Director, AI Memory Business Development & Ecosystem Strategy

Sandisk

$175K — $210K *
Consumer Technology
11 - 15 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field; MBA or equivalent preferred.
  • 12+ years of business development or strategic partnership experience in AI hardware or semiconductor sectors.
  • Success in building technology alliances within the AI infrastructure landscape is essential.
  • Deep technical knowledge of AI memory technologies and server systems architecture is critical.
  • Exceptional leadership ability to influence across teams, including engineering and global sales.
  • Track record of bringing nascent technology to commercial viability before industry standards are established.
  • Experience thriving in ambiguous, rapidly evolving environments, demonstrating proactive building capabilities.

Responsibilities

  • Identify and engage key technology partners to create a robust AI memory ecosystem.
  • Negotiate and manage strategic partnerships ensuring integration of memory technologies into future hardware.
  • Explore and nurture early adopter use cases for new AI memory technologies or solutions.
  • Collaborate with product and sales teams to secure design-ins and proof-of-concept initiatives.
  • Monitor the AI technology landscape for emerging trends and business opportunities.
  • Translate market insights into actionable strategies for product and business development discussions.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive benefits package including paid vacation and sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance.
  • Short-Term Incentive (STI) and potential Long-Term Incentive (LTI) plans, including RSUs.
  • Employee assistance program, tuition reimbursement, and various voluntary benefit options.
  • Employee stock purchase plan and participation in the Sandisk's Savings 401(k) Plan.
Full Job Description
Job Description

As the AI revolution transitions from general-purpose computing to specialized, high-performance architectures, the demand for innovative memory solutions has never been higher. Sandisk is at the forefront of this shift, developing next-generation technologies-including High Bandwidth Flash-designed to eliminate the bottlenecks of modern AI workloads.

We are seeking a visionary Director of AI Memory Business Development to lead the charge in establishing market momentum for our emerging AI memory technologies. This is a high-impact, entrepreneurial role centered on shaping a global ecosystem, securing lighthouse customers, and defining the value proposition for the future of AI hardware. This role sits in our Memory Technology Business Develop & Partnerships team.

ESSENTIAL DUTIES AND RESPONSIBILITIES:

Strategic Partnerships & Ecosystem Orchestration: Identify and engage with critical technology and business partners to build a robust ecosystem around our new memory architectures. Negotiate and manage high-level partnerships that ensure Sandisk's AI memory technologies are integrated into reference designs and hardware stacks of the future

Strategic market entry and use case explorations: Identify and nurture early adopters and system use cases for our new technologies. You will help "sell the vision", and work alongside Product and Sales teams securing design-ins and strategic proof-of-concepts (PoCs). You will stay close to latest AI market and technology developments and champion market explorations of applying our new technology in emerging AI use cases

Market Intelligence & Trend Scouting: Serve as a voice of intelligence internally on the evolving AI landscape. You will monitor emerging hardware/software trends and maintain deep connections within the AI startup ecosystem to identify shifts in model deployment and inference infrastructure demands. You will help translate market intelligence into actional insights, feed information into internal product development and GTM strategy discussions, ensuring our product and business strategy anticipates the next generation of AI workloads.

Qualifications

REQUIRED:
  • Bachelor's degree required in Computer Science, Engineering, or related field. Preferred: MBA or equivalent graduate business degree.
  • 12+ years of experience in business development, strategic partnerships, or product management within AI hardware, server systems, semiconductor and memory sectors.
  • Demonstrated success in building multi-party technology alliances and navigating the complex landscape of AI infrastructure partners
  • Rich technical knowledge of AI Data Center system architecture, server systems hardware including memory hierarchies and their specific applications in AI training and inference, and AI Data Center software stack ecosystem. Deep understanding of different AI memories technologies (HBM, LPDDR, LPW DRAM etc.) would be a plus. Academic background in Engineering and Science fields is preferred.
  • Exceptional ability to lead through influence, working effectively across engineering, product, and global sales organizations
  • Proven track record of taking a "Version 1.0" technology to initial commercial success before a standard category exists.
  • Proven ability to thrive in "zero-to-one" environments. You are a proactive builder who can operate with minimal infrastructure, create your own roadmap, and drive results in an ambiguous, rapidly evolving market.


Additional Information

Additional Information

Based on our experience, we anticipate that the application deadline will be 11/25/2026 (3 months from posting), although we reserve the right to close the application process sooner if we hire an applicant for this position before the application deadline. If we are not able to hire someone from this role before the application deadline, we will update this posting with a new anticipated application deadline.

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Compensation & Benefits Details
  • An employee's pay position within the salary range may be based on several factors including but not limited to (1) relevant education; qualifications; certifications; and experience; (2) skills, ability, knowledge of the job; (3) performance, contribution and results; (4) geographic location; (5) shift; (6) internal and external equity; and (7) business and organizational needs.
  • The salary range is what we believe to be the range of possible compensation for this role at the time of this posting. We may ultimately pay more or less than the posted range and this range is only applicable for jobs to be performed in California, Colorado, New York or remote jobs that can be performed in California, Colorado and New York. This range may be modified in the future.
  • You will be eligible to participate in Sandisk's Short-Term Incentive (STI) Plan, which provides incentive awards based on Company and individual performance. Depending on your role and your performance, you may be eligible to participate in our annual Long-Term Incentive (LTI) program, which consists of restricted stock units (RSUs) or cash equivalents, pursuant to the terms of the LTI plan. Please note that not all roles are eligible to participate in the LTI program, and not all roles are eligible for equity under the LTI plan. RSU awards are also available to eligible new hires, subject to Sandisk's Standard Terms and Conditions for Restricted Stock Unit Awards.
  • We offer a comprehensive package of benefits including paid vacation time; paid sick leave; medical/dental/vision insurance; life, accident and disability insurance; tax-advantaged flexible spending and health savings accounts; employee assistance program; other voluntary benefit programs such as supplemental life and AD&D, legal plan, pet insurance, critical illness, accident and hospital indemnity; tuition reimbursement; transit; the Applause Program, employee stock purchase plan, and the Sandisk's Savings 401(k) Plan.
  • Note: No amount of pay is considered to be wages or compensation until such amount is earned, vested, and determinable. The amount and availability of any bonus, commission, benefits, or any other form of compensation and benefits that are allocable to a particular employee remains in the Company's sole discretion unless and until paid and may be modified at the Company's sole discretion, consistent with the law.

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