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 a versatile Manufacturing Mechanical Engineer. You will own the seamless product introduction from prototype through high-volume ramp, with a strong focus on custom mechanical components and the tooling required to produce them at quality and scale.

This is an outbound, supplier-facing role. You will work directly with Taiwan-based tooling and manufacturing suppliers to drive the readiness of hard and soft tooling for custom components (bracket trees, backside stiffeners, custom tray designs, 4U tray assemblies, and rack chassis). When technical issues arise with tooling, quality, or design on custom parts, you will be responsible for rapid resolution and proactively improving processes to prevent issues before they occur. The scope of this role will grow significantly as we move to next-generation full-rack-level designs, requiring close partnership with suppliers on new tooling development and manufacturing processes

Key Responsibilities

• Lead NPI and sustaining engineering activities on the mechanical side, from proto builds through volume ramp.

• Drive Design for Manufacturing (DFM) reviews for mechanical parts, enclosures, and cooling systems to ensure scalable and cost-effective builds.

• Partner with Suppliers, CMs, and ODMs to qualify new materials, processes, and tooling.

• Perform and quality control tolerance stack-up analysis, fit checks, and DOE studies for critical assemblies.

• Work with hardware and thermal teams to optimize mechanical design for cooling, reliability, and manufacturability.

• Own tooling, fixtures, and process validation for mechanical subassemblies and system integration.

• Review and influence Process FMEA and Design FMEA for mechanical systems.

• Develop, release, and maintain product documentation and manufacturing specifications.

• Provide leadership in complex issue resolution and supplier technical capability development.

You may be a good fit if you have

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering or a related field.

• 5+ years of experience in manufacturing, mechanical design, product design, or equivalent

• Proven experience in enclosure/electro-mechanical system builds, thermals, cables, interconnects, fasteners, hoses, and mechanical DFM.

• Knowledge of manufacturing processes, including CNC machining, sheet metal, die casting, plastic molding, and cooling solutions.

• Hands-on experience with CAD/CAE tools (NX, SolidWorks, etc) and GD&T practices.

• Strong problem-solving skills with a focus on yield, manufacturability, quality, failure analysis, and cost optimization.

• Experience collaborating with suppliers, CMs, ODMs, and Tier 2 suppliers

• Familiarity with process validation, DOE, reliability testing, and FA.

• Strong communication and teamwork skills to collaborate effectively with cross-functional teams.

Benefits

• Competitive compensation packages, including generous equity packages

• Comprehensive insurance coverage and other top-of-market benefits

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.