Director - Hardware Engineering, AI Infrastructure Systems

Axelera AI

About Us Axelera AI is not your regular deep-tech startup. We are creating the next-generation AI platform to support anyone who wants to help advancing humanity and improve the world around us. In just four years, we have raised a total of $370 million and have built a world-class team of 220+ employees (including 49+ PhDs with more than 40,000 citations), both remotely from 18 different countries and with offices in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, headquartered at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, Netherlands. We have also launched our Metis™ AI Platform, which achieves a 3-5x increase in efficiency and performance, and have visibility into a strong business pipeline exceeding $100 million. Our unwavering commitment to innovation has firmly established us as a global industry pioneer. Are you up for the challenge? Position Overview We are looking for a Senior Platform Architect to own the platform-level architecture for our datacenter AI accelerator systems — from server through rack integration and, eventually, full datacenter deployment. The role sits within the System Architecture team, and marks our expansion from edge AI into the datacenter. You’ll take compute, memory, and connectivity requirements defined by the broader System Architecture team and translate them into architectural requirements on our hardware platforms. You own how accelerators are composed into systems to execute workloads effectively, defining system topology, host integration, memory organization and platform-level requirements to achieve performance, scalability and operability. The role is primarily in close collaboration with the AI Infrastructure Systems (AIIS) division that builds our board- and system-level products, as well as with the silicon and software divisions. Finally, you will be engaged with strategic customers and ecosystem partners on architecture requirements and technical alignment. Key responsibilities: * Define the platform-level architecture for our datacenter AI accelerator systems, spanning server board design, rack integration, and datacenter-level deployment. * Translate system-level compute, memory, and interconnect requirements — defined in collaboration with the broader System Architecture team and product division — into concrete hardware platform specifications. * Specify physical interconnect infrastructure — defining the architectural requirements and trade-offs that the AI Infrastructure Systems division executes against, including how interconnect characteristics impact system-level workload performance. * Define host, storage and networking integration and organization at the hardware level, covering PCIe and CXL, as well as system-level power budgeting. * Ensure scaled-up and scaled-out designs sustain target performance as systems grow from single nodes to large clusters. * Define operability and RAS (reliability, availability, serviceability) requirements across redundancy architecture, hot-swap capability, telemetry and management interfaces (BMC/IPMI/Redfish), and fault containment to ensure platforms are manageable and dependable in production. * Take a leading technical role in the system architecture team, interfacing directly with key partners and internal stakeholders to align architecture decisions, including the AI Infrastructure Systems division, silicon, product management, software, and customers, system integrators and ecosystem partners on architecture requirements — with commercial engagement and design ownership sitting with the AIIS Director. * Drive methodology and best practices for platform-level design as the team scales. Qualifications: * Experience: Significant experience (5+ years) in system, platform, or hardware architecture, with a strong track record at server and/or rack scale. * Core knowledge: Scale-up and scale-out system design, distributed workload mapping, functional partitioning, and interconnect/fabric architecture. * Fabrics & interconnect: Deep, hands-on understanding of Ethernet, UALink, optical, and switched-fabric technologies, and the ability to reason about their system-level performance trade-offs. * Systems thinking: Ability to connect workload characteristics to hardware architecture and to quantify the impact of design choices on end-to-end performance. * Leadership and collaboration: Demonstrated ability to lead and collaborate across multidisciplinary teams and to interface effectively with partners and senior stakeholders. * Bonus: Experience architecting AI/HPC accelerator systems, familiarity with distributed training/inference workloads, and exposure to data-center-scale deployment. * Strong problem-solving skills, a collaborative mindset, and a passion for building systems at scale. Location We offer a flexible working arrangement, with options to: * Work from one of our Axelera AI offices (Leuven in Belgium, Amsterdam and Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Zurich in Switzerland, Florence and Milan in Italy or Bristol in the United Kingdom) if you're already based in the vicinity. * Work fully remotely from any European country (incl. the UK) you are already in. * Relocate with us and work from Italy (Florence or Milan) or the Netherlands (Amsterdam or Eindhoven). Kindly note that priority will be given to candidates who are [interested in being] based in Belgium or Italy. What we offer  This is your chance to shape and be part of a dynamic, fast-growing, international organization. We offer an attractive compensation package, including a pension plan, extensive employee insurances and the option to get company shares.    An open culture that supports creativity and continual innovation is awaiting you. Collaborative ownership and freedom with responsibility is characteristic for the way we act and work as a team.  At Axelera AI, we wholeheartedly embrace equal opportunity and hold diversity in the highest regard. Our steadfast commitment is to cultivate a warm and inclusive environment that empowers and celebrates every member of our team. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds to join us in shaping the future of AI.

Axelera AI

About Us Axelera AI is not your regular deep-tech startup. We are creating the next-generation AI platform to support anyone who wants to help advancing humanity and improve the world around us. In just four years, we have raised a total of $370 million and have built a world-class team of 220+ employees (including 49+ PhDs with more than 40,000 citations), both remotely from 18 different countries and with offices in Belgium, France, Switzerland, Italy, the UK, headquartered at the High Tech Campus in Eindhoven, Netherlands. We have also launched our Metis™ AI Platform, which achieves a 3-5x increase in efficiency and performance, and have visibility into a strong business pipeline exceeding $100 million. Our unwavering commitment to innovation has firmly established us as a global industry pioneer. Are you up for the challenge? Position Overview We are seeking a Director of Silicon Logical Design to lead and scale our digital design organization. In this role, you will be responsible for the architectural realization, RTL implementation, and integration of complex AI accelerator SoCs from specification through tape-out. You will combine deep technical expertise with strong people leadership to drive execution, quality, and innovation across multiple silicon programs. This is a hands-on leadership role for someone who thrives at the intersection of architecture, implementation, and team building in a fast-paced startup environment. Key responsibilities: * Lead and grow the silicon logical (digital) design team, including RTL, integration, and design methodology * Drive the translation of system and micro-architecture specifications into high-quality RTL implementations * Own the end-to-end logical design execution for one or more SoCs, from concept through tape-out * Partner closely with architecture, verification, physical design, DFT, software, and product teams to ensure robust and scalable designs * Define and enforce best practices for RTL quality, coding standards, reuse, and design reviews * Oversee block-level and top-level integration, ensuring performance, power, area, and schedule targets are met * Support bring-up, debug, and silicon validation activities, including root-cause analysis of silicon issues * Contribute to long-term technology and roadmap planning, including IP strategy and future architecture directions * Mentor and develop engineers, fostering a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and collaboration Qualifications: * Extensive experience in digital / logical design for complex SoCs, with multiple successful tape-outs * Proven ability to lead and grow high-performing silicon design teams * Strong expertise in RTL and micro-architecture development (SystemVerilog / Verilog) * Experience with large-scale SoC integration, including CPUs, accelerators, memory subsystems, and interconnects * Solid understanding of performance, power, and area trade-offs in advanced process nodes * Experience working closely with verification and physical design teams to achieve functional and timing closure * Strong communication skills and the ability to operate at both strategic and hands-on technical levels + Preferred: * Experience with AI/ML accelerators, GPUs, NPUs, or high-performance compute architectures * Familiarity with industry-standard interconnects (e.g., AXI, NoC architectures) * Knowledge of low-power design techniques and multi-clock / multi-voltage systems * Experience with silicon bring-up, post-silicon debug, and root-cause analysis * Experience working in a startup or fast-scaling environment Location We offer a flexible working arrangement, with options to: * Work from one of our Axelera AI offices (Leuven in Belgium, Amsterdam and Eindhoven in the Netherlands, Zurich in Switzerland, Florence and Milan in Italy or Bristol in the United Kingdom) if you're already based in the vicinity. * Work fully remotely from any European country (incl. the UK) you are already in. * Relocate with us and work from Italy (Florence or Milan) or the Netherlands (Amsterdam or Eindhoven). What we offer  This is your chance to shape and be part of a dynamic, fast-growing, international organization. We offer an attractive compensation package, including a pension plan, extensive employee insurances and the option to get company shares.    An open culture that supports creativity and continual innovation is awaiting you. Collaborative ownership and freedom with responsibility is characteristic for the way we act and work as a team.  At Axelera AI, we wholeheartedly embrace equal opportunity and hold diversity in the highest regard. Our steadfast commitment is to cultivate a warm and inclusive environment that empowers and celebrates every member of our team. We welcome applicants from all backgrounds to join us in shaping the future of AI.

Taxfix

OUR STORY: Every year millions of people are either filing their taxes in fear or giving up on their tax refund altogether. We're working on fixing that. Our intuitive app enables anyone, regardless of education or background, to file their taxes with newfound confidence. Spread across Germany, Spain and the UK, the team at Taxfix Group with its brands Taxfix and Steuerbot, is a compassionate group of solution-finders. We speak our minds openly, and with over 400 professionals, including tax experts, developers, and IT security experts, we're rich in ideas and voices. The group has facilitated more than 3.5 billion euros in tax refunds for its customers since its founding in 2016. THE OPPORTUNITY: Taxfix is building something most companies only talk about: a fully agentic infrastructure layer that every team in the company will depend on. And right now, IT is either the foundation that makes that possible — or the bottleneck that slows it down. As our Director of Security & IT, you are the difference between those two outcomes. This is not a traditional IT Director role. You won't be managing tickets or keeping the lights on. You'll be building a platform function from the ground up — one that gives every hybrid human-agent team at Taxfix the speed, security, and confidence to move without friction. Reporting to our Chief People Officer and working closely with our Systems Engineer and cross-functional partners across Engineering, Legal, Finance, and People Ops, you'll define the infrastructure and security foundation that turns our agentic ambitions into reality. The best outcome in this role isn't that IT stays out of the way — it's that IT raises the bar for how the whole organization operates. You'll set standards that others build to, make calls that shape Taxfix's security posture for years, and build the infrastructure layer that our agentic ambitions depend on. This role comes with real authority and real accountability. If you want to be the person who defines what modern IT looks like at a company that's genuinely building the future of work — this is that job. YOUR RESPONSIBILITIES: * Own the vision and roadmap for Taxfix's internal infrastructure and tooling layer, driving the transition from IT as a ticket-resolving function to an internal platform product that enables every hybrid human-agent team to move faster and more securely. * Lead and develop the IT team — including helpdesk, systems engineering, and the incoming Security & Platform Engineer — ensuring clear ownership, structured growth paths, and a high-performing team culture through a period of significant structural change. * Own all core IT operations: device management (MDM), identity and access management, workplace technology, SaaS tooling, third-party network provider relationship, and hardware provisioning — maintaining reliability, cost controlling and service quality while progressively raising the bar on what "good" looks like. * Set the security strategy and posture for Taxfix's systems and agent ecosystem, embedding security continuously into platform infrastructure rather than applying it as a gate at the end. * Work closely with our Systems Engineers and the agentic framework team to build and document the agentic platform layer — including secure sandboxes, credential vaults, and CI/CD pipelines — ensuring infrastructure decisions support the organisation's agentic ambitions. * Own IT-specific risk management, compliance controls, and audit readiness across internal systems and infrastructure, partnering with Legal, Compliance, and enterprise risk owners on GDPR/DSGVO, SOC 2, and applicable financial regulatory requirements. * Manage supplier relationships and lead the build and lead the build/buy/partner evaluation, making a long-term recommendation grounded in both technical and business considerations. * Be the business-facing voice for IT in leadership conversations — translating infrastructure and security decisions into clear business terms and building trusted relationships with Engineering, Legal, Finance, and People Ops. * Define and track platform health metrics, service quality, and internal adoption — including establishing internal NPS for IT services as a baseline, driving measurable reductions in ticket volume and mean time to resolution, and reporting transparently on the agentic infrastructure layer. YOUR PROFILE: * You have proven experience leading an IT or infrastructure function at a scale-up or regulated tech company — including ownership of core IT operations such as helpdesk, MDM, identity management, and workplace technology. You know what it takes to run these reliably while simultaneously raising the ambition of what the function can be. * You have built or are capable of building a platform mindset in a team that has historically operated as a support function — you understand what that shift requires culturally, structurally, and in terms of how success gets measured. * You bring strong enough technical depth to have credible, substantive conversations with engineers — you can interrogate technical decisions, ask the right questions, and know when to push back. * You are security-literate and have hands-on experience setting security strategy: you understand the threat landscape, have navigated compliance and audit obligations in a regulated environment, and know what good security posture looks like at both the infrastructure and application layer. * You have experience with agentic or AI infrastructure, or you bring genuine curiosity and a track record of fast learning in emerging technical domains — this space is moving quickly, and so are we. * You have managed vendors and external partners, including evaluating and making build/buy/outsource decisions, and you're comfortable owning those relationships end to end. * You are familiar with the compliance and data obligations that come with operating in a regulated environment — financial services, tax, or similar — and you've translated those obligations into practical infrastructure and process decisions. * You are comfortable with ambiguity and energised by the opportunity to help shape a function that is being designed in real time — you don't wait for a playbook; you help write it. * You grow the people around you: you see early-career team members and ambitious engineers as people to invest in, and you create the conditions for them to do their best work. * You are ego-light: you are comfortable with invisible success — the best outcome is that teams don't notice IT because everything works — and you are willing to tell leadership when a request isn't feasible and explain why in terms that land. WHY TAXFIX?  * A chance to do meaningful, people-centric work with an international team of passionate professionals. * Holistic well-being with free mental health coaching sessions and yoga. * A monthly allowance to spend on an extensive range of services that you can use and roll over as flexibly as you like. * Employee stock options for all employees—because everyone deserves to benefit from the success they help to create. * 30 annual vacation days and flexible working hours. * A generous learning budget to support your personal and professional development and guidance from our internal L&D experts. * Work from abroad for up to six weeks every year. Just align with your team, and then enjoy your trip. * Plenty of opportunities to socialise as a team. In addition to internal meetups, our international team hosts regular get-togethers—virtually and in person when possible. * Free tax declaration filing, of course, through the Taxfix app—and internal support for all personal tax-related questions. * Have a four-legged friend in your life? We’re happy to have dogs join us in the office. Excited? So are we. Learn more about Team Taxfix on our blog and get a glimpse of our culture.   At Taxfix, we believe that incredible things happen when you have a wealth of perspectives and experiences. We're proudly committed to equal employment and development opportunities no matter your gender, race, religion, age, sexual orientation, colour, disability, or place of origin. To help mitigate any potential unconscious biases, we ask that you refrain from including your picture, age, or marital status on your CV. Let your experiences speak for themselves. Not sure if you meet all the requirements for this role? Please apply anyway. You might bring something special to the team that we hadn't considered previously.