Lab Operations

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're looking for a motivated, detail-oriented lab operations team member to support Etched's hardware bring-up and validation efforts. This is a full-time, on-site role ideal for new grads or early-career candidates who want to grow into hardware operations at a fast-moving AI startup. No prior hardware lab experience is required — what matters is a strong work ethic, sharp attention to detail, and a willingness to learn quickly. In this role, you'll own the execution of our hardware screening and validation test suites, keep boards moving through the testing pipeline 24/7, and partner closely with our firmware and software engineers to triage failures, validate fixes, and improve test coverage over time. You'll be a key part of our lab operations team and play a direct role in getting Etched's chips from silicon to production

Key Responsibilities

• Execute hardware screening and validation procedures end-to-end: physically install boards on test stations, kick off test runs, monitor progress, and record outcomes against our internal database.

• Triage failing boards by reading test logs, identifying which test case failed and distinguishing real silicon failures from infrastructure issues like cooling, cabling, or known firmware regressions.

• Partner with firmware and software engineers to debug failures and identify gaps in the test suite so testing continues to get tighter and faster.

• Help improve and maintain lab infrastructure — test stations, cabling, cooling systems, and tooling — to keep the testing pipeline running smoothly.

• Maintain accurate, traceable records of every run: test run data links, board IDs, test case results, station assignments, and any rework or routing decisions for downstream teams.

• Communicate test status and blockers clearly in Slack so platform and software teams have real-time visibility.

You may be a good fit if you have

• A bachelor's degree in electrical engineering, computer engineering, computer science, physics, or a related technical field, or equivalent practical experience.

• 0–3 years of professional experience. New grads are encouraged to apply.

• Strong data collection and documentation habits. Accurate, traceable records are second nature to you and you don't cut corners on logging.

• A willingness to learn new technical domains quickly. You'll ramp up on ASIC screening workflows, test infrastructure, and failure analysis — we'll teach you, but you need to pick things up fast.

• Ability to monitor live test runs, catch irregularities early, and escalate or troubleshoot quickly to minimize downtime.

• Clear, concise written communication. You can summarize what you ran, what passed, what failed, and what you need next in a few lines of Slack.

• A strong work ethic and reliability. Lab operations requires coverage across shifts, and the team depends on you showing up and following through.

• Comfort working with engineers across firmware, software, and hardware to drive failures to root cause.

Strong candidates may also have experience with

• Prior experience in a hardware lab, fab, or test environment.

• Familiarity with Linux, git, and running builds from a specific commit.

• Exposure to PCIe, HBM, or accelerator bring-up.

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.