Principal Design Verification Engineer, Etched
$192-250k
More information about location
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
$192-250k
More information about location
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
- Master’s degree or foreign equivalent degree in Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical Engineering, or a related field and 3 years of work experience as Hardware Engineer II, Hardware Engineer III, Silicon Engineer III, Sr. Silicon Engineer, ASIC Design Verification Engineer, Staff Design Verification Engineer, Principal Design Verification Engineer, or a related occupation required
- The required work experience must include 2 years of experience with the following:
- UVM (Universal Verification Methodology)
- Testbench development
- EDA tool: Synopsys VCS
- System Verilog
- AXI (Advanced eXtensible Interface); and
- ASIC Development
What the job involves
- Develop ASIC testbenches using advanced verification methodologies such as UVM to verify the correct functionality of microchip design
- Implement micro-architecture and RTL specifications using System Verilog and maintain the verification environment for the specialized AI microchips, considering system-level test scenarios and coverage plans
- Execute functional and performance verification of microchip design, employing synthesized netlists, coverage models, and tools such as Synopsys VCS and Verdi. Work in close collaboration with the design and architecture teams to ensure the design meets all functional and performance requirements
- Apply static and dynamic methods to ensure design timing closure. This includes running static timing analysis tools, analyzing the results, and identifying solutions
- Utilize formal verification tools for equivalence checking between RTL and gate-level netlists of microchip design. Interpret the results, identify any mismatches and work with the design team to correct them
- Define and implement assertions and checkers at module and chip-level to ensure correct functionality and signal integrity of microchip design
- Perform debugging of microchip using waveforms and log files and collaborate with the design team to address the root causes of any identified issues
- Write scripts and utilities to automate various verification tasks. Employ programming languages such as Python to automate testbench generation, test case generation, and results analysis
- Participate in meetings related to the verification of the microchip. Understand issues related to the design verification. Take responsibility to follow up on any required actions based on the verbal description of the work required
- Document and present the verification plan, progress towards the plan, and coverage analysis for design signoff. Write reports on the verification process and maintain up-to-date documentation for all aspects of verification
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
Insights
Few candidates hear
back within 2 weeks
Company
Funding (2 rounds)
Jun 2024
$120m
SERIES A
May 2023
$5.4m
SEED
Total funding: $125.4m
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
Company HQ
Cupertino, CA
Articles
Leadership
Robert Wachen
(COO & Co-Founder)Also the Co-Founder of Prod and Mentor Labs, Birthday Cakes 4 Free Maryland and Generate Sales Online.
Gavin Uberti
(CEO & Co-Founder)Previously Software Engineer at OctoML, Algorithms and BAckend Engineer at Coursedog and was a Software Engineer Intern at Xnor.ai.
Chris Zhu
(Co-Founder)Was a Teaching Fellow at Harvard and a Software Engineering Intern at Amazon and AvantStay. Was an Analyst at Harvard Undergraduate Capital Partners.
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