility while engaging with a talented team dedicated to cutting-edge audio technology. Join us to be part of a community that values fairness, creativity, and impactful contributions to the world’s leading consumer brands.

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Contact Details:

Cirrus Recruitment Team

StudySmarter Expert Advice🤫

We think this is how you could land Director, Engineering IT Operations

Join Engineering Meetups!

Get yourself along to local engineering meetups or tech conferences. These are great places to connect with like-minded folks and industry leaders who might just have a lead on that full-time Director, Engineering IT Operations role you’re after at Cirrus.

Show Off Your Projects!

Don’t be shy about showcasing your engineering projects. Whether it’s a funky app, a mechanical design, or a complex algorithm, having a solid portfolio on platforms like GitHub can really make you stand out. Plus, it gives potential employers at Cirrus a taste of what you can bring to the table!

Engage with Online Communities

Dive into engineering forums and online communities, like Reddit or specific engineering Discord channels. Sharing your insights, asking questions, and being active can help you build connections that might lead to job opportunities at Cirrus.

Apply Through Company Websites

When you spot a role like Director, Engineering IT Operations at Cirrus, apply directly through their website. Often, this can show your genuine interest in the company and you might just get noticed quicker than via typical job boards.

We think you need these skills to ace Director, Engineering IT Operations

Linux Infrastructure
RHEL
CentOS
NFS
LDAP
Active Directory integration
DNS

Some tips for your application 🫡

Showcase Your Technical Expertise:When applying for an engineering role like Director, Engineering IT Operations, it’s essential to highlight your technical skills. Include any relevant software or tools you're proficient in on your CV—think CAD software, simulation tools, or programming languages. Don't skimp on any engineering projects you've worked on that demonstrate your ability to solve complex problems.

Focus on Results and Impact:In the engineering world, we love numbers and real-world impact. Quantify your achievements wherever possible—like reducing costs by a certain percentage, improving efficiency, or successfully completing a project ahead of schedule. This gives your future employers at Cirrus a clear picture of the value you can bring.

Craft a Compelling Cover Letter:Use your cover letter to express your passion for engineering and explain why you’re drawn to Cirrus specifically. Share what aspects of their work excite you and how your values align with theirs. This is your chance to show a bit of personality while keeping it professional!

Include Relevant Certifications:If you have any engineering certifications, especially ones that are recognised in your field, make sure to feature them prominently on your CV. They demonstrate not just your knowledge, but also your commitment to professional development, which is something we at StudySmarter value highly.

How to prepare for a job interview at Cirrus

Brush Up on Core Engineering Principles

Before heading into the interview with Cirrus, make sure you're solid on the fundamental engineering principles relevant to the role. Be ready to discuss concepts such as thermodynamics, fluid mechanics, or structural analysis, depending on the specifics mentioned in the job description. Don’t skip any hands-on projects or coursework; these can be excellent talking points!

Show Off Your Problem-Solving Skills

Expect technical questions or case studies during your interview—after all, engineering is all about solving problems! Prepare a few examples of how you've tackled engineering challenges in the past, whether at university or in any practical experience. Practising with mock technical interviews can really help you articulate your thought process and solutions.

Relate Your Experience to the Role

In a full-time role, employers like Cirrus want to see that you can adapt and grow within their team. Be ready to discuss how your previous internships, projects, or studies relate directly to the work you'll be doing. Highlight specific experiences that showcase your collaborative skills and how you've successfully worked within a team environment.

Know Your Tools and Software

Most engineering roles require familiarity with specific tools and software. Prepare to talk about your proficiency with programmes like AutoCAD, MATLAB, or SolidWorks if they’re relevant to the role. Even better, have examples of projects where you’ve used these tools, as it'll demonstrate your hands-on experience and readiness for the job.