About Etched
Etched is building hardware for frontier intelligence. We co-design chips, racks, software, and manufacturing to deliver best-in-class throughput and latency across prefill and decode. Backed by hundreds of millions from top-tier investors and staffed by leading engineers, we're redefining the infrastructure layer for the fastest growing industry in history.
Job Summary
Etched's lab keeps our hardware running 24/7. Our chips, modules, and racks are constantly being tested, and we need sharp, reliable hands to make it happen. You'll run test stations, assemble and rework hardware, cable racks, manage inventory, and own the day-to-day operations that turn raw silicon into working systems. You will see how a frontier AI chip goes from a tray of parts to a running rack, and reliable, curious interns take on engineering work over time.
This role is for people genuinely excited about what we're building and willing to do real, often repetitive work with precision and care. Evening and weekend availability is a plus. This role is fully in-person in San Jose.
You may be a good fit if you:
Have extreme attention to detail
Interested in both software and hardware
Are excited about learning how a hardware company works end to end
Are comfortable with hands-on work
Have evening or weekend availability
Curiosity and bias to action — see what needs doing and figure it out
Strong candidates may also have:
Experience with software, mechanical engineering, or thermal systems
Understanding of accelerator hardware, or datacenter environments
Have owned or built hardware testing systems
We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every qualification.
Program details
12-week paid internship (June - August 2026)
Generous housing support for those relocating
Daily lunch and dinner in our office
Based at our office in San Jose, CA
Direct mentorship from industry leaders and world-class engineers
Opportunity to work on one of the most important problems of our time
For any questions, contact [email protected]
How we're different
Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We are the first inference-focused frontier AI system, betting early on transformer and transformer-like architectures and on increasing model sizes. Our addressable market is the entirety of inference.
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 and work across disciplines as needed.
Skills Required
- Extreme attention to detail
- Interest in both software and hardware
- Excitement about learning how a hardware company operates end to end
- Comfort with hands-on work
- Evening or weekend availability
- Curiosity and bias to action
- Experience with software, mechanical engineering, or thermal systems
- Understanding of accelerator hardware or datacenter environments
- Experience owning or building hardware testing systems
Etched Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Etched and has not been reviewed or approved by Etched.
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Equity Value & Accessibility — Equity growth is described as strong and significant equity is part of the package. High total compensation for technical roles reinforces the equity-led upside.
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Healthcare Strength — Medical, dental, and vision coverage include generous premium support, indicating robust core healthcare. This reduces employee cost exposure for essential coverage.
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Wellbeing & Lifestyle Benefits — Daily lunch and dinner, a housing subsidy for those living near the office, relocation support, and wellness perks are highlighted. These offerings lower day-to-day living costs and support practical wellbeing.
Etched Insights
What We Do
By burning the transformer architecture into our chips, we’re creating the world’s most powerful servers for transformer inference.
