Sr Director Analyst, Semiconductor NAND Flash

Senior Director Analyst - Semiconductor NAND Flash (US Remote)

Gartner 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 serves as a leader within Gartner's Business and Technology Insights (BTI) 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 plays a significant role in producing pragmatic and provocative insights which Gartner clients consume and apply to propel their business toward key objectives. They are a trusted source of advice for clients, reinforcing Gartner's value every day by engaging them via in-person meetings, virtual meetings, sales support visits and Gartner conferences to discuss complex client challenges and offer appropriate recommendations.

As part of Gartner's Emerging Market Dynamics Group, you will equip leaders in the NAND Flash, enterprise SSD and AI storage industry with indispensable insights, advice, and tools to achieve their mission-critical priorities and build the successful organizations of tomorrow. You will develop independent market positions, advise senior technology and business leaders, and connect NAND supply, pricing, technology transitions and SSD architecture to the economics of AI and data-center infrastructure.

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
• Lead executive-level client discussions on NAND supply, pricing, SSD strategy, AI-storage economics and supplier positioning
• Create must-have research that takes a clear position on where the NAND/SSD market is heading, why, and what clients should do about it.
• Own the top-level NAND/SSD thesis and ensure it is consistent with the underlying quantitative market model and evidence base.
• Contribute to cross-domain research with analysts covering DRAM/HBM, AI accelerators, foundry, advanced packaging, networking and data-center power.
• Maintain a strong industry network across memory suppliers, SSD vendors, cloud providers, OEMs, controller suppliers, equipment vendors and investors.
• 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

Quantitative coverage expected

• Supply: Wafer capacity, utilization, yields/productivity, bits per wafer, bit growth, capex, technology migration and supplier output
• Demand: NAND bits/EB by smartphone, PC, client SSD, enterprise SSD, AI/data-center, embedded and other material applications
• Pricing & economics: ASP/GB, contract versus spot dynamics, cost/bit, gross-margin sensitivity, inventory and supply-demand balance
• Enterprise SSD: Units, capacity/drive, revenue, interface/form factor, QLC/TLC mix, AI versus non-AI demand and supplier/customer dynamics
• Scenarios: Base/high/low demand, supplier response, AI slowdown/upside, China supply, technology-ramp and pricing sensitivity
• Leading indicators: Inventory weeks, supplier utilization, capex, contract/spot spreads, customer procurement behavior, SSD lead times and capacity commitments

Research Boundaries:

• This role owns NAND/SSD strategic thesis, supplier economics, market outlook and AI-storage implications. It does not own the broad DRAM/HBM forecast, enterprise storage systems market, foundry/packaging market, or AI accelerator market. The role must, however, quantify how those adjacent markets affect NAND demand, SSD architecture and supplier economics.

What you will need:

• Bachelor's degree or equivalent experience; specialization in Electronics or Semiconductors or software engineering preferred
• 12+ years experience in NAND Flash, SSDs, semiconductor market research, product strategy, business planning or storage technology.
• Deep knowledge of NAND supply-demand mechanics, technology migration and supplier economics; enterprise SSD experience strongly preferred
• Awareness of the major issues across the IT, technology, semiconductor and electronics industry affecting software technologies and competitive landscape, and an eagerness to learn more
• Strong quantitative fluency: able to challenge forecast assumptions, understand model structure and connect units, content, capacity, pricing and revenue.
• 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)