Printed Circuit Board DFM Engineer

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 hiring a Printed Circuit Board (PCB) DFM Engineer to drive fabrication excellence across complex, high-performance hardware systems. In this role, you will operate at the intersection of PCB design and fabrication, ensuring world-class quality, yield, reliability, and scalability.

You will collaborate closely with electrical engineers, PCB layout designers, and fabrication partners to influence designs from early architecture through mass production. This role requires deep technical expertise in multilayer PCB fabrication processes, strong cross-functional leadership, and rigorous execution to ensure manufacturability and long-term platform success.

Key Responsibilities
DFM Leadership

• Drive PCB fabrication DFM reviews for complex multilayer boards

• Partner with EE and layout teams to ensure manufacturability, yield optimization, and cost efficiency early in the design cycle

• Develop and enforce PCB fabrication design guidelines aligned with supplier process capabilities

• Review and optimize stack-ups, material selection, controlled impedance structures, via strategies (blind/buried/microvia), copper balancing, and panelization

• Analyze fabrication drawings, Gerber data, and documentation to ensure DFM compliance prior to release

• Drive continuous improvement initiatives to enhance fabrication yield, reliability, and cost structure

• Own process qualification and adoption of advanced PCB fabrication technologies addressing evolving SI, PDN, and thermal-mechanical performance requirements

• Define technology roadmaps, drive vendor engagements, and implement architectural design practices optimizing performance, cost, and manufacturability

• Stay current with emerging PCB fabrication technologies, advanced materials, and process innovations

Design Validation Leadership

• Lead root cause analysis for fabrication-related defects and implement corrective actions

• Support NPI builds and production ramp from a fabrication-readiness perspective

Supplier Execution

• Partner with supplier engineering teams to define process development plans, secure resources, and align schedules with program milestones

• Assess supplier readiness for build events and production ramp; proactively identify risks and implement mitigation plans

• Provide onsite technical leadership during line bring-up, pilot builds, and ramp readiness activities

• Ensure supplier process capability meets defined quality, cost, and delivery targets for mass production

You may be a good fit if you have

• Experience supporting L6–L11 data center compute platforms, HPC systems, or high-layer-count server motherboards and accelerator PCBs

• Deep expertise in multilayer PCB fabrication, including advanced stack-up architecture, HDI/microvia structures, backdrilling, sequential lamination, and controlled impedance design

• Strong understanding of SI/PI-driven fabrication constraints, including high-speed channel routing, low-loss material selection, copper roughness impact, and power delivery integrity

• Experience driving comprehensive PCB DFM reviews covering stack-ups, drill structures, annular ring design, aspect ratios, copper balancing, panelization strategy, and fabrication tolerances

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage

• $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits

• Housing subsidy of $2k per month for those living within walking distance of the office

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

• Various wellness benefits covering fitness, mental health, and more

• Daily lunch and dinner in our office

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 and Taipei, 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.