Role Overview:
- The President & Deputy CEO is a pivotal executive leadership role responsible for scaling AAT from a high-potential deep-tech venture into a globally competitive semiconductor equipment company with meaningful market share, robust customer adoption, and sustainable financial performance.
- As the CEO's principal partner, this role carries full enterprise P&L accountability and is responsible for translating advanced scientific and engineering innovation into commercially successful products, widespread customer adoption, and sustained revenue growth. The position sits at the intersection of technology, market, and execution, which is demanding a leader who can bridge deep technical understanding with pragmatic business acumen.
- The incumbent will lead all revenue-generating and customer-facing functions while ensuring seamless integration between R&D, product development, and commercialization. This encompasses shaping market strategy, cultivating customer relationships, structuring complex transactions, and ensuring successful deployment and scaling of AAT's equipment platforms.
- This role requires a builder's mindset to comfort with ambiguity, bias toward action, and willingness to operate hands-on where necessary. The successful candidate must navigate the realities of a scale-up environment—constrained resources, evolving structures, and extended development cycles—while instilling the operational discipline, governance, and performance rigor essential to building a world-class enterprise.
Key Responsibilities
1. P&L Ownership & Enterprise Scaling
- Assume full P&L accountability, driving tool placement, revenue growth, operating leverage, and capital efficiency
- Steer enterprise performance against clearly defined strategic, operational, and investor-aligned KPIs
- Lead development of annual operating plans, multi-year strategic roadmaps, and rolling forecasts
- Establish rigorous performance management systems, including dashboards, reporting frameworks, and operating cadences
- Ensure disciplined capital allocation across competing priorities: R&D investment, productization, commercialization, and infrastructure scaling
- Balance long-term deep-tech investment cycles with near-term commercial milestones and revenue generation
- Identify and execute enterprise-level value creation initiatives, including cost optimization, process improvement, and strategic prioritization
2. Revenue Growth, Market Development & Commercial Execution
- Define and execute AAT's global commercial strategy, aligned with technology capabilities and market demand
- Build, manage, and continuously refine a robust revenue pipeline spanning early-stage engagement, pilot programs, qualification cycles, and full production deployment
- Lead complex deal structuring, including pricing strategies, contractual frameworks, risk-sharing mechanisms, and long-term commercial agreements
- Develop market entry strategies for priority segments: AI infrastructure, advanced logic nodes, memory technologies, and 3D architectures
- Establish scalable commercial models tailored to long-cycle, high-value semiconductor equipment sales, including direct sales, partnerships, and ecosystem-driven approaches
- Identify, negotiate, and operationalize strategic partnerships, joint development agreements (JDAs), and co-innovation initiatives with key industry players
- Continuously assess competitive dynamics, customer requirements, and technology trends to refine commercial strategy and market positioning
3. Customer Engagement, Strategic Accounts & Market Adoption
- Own the complete customer lifecycle: initial engagement and co-development through deployment, scaling, and long-term account growth
- Build and maintain deep, trust-based relationships with senior stakeholders across fabs, foundries, IDMs, and system companies
- Serve as executive sponsor for strategic and anchor accounts, ensuring alignment at both technical and commercial levels
- Drive customer adoption by ensuring successful qualification, integration, and performance of AAT's equipment within customer environments
- Align customer requirements with product and engineering roadmaps, ensuring development priorities reflect genuine market demand
- Build and scale customer-facing functions: technical sales, field applications engineering, customer support, and service operations
- Establish feedback loops from customers into product development to accelerate iteration and strengthen product-market fit
- Drive customer satisfaction, retention, and reference ability—critical for credibility in this relationship-driven industry
4. Government & Corporate Affairs
- Cultivate relationships with policymakers, industry bodies, and research institutions to strengthen AAT's ecosystem positioning
- Oversee corporate communications, branding, and reputational positioning to support market credibility and stakeholder trust
5. Finance, Capital Strategy & Investor Engagement
- Partner closely with the CFO to define and execute financial strategy, including capital allocation, fundraising, and liquidity management
- Lead engagement with venture capital, strategic investors, sovereign funds, and institutional stakeholders
- Support fundraising processes, including equity rounds, strategic investments, and potential debt financing
- Ensure robust financial governance, reporting accuracy, and compliance with applicable standards
- Evaluate and execute strategic transactions, including partnerships, investments, and potential M&A opportunities
- Drive capital efficiency across high-cost R&D and commercialization cycles, ensuring optimal resource utilization
6. Corporate Governance & Board Interface
- Uphold exemplary governance standards, ethical conduct, and compliance across all organizational functions
- Support Board engagement, including preparation of materials, performance reporting, and strategic discussions
- Ensure alignment with statutory, regulatory, and fiduciary obligations across all jurisdictions
- Strengthen internal governance frameworks, decision-making processes, and risk management systems
- Facilitate effective communication between management and the Board, ensuring transparency and strategic alignment
7. Organizational Design, Culture & Execution Discipline
- Design and evolve organizational structure to support scaling from startup to global enterprise
- Build leadership depth across commercial, engineering, product, and operational functions
- Recruit, develop, and retain exceptional talent aligned with AAT's mission and growth trajectory
- Implement performance management systems that drive accountability, transparency, and measurable results
- Foster a high-performance culture characterized by ownership, adaptability, speed, and resilience
- Promote cross-functional collaboration, eliminating silos between R&D, product, and commercial teams
- Instill execution discipline, ensuring strategic priorities translate into tangible outcomes
Leadership & Strategic Impact:
- Serve as CEO proxy in key internal and external engagements with customers, investors, and government stakeholders
- Translate atomic-scale innovation into scalable, commercially viable product platforms
- Build AAT's commercial engine and customer franchise from the ground up
- Drive the transformation from an R&D-led organization to a commercially scaled enterprise
- Position AAT as a trusted and credible partner within the global semiconductor ecosystem
- Shape the company's long-term strategic direction, including market positioning and growth pathways
Qualifications & Experience:
- 15–20+ years of executive leadership experience with direct P&L ownership
- Proven track record commercializing complex deep-tech, semiconductor, or advanced manufacturing technologies
- Experience leading global revenue growth, strategic accounts, and customer engagement in highly technical industries
- Established relationships within the semiconductor ecosystem: fabs, foundries, IDMs, equipment providers, or materials companies
- Experience operating in startup, scale-up, or high-growth environments with evolving structures and resource constraints
- Demonstrated ability to navigate ambiguity, manage complexity, and drive execution in dynamic environments
- Strong financial acumen, including capital strategy, fundraising, and performance management
- Advanced degree in engineering, physics, materials science, or business; MBA or equivalent preferred
Core Competencies:
- Enterprise leadership with full P&L accountability
- Commercial execution and customer-centric leadership
- Deep-tech commercialization and scaling expertise
- Strategic stakeholder and ecosystem engagement
- Entrepreneurial mindset with rigorous execution discipline
- Organizational design and transformation capability
- Unwavering integrity, governance, and accountability
Success Metrics:
- Revenue growth, and overall P&L performance
- Strategic customer acquisition and depth of key account relationships
- Conversion of pilots and co-development programs into commercial deployments
- Customer satisfaction, retention, and reference ability
- Scalability and effectiveness of commercial and customer-facing functions
- Capital efficiency and success in fundraising and investor engagement
- Organizational effectiveness, leadership depth, and talent retention
