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Firmware Engineer

Own the accelerator software for cutting-edge chips at a frontier AI startup in San Jose.

Location
San Jose
Compensation
Not disclosed
Level
mid
Type
full time · On-site

Posted by employer 5 months ago

First seen on Joblaze 1 month ago

Last verified on the company career page 22 hours ago

Apply at Etched → Save job Scanned from etched.com

What you'll build

  • Develop ASIC software
  • Collaborate on microcontroller architecture
  • Implement host-side kernel and drivers
  • Manage firmware for power sequencing
  • Validate on-chip application software

Must have

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
  • Strong software development fundamentals
  • Experience shipping and testing software
  • Depth in firmware design and debugging
  • Familiarity with embedded architectures

Nice to have

  • Master's degree in Computer Science
  • Experience with hardware bring-up
  • Experience solving ambiguous problems
  • Knowledge of low-level computer architecture
  • Strong communication skills

Requirements

Education
Bachelor's degree

Not disclosed in this posting: compensation, years of experience, visa sponsorship.

Benefits

Wellness Benefits Daily Meals Housing Subsidy Unlimited Compute Budget Health Insurance Relocation Assistance

Joblaze summary

The Accelerator Software Engineer at Etched is responsible for developing the software that enables the functionality of their advanced chips, focusing on firmware, on-die software, and kernel-level interfaces. This role requires strong expertise in firmware design and debugging, along with familiarity with embedded architectures and various IO technologies. Ideal candidates are those with a solid software development background and experience in shipping production software, particularly in environments that demand cross-disciplinary collaboration. Etched emphasizes a hands-on approach, encouraging engineers to engage deeply with both software and hardware aspects.

Joblaze insights

  • Listed about a month ago — first seen on Joblaze September 21, 2026. Last confirmed on Etched's careers page November 6, 2026.
  • This exact title is also open at 1 other location at Etched: Austin.
  • Linux appears in 4.3% of 466 comparable mid ai/ml roles in United States; HBM appears in 0.2% of 466 comparable mid ai/ml roles in United States.

Quick facts

Is the Firmware Engineer role remote?
No — this is an on-site role in San Jose.
Where is the role based?
Etched is hiring for this position in San Jose.
What's the tech stack?
Joblaze extracted these technologies from the posting: ASIC, DMA, DRAM, Ethernet, Firmware, HBM.
What seniority level is this role?
Etched targets mid-level candidates for this position.
Is this full-time or contract?
Full-time for this Firmware Engineer role at Etched.

From the original posting

Job Summary

This role owns the accelerator software that turns our custom hardware into an inference system. You'll work across the stack from first power-on through inference execution: bringing CPUs and boards to life, moving data between host and device, and translating inference requests into low-level operations that execute directly on the accelerator. The work spans ASIC software, platform firmware, and host-side kernel and drivers. We hire engineers who are deep in one area and curious about the others.

 

This role spans across three work areas. You would specialize in one and contribute across the others as the team grows:

  • ASIC Software — Build the software that runs directly on the accelerator. Work includes CPU initialization, RTOS, boot ROMs and bootloaders, MMU and IO drivers, ASIC/FW architecture and co-design, and on-device inference execution. Translate inference software requests into low-level device operations and scheduling decisions at nanosecond-level timescales to minimize overhead for highly interactive MoE and dense models.

  • Platform Software — Build the microcontroller and FPGA firmware that brings our custom hardware from powered off to operational. Own areas including power sequencing, board bring-up, telemetry, firmware updates, thermal and power management, and fault detection and recovery. Work directly with hardware engineers through schematic design, bring-up, validation, and production.

  • Host-side Kernel and Drivers — Build the software that connects the accelerator to the host and exposes it to the inference stack. Work includes Linux kernel and device drivers, PCIe and DMA, high-speed peripheral interfaces, memory management, FLR and virtualization/SR-IOV, and high-throughput, low-latency ring-buffer command flows.

You may be a good fit if you have

  • Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.

  • Strong C/C++ and software engineering fundamentals.

  • Experience building and debugging low-level software that interacts directly with hardware.

  • Depth in one or more of firmware, embedded systems, device runtimes, operating systems, or kernel/driver development.

  • Experience shipping software on real hardware into production.

  • Familiarity with technologies such as ARM, PCIe, DMA, HBM, DRAM, Ethernet, UART, RTOS, or FPGA systems.

  • Strong systems intuition around performance, concurrency, memory, reliability, and fault handling.

  • Hardware bring-up experience on a new chip or board.

  • Experience with boot ROMs, secure boot, MMUs, RTOS, or CPU initialization.

  • Experience with PCIe virtualization, FLR, SR-IOV, DMA, ring buffers, or high-speed device communication.

  • Experience building accelerator runtimes, schedulers, command processors, or other latency-critical execution systems.

  • Experience using architecture details such as caching, memory hierarchy, or on-chip fabrics to make software decisions at nanosecond-level timescales.

  • Experience solving ambiguous problems where the hardware and software architecture evolve together.

  • Strong communication across firmware, hardware, architecture, kernel, and inference teams.

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage

    • $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits

  • Housing subsidy of $2,500 per month for those living within walking distance of the office

  • Daily lunch + dinner in our office

  • Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification

 

 

Standard company text repeated across Etched's postings is omitted here.

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