THE ROLE

The Vice President of New Product Development will lead the global product development function, with an immediate mandate to build a more robust R&D team in our Singapore location. This individual will establish the long-term product innovation roadmap and ensure that new products are designed with consideration for manufacturing, customer performance, and cost competitiveness. This role is critical to enable transformative R&D delivery, including optimizing R&D capabilities, strengthening execution, and investing in new product innovation to drive long-term value creation in a global company.

The role requires strong hands-on execution capability, change leadership, global collaboration and the ability to attract and build high-performing technical teams. The ideal candidate will bring deep experience in materials science, development of high reliability materials, or electronics-related industries, and have successfully led R&D transitions or greenfield innovation centers.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES:

• Lead the ramp-up of R&D activities in Singapore, including infrastructure buildout, talent acquisition, knowledge transfer, and business continuity planning.
• Define and execute the company’s long-term product development strategy aligned with commercial and operational priorities. Prioritize platforms with high margin potential, customer relevance, and manufacturability.
• Build a capable, innovative, and agile R&D organization in Singapore. Instill a culture of speed, accountability, and cross-functional collaboration with Sales, Manufacturing, and Quality.
• Engage directly with global customers and commercial teams to understand unmet needs and translate them into product development roadmaps and rapid prototypes.
• Partner closely with Operations, Supply Chain, and Engineering to ensure smooth product industrialization, cost-competitive design, and scalable launch.
• Drive a robust innovation pipeline, including incremental product improvements and breakthrough technologies. Protect and expand intellectual property where applicable.
• Maintain high standards in technical rigor, reliability, testing, and regulatory compliance. Lead stage-gate processes and milestone reviews across programs.

QUALIFICATIONS & EXPERIENCE

15+ years in R&D, innovation, or new product development within high-reliability industries such as advanced materials, semiconductors, electronics, automotive, or aerospace.

• Proven success leading R&D organizations, especially in global or multi-regional environments, with experience building, or scaling R&D in Asia (ideally Singapore).
• Track record of delivering new product launches that resulted in measurable commercial impact, margin improvement, or competitive differentiation.

PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES

• Demonstrated ability to lead change in complex environments with legacy systems or North America/Asia integration challenges.
• Strong technical skills with the ability to inspire a technical team.
• Strong business acumen with the ability to align R&D investment with commercial priorities and market needs.
• Collaborative and decisive—able to influence across functions and regions.
• Hands-on and execution-oriented; capable of rolling up sleeves while developing talent.
• High degree of cultural agility; prior experience navigating U.S.-Asia dynamics and building teams in Singapore strongly preferred.

EDUCATION

• Advanced degree (MS or PhD preferred) in Materials Science, Chemical Engineering, Physics, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.

LOCATION CONSIDERATIONS

• This role is prioritized for Singapore, where the new global R&D hub will be established. Candidates must be willing and able to live and work full-time in Singapore and lead international teams across time zones and cultures.
• Due to travel requirements, the selected candidate must hold a passport from a country that allows unrestricted business travel to both Taiwan and the United States.
• Strong fluency in Mandarin Chinese will be prioritized, strong fluency in English is required.