Etched
Silicon Validation Engineer, Software
About this role
Etched seeks a Silicon Validation Firmware Engineer to develop and own low-level validation firmware and test infrastructure for AI/ML accelerator ASICs, spanning pre-silicon emulation through post-silicon bring-up, debug, and production ramp. You will write bare-metal C/C++ firmware, build hardware abstraction layers and device drivers, execute deep silicon debug across firmware and electrical layers, and collaborate with design and verification teams to ensure silicon correctness and performance.
What you'll do
- Develop low-level validation firmware in C/C++ for emulation and physical silicon, creating reusable test content across pre- and post-silicon stages
- Drive first silicon bring-up including boot, initialization, feature enablement, and multi-layer debugging of ASIC failures
- Build firmware infrastructure: hardware abstraction layers, device drivers for compute units, memory subsystems, and high-speed interfaces
- Develop and scale validation automation, result-capture, and regression frameworks using CI/CD practices
- Author test plans and coverage metrics; execute functional, performance, and stress testing across IP blocks
- Debug using JTAG, UART, logic analyzers, and lab instruments; collaborate with design, verification, and driver teams on silicon issues
What they're looking for
- C/C++ firmware and bare-metal development
- Python scripting and validation automation
- SoC/computer architecture (CPUs, memory, caches, interconnects)
- Linux kernel and embedded systems fundamentals
- Hardware abstraction layers and device driver development
- JTAG, debuggers, and serial console debugging
- CI/CD validation frameworks and regression testing
- High-speed interfaces (PCIe, DDR, SerDes, chiplet interconnect)
Benefits
- Medical, dental, and vision coverage with generous premiums
Opens the application — the Jobs AI extension fills it for you. Set up autofill
Opens the official application on the employer’s site. No login required.
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
- Describe your experience bringing up silicon from scratch—what were the biggest challenges and how did you debug multi-layer issues across firmware, RTL, and electrical?
- Walk us through how you would architect a validation firmware framework to be reused across pre-silicon emulation, FPGA prototyping, and post-silicon hardware.