Head of Global Test & Metrology - Semiconductor Industry - 100% | Location: Switzerland

Our client is the global market leader in a niche technology for the semiconductor industry. Their components are engineered into the production systems of the world's leading chipmakers and equipment manufacturers - critical, high-reliability parts that make modern chip production possible. Many engineers and technicians have built their careers there over 15, even 20 years. They are not a machine builder - they are the critical sub-system supplier that OEMs rely on for reliability, performance, and continuous innovation. The Role We are looking for a Head of Global Test Lab to lead a global test and validation organization into its next chapter: a lab that is not only operationally excellent today, but digitally native, data-driven, and scalable across multiple international sites. You will lead a multi-layered organization of several Team Leads and a combined team of roughly 20–25 engineers and technicians, spanning product testing, applications engineering, and industrialization. Your lab safeguards the performance and reliability of every product platform shipped - through pressure control testing, lifecycle and endurance testing, particle and leak detection, thermal testing, and materials analysis, across sites in Europe, Asia, and North America. This is a hands-on leadership role . You will spend real time in the lab - not only in strategy meetings - while shaping a five-year vision for how testing, data, and automation come together at global scale. Tasks What You Will Own Digital Test Lab & Data Backbone Today, test data lives across disconnected systems and site-specific tools. You will lead the transition to a unified, structured data architecture - enabling data reuse, cross-site analytics, and the foundation for smarter, faster testing decisions. Automation & Test Throughput Many lab processes are still manual. You will drive the automation of test execution and data processing, increasing throughput without compromising the rigor our industry demands. Global Process Maturity With sites in Europe and Asia, and further expansion planned, you will establish common standards, comparable methods, and shared governance - so quality and speed don't depend on which site runs the test. Team & Capability Development You will lead technical leaders and their teams, developing capability across a workforce that ranges from senior PhDs to technicians with decades of hands-on production experience. Your ability to connect with both is essential. Customer-Centric & Application Testing While your primary focus is internal test capability, you will maintain a clear line of sight to how components perform in real customer applications - ensuring the lab stays connected to what matters commercially. Requirements What You Bring Proven experience leading a technical organization of multiple teams or team leads (not just individual contributors) - ideally 15+ people across more than one location Professional background in special machinery sector, semiconductor equipment, precision sensing, or high-end measurement/test hardware Hands-on ownership of a lab digitalization initiative - for example implementing a data lake, test data management system, or lab automation/MES integration (not just using existing software tools) Genuine, current comfort in a physical lab environment - you know your way around test benches, not just dashboards Fluent German (native or C1) and professional English Willingness to relocate to or regularly commute to Switzerland (4–5 days on-site expected) Nice-to-haves: Degree in Physics, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field (PhD a plus) Experience leading internationally distributed teams (e.g., Europe and Asia) Technical familiarity with PLC programming (e.g., Beckhoff), Python for data analysis, or time-series databases (e.g., CrateDB, InfluxDB) Experience working with semiconductor OEMs as customers or close partners Familiarity with process maturity frameworks such as ISO 17025, Lean Lab, or Six Sigma You'll join a company where testing isn't a support function - it's a strategic capability that directly shapes product reliability for some of the most demanding customers in the world. You'll have real mandate to modernize how a global lab operates, backed by a leadership team that has already invested in digitalization and automation as top priorities. And you'll do it in a business that has weathered decades of technology cycles by staying exceptionally close to its craft. Find Jobs in Germany on Arbeitnow