Senior Firmware Engineer, Etched
Office located in Cupertino, CA
Designing specialized chips for language model inference
Open for applications
Designing specialized chips for language model inference
21-100 employees
Open for applications
Office located in Cupertino, CA
21-100 employees
Company mission
To create the world’s most powerful servers for transformer inference.
Role
Who you are
- Strong programming skills in C++, Rust, and/or Python
- Experience with embedded systems, high-performance computing or distributed systems
- Deep understanding of computer architecture and operating systems
- Passion for AI and a desire to make a real-world impact
- Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience
- 8 years of experience in software development, and with data structures/algorithms
- 5 years of experience testing, and launching software products, and 3 years of experience with software design and architecture
- 5 years of experience with firmware design, implementation, and troubleshooting
- 5 years of experience with embedded architectures, IO technologies (I2C, SPI, PCIe, DRAM etc.), as well as concepts like scalability, fault tolerance, and consistency
Desirable
- Master’s degree or PhD in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field
- 3 years of experience in a technical leadership role leading project teams and setting technical direction
- Experience with Java or Go, with the ability to resolve customer-related issues
- Experienced in developing solutions to ambiguous problems with significant impact
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
What the job involves
- We're searching for passionate software engineers to join our fast growing team
- You'll have the opportunity to:
- Design cutting-edge software optimizing the performance of our Sohu chip and unlocking the full potential of very large transformer models
- Co-Develop with a world-class team of hardware and software engineers to push the boundaries of AI technology
- Solve challenging problems across the full stack, from low-level drivers and APIs to high-level applications and frameworks
- Review code developed by other engineers and provide feedback to ensure best practices (e.g., style guidelines, checking code in, accuracy, testability, and efficiency)
- Contribute to the development of AI solutions that will revolutionize industries like natural language processing, chain of reasoning automation, generative media
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Company
Company benefits
- Competitive Salary and Equity - We offer a competitive salary and equity package that aligns with industry standards
- Benefits - Your wellbeing is important to us. We offer unlimited PTO, life insurance, and a 401(k)
- Full Insurance Coverage - Our insurance includes full medical, dental, and vision with 100% of premium covered
Funding (2 rounds)
Jun 2024
$120m
SERIES A
May 2023
$5.4m
SEED
Total funding: $125.4m
Our take
With AI developing rapidly, the chips that power them are doing so too. The computing requirements of technologies such as Chat GPT will increasingly require customised, hard-wired chips called ASICS, designed specially for the execution of AI models. Whilst GPUs are currently used for AI computing, Etched is making a bet on AI-hardwired chips becoming the predominant powering force of AI.
It’s a gamble, the founders themselves know that if transformers become obsolete, so will their AI-powering product. The SOHU chip that Etched builds differs from GPUs in that it has the AI architecture etched into the chip itself. General Processing Units are “general” and costly, so Etched is betting on specialised transformers taking their place in the near future.
Investors are drawn to Etched’s boldness. The 2022-founded company achieved $120 million in Series A funding just two years into its life. Etched plans to use this to become a main competitor of GPU company Nvidia, and claims to be 20 times faster than the latter’s AI-powering general processor - and significantly less costly too. Time will tell if Etched’s exciting and potentially revolutionary bet on tailored AI chips and transformers pays off.
Steph
Company Specialist at Welcome to the Jungle