Sr Director Analyst - AI Driven Compute Architecture and Custom Silicon
Gartner · Irving, Texas, United States · hybrid
This is an individual contributor role, based remotely in North America.
About the roleGartner Analysts are industry thought leaders who create must-have insights, market predictions and best practices for a broad range of world-leading organizations. A Senior Director Analyst serves as a leader within Gartner’s Emerging Market Dynamics Group, establishing oneself as a credible voice within their designated market at local, regional and global levels. Utilizing exceptional research and analytical skills, a Senior Director Analyst plays a significant role in producing pragmatic and provocative insights that Gartner clients consume and apply to propel their businesses toward key objectives. They are a trusted source of advice for clients, reinforcing Gartner’s value through phone and virtual meetings, sales support visits, Gartner conferences and face-to-face engagements to discuss complex client challenges and offer appropriate recommendations.
This role will focus on AI-driven compute architecture and custom silicon. The successful candidate will analyze how the evolution of AI models is changing computing architectures and creating new demand for custom silicon, accelerators, memory technologies and semiconductor platforms. The role extends beyond traditional ASIC analysis to encompass the broader evolution of compute architecture and its future implications.
The analyst will own the quantitative and market-intelligence view of ASICs and associated software, future technology transitions and related economics. They will translate AI use cases, model demand and manufacturing constraints into implications for ASIC semiconductor supply, market development and competitive strategy.
What you will do- Create innovative, thought provoking, and highly leveraged “must-have insights” content
- Develop new insights and ideas through thought leadership and offer compelling, actionable approaches to client's needs and requests that accelerate the client's ability to act
- Develop in-depth analysis to identify the root cause of a client’s barriers or overall needs and reframe thinking to drive strategy forward
- Demonstrate thought leadership in establishing Insights positions across a team of analysts
- Bring provocative, independent insights to Gartner leaders that can evolve the course of a research agenda
- Research, analyze and predict market trends and shifts to provide clients and vendors with actionable insights
- Provide clients and prospects with actionable advice aligned to their designated content area via virtual or face-to-face interactions
- Create and deliver high value presentation materials on and off stage for Gartner events, industry and professional association conferences, and client briefings
- Support BTI and Sales: Provide sales support serving as voice of the market to help Insights teams create content and to drive engagement with clients to make progress against their critical priorities to grow their business
- Provide high quality and timely content peer review
- Build credibility as an industry expert to represent Gartner insights, methodology and strategy
- Actively participate in innovation, ideation, and research discussions and collaborate effectively with peers in the Insights community
- Identify research process improvements or develop new processes that help the team and BTI provide excellent service delivery
- Be a mentor and a coach by supporting more junior team members
- Be client-centric while actively seeking to help clients engage regularly and often with Gartner insights and interactions
What you will need- Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in computer science, software engineering, electrical or computer engineering, semiconductor technology or a related discipline
- 12+ years of experience in AI, compute architecture, processors, semiconductors, cloud infrastructure, AI platforms or a related field.
- Understanding of how AI workloads, models and software requirements influence processor selection, compute architecture, infrastructure design and processor demand.
- Knowledge of CPUs, GPUs, ASICs, XPUs, AI accelerators, AI SoCs, custom silicon and other specialized processors.
- Understanding of data-center, cloud and edge AI infrastructure, including memory, interconnect, packaging and compute clustering.
- Familiarity with AI workloads and model architectures, including language, multimodal, agentic, robotics, industrial and physical AI.
- Understanding of merchant silicon, custom silicon, build-versus-buy decisions, hyperscaler strategies and enterprise AI infrastructure.
- Experience assessing AI acceleration, domain-specific processors, semiconductor markets or related technology trends.
- Experience working with market intelligence, product planning, engineering, sales, strategy, customers or other technical and commercial stakeholders.
- Customer-facing experience in technology, semiconductor, cloud, AI infrastructure or related markets, with the ability to translate complex technical developments into clear commercial and strategic insights.
- Experience developing market models, forecasts, scenarios, market-share analyses or other quantitative research, with familiarity with leading semiconductor, cloud, systems and AI technology providers.
- Demonstrate executive presence; can immediately establish credibility with executives and additional stakeholders
- Strong organizational skills; ability to work under tight deadlines and produce high quality deliverables
- Demonstrate excellence in research and writing ability
- Strong written and verbal proficiency, analytical and presentation skills; ability to engage clients and respond effectively to questions
- Proficient in analyzing and synthesizing data; can effectively apply patterns and frameworks while drawing and defending conclusions to client challenges
- Strong communication skills - able to explain complex concepts concisely and simply
- Subject matter expertise; comfortable presenting at large and small-scale speaking engagements
- Strong business and financial acumen
- Deep knowledge of the global and competitive landscape within subject area as well as the interplay in that market
- Ability to work independently, while also being intrinsically motivated to collaborate across teams and support the workflow of others, in a multicultural global team
- Learning agile and adept with navigating highly matrixed environments
- Ability to represent Gartner's research methodology and strategies effectively at all levels
- Willingness and ability to travel up to 25% (where applicable)
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