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

Etched is hiring an experienced PCB DFM Engineer to own the interface between hardware design and PCB fabrication vendors.

You will be responsible for ensuring that Etched's most complex board designs are manufacturable, driving DFM reviews, material selections, and stackup decisions that align design intent with fab capabilities. This includes high-layer-count boards, advanced materials, and tight tolerances across accelerator and power delivery applications. This is a highly cross-functional role, working closely with US-based hardware design teams, fab vendors, and manufacturing operations.

Key responsibilities

• Own PCB DFM. Review designs against fab vendor capabilities and drive closure on manufacturability issues.

• Work directly with PCB fabrication vendors to evaluate stackup options, lamination structures, material selections, and process constraints.

• Qualify new PCB materials, constructions, and form factors required for next-generation designs. Assess vendor readiness and risk.

• Communicate fab constraints and DFM feedback to US hardware design teams. Surface tradeoffs early to minimize design iterations.

• Ensure alignment between design specifications (impedance, layer counts, via structures, tolerances) and vendor manufacturing capabilities.

• Support NPI builds by coordinating with fab vendors on prototype and pilot lot execution, yield feedback, and process improvements.

You may be a good fit if you have (Must-have qualifications)

• 5+ years of experience in PCB fabrication engineering, DFM, or PCB process engineering.

• Deep knowledge of high-layer-count PCB fabrication, including lamination cycles, sub-laminations, sequential builds, HDI structures, and advanced via technologies.

• Experience working directly with PCB fab vendors on material selection, stackup development, and process qualification.

• Understanding of signal integrity and power delivery constraints that drive PCB design decisions.

• Strong communication skills across engineering and manufacturing teams, including experience working across time zones.

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

• Advanced PCB materials (low-loss laminates, high-Tg materials, hybrid stackups)

• Via-in-pad, backdrilling, and other advanced interconnect techniques

• High-speed design requirements for 112G+ SerDes, HBM, or similar interfaces

• PCB vendor qualification and audit processes

• Server or datacenter hardware programs

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

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.