Firmware Manager

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

Lead the Firmware development team for Etched's groundbreaking Inference Accelerator ASIC. As Senior Firmware Manager, you will guide a talented team of engineers responsible for the entire firmware stack powering our accelerator, including bootloaders, PCI Express performance, ML kernel optimization, power management and security / attestation. Key responsibilities include attracting and developing world-class firmware talent, guiding the firmware technical strategy and architecture, driving quality execution from silicon bring-up through high-volume production, and collaborating closely with ASIC design, hardware platform, system software, validation, and manufacturing partners to deliver robust, high-performance, and secure firmware predictably.

Key responsibilities

• Team Leadership & Talent Development : Lead, manage, and inspire a high-caliber team of firmware engineers.
• Team Building : Build and scale a world-class firmware team. Attract, hire, and retain, top-tier engineering talent specializing in embedded systems and firmware.
• Technical Strategy & Roadmap : Guide and drive the technical strategy and ASIC firmware development roadmap.
• Coach and Mentor : Actively coach and mentor team members, fostering professional growth through challenging assignments, targeted development plans, and continuous feedback. Cultivate a team culture focused on firmware excellence, quality, and results.
• Execution & Delivery : Oversee the end-to-end firmware development lifecycle - including requirements definition, design, implementation, unit testing, integration, validation support, and release management. Ensure timely delivery of high-quality firmware releases aligned with hardware and software milestones.
• Silicon Bring-Up Leadership : Play a critical role in silicon bring-up activities, providing firmware expertise and leading debugging efforts in close collaboration with hardware and validation teams.
• Firmware Validation Collaboration : Partner closely with ASIC validation teams to define firmware test plans, review test results, and ensure comprehensive validation coverage.
• Cross-Functional Collaboration : Partner effectively with ASIC design, hardware platform engineering, system software development, validation teams, and external manufacturing partners to address system-level challenges.
• Firmware Release Management : Oversee maintenance, version control, and release process for validated firmware builds.
• Resource Management : Manage project priorities, deadlines, and resources effectively across multiple concurrent projects and deliverables.

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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 West San Jose, 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.