Director, Software Engineering
Advantest
Lake Forest, CA · Posted September 24, 2026
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Advantest has filed one layoff notice in the last twelve months, covering 55 workers, most recently May 2026. These are public filings with state labor departments, and an open role can sit alongside them. See the filings
About the job
Director, Software Engineering
Position Overview
We are seeking a Director of Software Engineering to lead Hardware System Integration, Handler, Test Engineering, and Portfolio Engineering for semiconductor test platforms supporting SLT, Burn-In, HPC, and ATE.
The role leads global teams responsible for equipment-control software, material handling integration, test engineering, factory interfaces, production data, and shared software capabilities.
This position is expected to be highly technical and hands-on with software and hardware, with approximately 50 % of time spent directly coding, debugging, and solving complex technical issues across the semiconductor test ecosystem.
Key Responsibilities
Translate engineering strategy into engineering plans, technical milestones, resource plans, and delivery schedules.
Lead software managers, technical leads, developers, and test engineers across Thermal, System Integration, Handler, Test, and Portfolio Engineering.
Drive execution across multiple products and customer programs and ensure teams deliver committed milestones.
Align software development, integration, validation, and release schedules with SW Product Management and Hardware TPMs.
Lead software integration across testers, handlers, thermal systems, device interfaces, PLCs, firmware, and equipment-control systems.
Lead development of communication interfaces for material handling, factory automation, and factory management systems.
Lead GEM/SECS, EAC/EAP, lot processing, alarms, availability reporting, equipment telemetry, and production data capabilities.
Lead automated validation, hardware-in-the-loop testing, regression, endurance testing, system qualification, and production readiness.
Improve throughput, reliability, availability, recovery, and downtime through system performance analysis.
Drive reuse and standardization of APIs, SDKs, messaging, data models, logging, diagnostics, and common software components.
Ensure customer requirements are implemented as scalable, configurable product capabilities.
Track milestones, dependencies, risks, quality, integration readiness, and release criteria across the portfolio.
Improve software development, testing, validation, and release processes.
Coordinate execution with Product Management, Program Management, Business Development, Hardware, Firmware, QA, Production, Applications, and Product Support.
Lead adoption of AI-assisted software development, testing, diagnostics, and documentation.
Conduct architecture, design, integration, and release-readiness reviews.
Present technical and program-readiness reviews to customers and internal leadership.
Support customer technical discussions, system bring-up, escalations, and production deployments.
Conduct performance reviews, set goals, mentor leaders, and support succession planning.
All other duties as assigned.