Firmware Manager

About Etched

Etched is building AI chips that are hard-coded for individual model architectures. Our first product (Sohu) only supports transformers, but has an order of magnitude more throughput and lower 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.

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.
  

You may be a good fit if you have

• Proven experience (5+ years) managing firmware or embedded software engineering teams, with direct experience in developing firmware for complex ASICs, SoCs, FPGAs, or similar hardware.

• Demonstrated track record of attracting, developing, mentoring, and retaining firmware/embedded engineering talent, building high-performing, diverse, and motivated teams.

• Strong architectural understanding across firmware/embedded areas: C/C++ for embedded systems, RTOS/bare-metal development, bootloaders, Root of Trust, low-level hardware initialization.

• Experience with low-level interfaces like I2C, SPI, JTAG.

• Experience managing the full firmware development lifecycle (specification, design, implementation, test, release, maintenance).

• Track record of successfully delivering complex firmware for new hardware platforms, including active participation in silicon bring-up and debugging.

• Excellent leadership, communication, and interpersonal skills with the ability to lead firmware efforts and influence cross-functional teams.

• Strong problem-solving and debugging skills applied to complex hardware/firmware interactions, proficiency with tools like logic analyzers, oscilloscopes, and debug probes.

• Experience with firmware development best practices, source control (Git), and CI/CD methodologies applied to embedded development.
  

Strong candidates may also have

• Direct experience with firmware development and/or validation for AI/ML accelerators or custom data-center accelerator ASICs.

• Experience developing or integrating firmware diagnostics and provisioning tools into high-volume manufacturing environments (factory test, system-level test).

• Deep expertise in system security concepts relevant to firmware, threat modeling, secure coding practices, and cryptography implementation.

• Experience with on-chip debug infrastructure and tools.

• Familiarity with server contract manufacturers (CMs) in APAC and collaborating on manufacturing firmware deployment.
  

Ideal Background

• Current Firmware Development Managers/Directors (or similar titles) from semiconductor, ASIC development, server/storage hardware, or cloud infrastructure companies.

• Senior technical firmware leads or architects with demonstrated leadership capabilities, strong mentorship skills, and readiness for a management role.

• Managers who have led teams responsible for delivering foundational firmware for complex ASICs/SoCs or hardware systems, including silicon bring-up, feature development, and enabling manufacturing test.

• Individuals with a strong track record of building and managing teams focused on firmware development, emphasizing technical excellence, quality, security, and talent development within the embedded systems domain.
  

Benefits

• Full medical, dental, and vision packages, with 100% of premium covered

• Housing subsidy of $2,000/month for those living within walking distance of the office

• Daily lunch and dinner in our office

• Relocation support for those moving to West San Jose
  

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.