Chief Operating Officer

The Chief Operating Officer (COO) is the primary operational and executive authority for IMChip's Indian subsidiary, incubated at IISc Bangalore and affiliated with CeNSE. The role demands a hands-on, skilled operator who can run India operations from the ground up, establishing the legal entity, managing the institutional relationship with IISc/CeNSE, building the local team, fundraising, and ensuring tight execution alignment with IMChip's technical roadmap with the parent company in the Netherlands.

The candidate will have responsibilities across the following functions:

Entity Setup and Governance:

• Lead legal, financial, and regulatory setup of IMChip India Pvt. Ltd., including compliance with the Companies Act, FEMA/RBI cross-border requirements as a subsidiary of a Dutch parent, tax (GST, transfer pricing), and IISc incubation agreements.
• Own board reporting, statutory compliance calendars, and coordination with auditors, company secretaries, and legal counsel.

Team Building:

• Recruit, onboard, and develop IMChip India's local team (engineers, researchers, operations staff), with well-defined roles converging on the company's technical and commercial goals.
• Establish performance evaluation frameworks and a local culture that integrates with IMChip's global team and values.
• Focus on technical and operational training to support efficient use of IISc/CeNSE facilities.

Facility and Stakeholder Management:

• Serve as primary liaison with IISc and CeNSE for lab access, cleanroom/fabrication facility usage, equipment scheduling, and collaborative research agreements.
• Manage IP, confidentiality, and material transfer arrangements between IMChip and IISc, consistent with the parent company's IP protection strategy.
• Engage government bodies (Karnataka Government, DST, MeitY, BIRAC, Startup India, semiconductor mission programs and others), private partners and institutional partners to secure India-specific grants and sustain facility access.

Operations and Execution:

• Oversee day-to-day operations of the India office/lab, including procurement, vendor management, and facilities administration.
• Coordinate India-based technical work packages (e. g., materials/process upscaling, device fabrication support) with the R& D roadmap set by the Netherlands team, ensuring milestones and timelines stay aligned across both entities.
• Build local operational systems: finance, HR, hiring, payroll, and administrative infrastructure.

Funding and Cross-Entity Coordination:

• Support financial planning for India operations budget tracking, cost recovery models, and grant-funded work package management.
• Act as the key operational bridge between IMChip India and IMChip B. V., ensuring transparent communication and shared prioritisation with co-founders and leadership in Groningen.
• Support fundraising and investor relations for the India entity, including preparing materials and data for the parent company's Seed/Series A processes.

Requirements:

• 8+ years of experience (or 4+ years with a PhD) in operations, general management, or COO/leadership roles, ideally including startup or deep-tech/hardware environments.
• Demonstrated experience setting up or scaling an entity in India, including familiarity with Indian corporate, tax, and regulatory requirements.
• Experience working with or within academic/research institutions (IISc, IITs, or similar) or technology incubators strongly preferred.
• Comfort operating in a cross-border, multi-entity structure coordinating with a foreign (EU) parent company and team.
• Strong finance, legal, and HR operational fluency; able to build systems and processes from scratch.
• An MBA or Senior Executive Leadership certification (e. g., IIM/ISB) will be preferred.