Principal Business Operations Manager

At Cadence, we hire and develop leaders and innovators who want to make an impact on the world of technology.

Principal Business Operations Manager

Artisan Foundation IP Group, Cadence | Bangalore, Hyderabad or Noida

Role Summary

Lead the business operations engine that turns complex customer requirements into timely, compliant Physical IP access. Own the journey from onboarding through product download, align cross-functional decisions, and scale the customer experience through disciplined processes, insight, automation and AI.

Key Responsibilities

• Own the end-to-end customer operational lifecycle from onboarding through Physical IP product download, including registration, NDA, trade compliance, licensing, entitlement/access and delivery readiness.
• Manage a large, non-linear portfolio of concurrent customer journeys across active, paused, returning and exception cases; preserve context and reconnect prior decisions, commitments, approvals, dependencies and history when activity resumes after extended gaps.
• Lead complex commercial and licensing scenarios, including non-standard terms, affiliate structures, organizational exceptions and tri-party arrangements; develop options, negotiate stakeholder alignment and drive business decisions to closure while preserving Legal and Trade Compliance approval authority.
• Orchestrate execution across Sales, Finance, Order Management, Legal, Trade Compliance, Business Development, Program Management, IT, Customer Support and leadership, with clear hand-offs, escalations and closure criteria.
• Define and continuously improve SOPs, RACI/ownership models, controls, exception management and escalation mechanisms so work is predictable, measurable and scalable.
• Build dashboards for lifecycle progress, turnaround time, aging, exceptions, bottlenecks and hand-off delays; convert insights into root causes, options and recommendations.
• Identify systemic cross-functional bottlenecks, separate isolated exceptions from recurring issues, evaluate trade-offs and drive agreed improvements through closure.
• Improve operational efficiency by simplifying hand-offs, reducing manual work and reconciliation, standardizing workflows and preserving required Legal, Trade Compliance and business controls.
• Champion workflow automation, analytics and AI-enabled operations; build reusable playbooks and knowledge that improve throughput, consistency and decision support.

Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's or Master's degree in Business, Engineering, Finance, Operations or a related discipline.
• 10+ years in business operations, program management, customer-facing operations, commercial operations or other complex cross-functional operational roles in the semiconductor, EDA or technology industry.
• Strong product and business orientation, learning agility and adaptability, with the ability to enter new domains, understand Physical IP and commercial dependencies, and operate effectively in ambiguity without deep engineering expertise.
• Demonstrated direct customer-facing experience and the ability to rapidly learn commercial, compliance and operational workflows; prior onboarding or licensing experience is valued but not required.
• Ability to manage a large portfolio of concurrent, non-linear customer journeys, preserve context across long pauses, and connect prior decisions, commitments, approvals, dependencies and history when work resumes.
• Strong structured problem-solving, option development and negotiation skills; able to align stakeholders, exercise sound judgment and drive decisions and actions to closure without direct authority.
• Proven ability to define SOPs, controls, KPIs, dashboards and scalable operating models, and to drive accountability across functions without direct authority.
• Excellent analytical, written, verbal and executive communication skills; strong proficiency with Excel, business analytics/reporting and process-automation tools.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience with semiconductor IP or Physical IP operations, licensing, customer entitlement or secure product-delivery environments.
• Experience spanning Legal, Trade Compliance, Sales/Business Development, Finance, Order Management, IT and customer-facing support teams.
• Hands-on use of workflow automation, Power BI, scripting or AI-enabled tools to improve throughput, decision support and customer experience.

Critical Success Factors

End-to-end customer ownership | Portfolio continuity and context | Product and business judgment | Commercial option development and stakeholder alignment | Cross-functional decision closure | Scalable SOPs and controls | Data-driven bottleneck removal | Operational efficiency | Automation and AI mindset

We're doing work that matters. Help us solve what others can't.