We Are NXP | NXP’s VP Namratha Jaisimha, Engineer Extraordinaire

Namratha Jaisimha recently joined the Micro Controller Unit/Micro Processing Units (MCU/MPU) Engineering organization as Vice President of the newly formed Verification and Validation (V&V) team. Her success as a leader has resulted in the addition of a new responsibility: VP of the Register Transfer Level/ Design for Test (RTL/DFT) team. We interviewed Namratha to hear her plans, her dreams and her thoughts on being a role model.

NXP: Namratha, tell about your job as VP of V&V and RTL/DFT

Namratha Jaisimha: I’m leading over 600 people, multiple functions, each with organization goals, technology goals, efficiency goals and cultural improvements. Along with my team, I will be building the team to scale, so we can build these system on chips (SoCs) with maximum efficiency, with a goal of meeting all targets with maximum quality every time.

NXP: What successes or challenges have you had so far?

NJ: MCU/MPU has global teams with operations in more than 10 locations spread across multiple time zones. We’re working to streamline processes and methodologies, and to do this we need to address stress points and keep execution on track, which can be like changing a wheel while driving down the highway at full speed. And we’re doing it, not losing speed, so it’s working.

NXP: What’s the secret to being a good leader in a modern tech company?

NJ: It’s about balance. We need leaders who understand complex products and engineers who understand complex people. Good leaders need to be able to grasp the technologies and methodologies we deal with, and they need to be able to build human relationships. Engineers often forget about the human aspect of things, focusing solely on the technology. A good leader helps both sides to work together, balancing humanity with an understanding of emotion and technology.

NXP: As a woman engineer in a senior role, have you experienced bias in your career?

NJ: I grew up in conservative India, in a small town near Bangalore, and I experienced some gender bias especially in my early years. Women who were good at math and science were generally steered toward medicine—engineering wasn’t the obvious path for women. But I wanted to be an engineer. So, I had to think outside the box, past my surroundings. I had to make decisions on plans for family and career, how to manage both at the same time and how to balance both properly. You don’t see enough women role models at work who have done that, who have set the example.

NXP: Do you consider yourself a role model?

NJ: After 30 years in the industry, I have noticed that retention of women is an issue. We don’t get enough women out of college who stay on in their later years. It’s one of the areas where I want to help women as much as possible so, yes, in this regard, I would say I am a role model. I want to be able to share my experience with other women so that they can stay at work.

NXP: Who is your role model and why?

NJ: My mother. She took time off to have children and build a family. At 35, she decided to go back to college and she studied and became a professor of education. All the while, she never made her family feel like a lower priority.

NXP: What’s the best advice you’ve ever heard?

NJ: My mom taught me that I can’t solve all problems in a day, so I shouldn’t let myself be overwhelmed upfront; instead I should allow myself to split them into smaller problems and solve one at a time.

NXP: And what’s the best advice you could give?

NJ: Give your best and 100% attention to every activity that you do in your personal and professional life. Every day, take a few minutes to step back and check your part in the bigger picture.

NXP: What do you do when you’re not working, how do you unwind?

NJ: In the past three years, I’ve discovered a passion—and a talent—for painting. I taught myself via YouTube and I enjoy it very much; I always have one painting in progress.

NXP: What NXP tech excites you and why?

NJ: Automotive technology, something that adds to the safety and comfort of the driver.

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