Etched
Applied AI Engineer, Kernel Performance
About this role
Etched seeks an Applied AI Engineer to build autonomous systems that transform new model architectures into optimized, production-ready kernels for proprietary inference hardware. You'll design AI agents that explore kernel design spaces, learn from performance signals, and iterate faster than traditional engineering workflows.
What you'll do
- Build AI agents that autonomously convert model architectures into verified, production-ready kernels and hardware mappings
- Design evaluation frameworks covering correctness, numerical stability, latency, and efficiency metrics
- Transform profiler traces, hardware counters, and expert feedback into structured learning signals for optimization models
- Curate proprietary datasets from complete optimization trajectories, expert demos, and production outcomes
- Ship model-generated improvements to production and measure their end-to-end system impact
- Build fast, reproducible experiment infrastructure with full observability and interpretability
What they're looking for
- Kernel optimization and low-level performance tuning
- Python and low-level programming languages
- AI/LLM agent development and agentic coding tools
- Hardware accelerator performance fundamentals
- Compiler and profiler data interpretation
- LLM-based production systems and orchestration
- Evaluation-driven methodology for AI systems
- Full-stack debugging across hardware-software layers
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage with generous premiums
- $500 monthly credit for waiving medical benefits
- Housing subsidy of $2,000 per month for those within walking distance of office
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Etched
Etched builds AI inference hardware, designing and manufacturing complex mechanical and electrical components for data center systems. The company is hiring mechanical engineers, PCB designers, hardware verification engineers, and software engineers to develop manufacturing processes, circuit boards, verification infrastructure, and internal tools across its hardware and operations.
- Website
- etched.com
Likely interview questions
- Walk us through a kernel you've optimized—what bottleneck did you target and how did you measure the improvement?
- How would you approach using an AI model to generate kernel implementations, and what would you do when its first attempt fails correctness or performance tests?