Chip Lead

About Etched

Etched is building the world’s first AI inference system purpose built for transformers, delivering over 10x higher performance and dramatically lower cost and latency than a B200. With Etched ASICs, you can build products that would be impossible with GPUs, like real-time video generation models and extremely deep & parallel chain-of-thought reasoning agents. Backed by hundreds of millions from top-tier investors and staffed by leading engineers, Etched is redefining the infrastructure layer for the fastest growing industry in history.

Job Summary

We are looking for a Chip Lead to take full technical ownership of our next silicon program from architecture through production. This role is for a senior, hands-on leader who has shipped complex chips and is comfortable being the final technical authority on key decisions.

You will act as the single threaded owner of the chip, setting technical direction, reviewing designs in detail, and driving the organization to a successful tapeout, bring-up, and production ramp.

Key Responsibilities

Own the Chip End-to-End

• Own the silicon from architecture definition through RTL, physical design, tapeout, bring-up, and production.

• Be accountable for the chip meeting performance, power, area, quality, cost, and schedule targets.

• Serve as the final technical escalation point for all chip-level issues.

Set Technical Direction

• Define and review the top-level SoC architecture, including block partitioning, interconnects, clocks/resets, power domains, and interfaces.

• Drive key architectural and microarchitectural tradeoffs and ensure alignment with system-level requirements.

• Ensure robustness, testability, and manufacturability are built into the design from the start.

Deep Technical Reviews

• Actively review RTL, verification plans, physical design closure, DFT, and test strategy.

• Challenge assumptions and drive simplification where possible.

• Hold a high bar for design quality, correctness, and clarity.

Lead Execution to Tapeout

• Drive technical readiness for tapeout, including:

• RTL and verification completeness

• Timing, power, and physical closure

• Risk identification and mitigation

• Make clear go/no-go calls and tradeoff decisions when necessary.

Bring-up and Production Ownership

• Lead post-silicon bring-up and debug, working closely with firmware, software, and validation teams.

• Drive rapid learning on first silicon and lead root-cause analysis for issues.

• Partner with manufacturing and test teams on yield, reliability, and production ramp.

• Own the transition from first silicon to stable, high-volume production.

Cross-functional Leadership

• Work directly with foundries, OSATs, and IP vendors on technical execution.

• Collaborate closely with system, board, and product teams to ensure silicon success.

• Communicate technical status, risks, and decisions clearly to leadership.

You may be a good fit if you have

• 10+ years of semiconductor design experience.

• Proven experience shipping at least one complex SoC or ASIC into production.

• Strong technical depth across the full silicon lifecycle, including:

• SoC architecture and microarchitecture

• RTL design and verification

• Physical design, timing, power, and closure

• DFT, test, yield, and reliability

• Post-silicon bring-up and debug

• Ability to dive deep into details while maintaining chip-level perspective.

• Strong technical judgment and ownership mindset.

Strong candidates may also have experience with (Nice-to-have qualifications)

• Prior experience as a Chip Lead, SoC Lead, or senior technical lead at a top-tier semiconductor company.

• Experience with high performance compute, AI accelerators, or large-scale SoCs.

• Experience with advanced nodes and/or advanced packaging.

• Familiarity with CoWoS or other 2.5D/3D packaging technologies.

Benefits

• Full medical, dental, and vision packages, with generous premium coverage

• Housing subsidy of $2,000/month for those living within walking distance of the office

• Daily lunch and dinner in our office

• Relocation support for those moving to San Jose (Santana Row)

How we’re different

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We think most of the progress in the AI field has come from using more FLOPs to train and run models, and the best way to get more FLOPs is to build model-specific hardware. Larger and larger training runs encourage companies to consolidate around fewer model architectures, which creates a market for single-model ASICs.

We are a fully in-person team in San Jose (Santana Row), and greatly value engineering skills. We do not have boundaries between engineering and research, and we expect all of our technical staff to contribute to both as needed.