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 both prefill and decode workloads. Our first products are heavily focused on inference. 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.
Key responsibilities
Develop comprehensive performance models and projections for our architecture across varying workloads and configurations
Profile and analyze deep learning workloads on our hardware to identify micro-architectural bottlenecks and influence optimization opportunities
Drive hardware/software co-optimization by identifying where architectural features can unlock performance improvements
Run regressions and validate performance models against real systems and silicon
Inform next-generation architectural decisions by pathfinding across system and silicon options during design, proof-of-concept, and architecting phases
You may be a good fit if you have at least one of the following:
Strong performance modeling and analysis skills with experience building analytical-based or simulation-based performance models
Solid understanding of computer architecture and micro-architecture, particularly for accelerators
Experience profiling and analyzing deep learning workloads on hardware accelerators (GPUs, TPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, or others)
Solid software engineering fundamentals with an eye toward auditability and maintainability
Strong candidates may also have
Deep knowledge of GPU architectures and/or programming models like CUDA
Experience mapping models to multi-chip inference systems
Familiarity with transformer model architectures and inference serving optimizations
Experience with architecture simulators and performance modeling tools (gem5, trace-driven simulators, custom models)
Exposure to ASIC, FPGA, or CGRA-based accelerator development and hardware/software co-design principles
Published research in computer architecture, ML systems, or hardware acceleration
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 + dinner in our office
Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification
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, unlike many of our competitors.
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 and work across disciplines as needed.
Skills Required
- Deep expertise in computer architecture and micro-architecture
- Strong performance modeling and analysis skills
- Experience optimizing deep learning workloads on hardware accelerators
- Strong understanding of hardware/software co-design principles
- Solid foundation in digital circuit design
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.
