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Post-Silicon Validation Engineer

Etched· ASIC
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San Jose$160k - $350kFull-timePosted 3mo ago

About the role

Post-Silicon Validation Engineer to bring up, validate, and characterize ASICs from first silicon through production ramp, ensuring functional correctness, performance, and reliability of AI/ML accelerator hardware.

Responsibilities

  • Drive early bring-up of first silicon, including boot, initialization, and debug of ASICs.
  • Perform deep-dive debug of silicon issues across RTL, firmware, and system levels.
  • Collaborate closely with design, verification, and board teams to root-cause and resolve functional and electrical issues.
  • Validate and characterize custom IP blocks and accelerator components.
  • Execute functional and performance validation of compute units and specialized processing elements.
  • Conduct IP-level and full-chip stress testing and corner case analysis to ensure robust operation.
  • Develop and extend post-silicon validation infrastructure, automation, and test suites.
  • Implement efficient result capture, analysis, and regression frameworks.
  • Utilize lab instrumentation (oscilloscopes, analyzers, BERTs, pattern generators) for detailed signal and system characterization.
  • Define validation strategies and coverage metrics across design blocks and subsystems.
  • Partner with RTL, DFT, ATE, firmware, and system architecture teams to ensure smooth transition from pre-silicon verification to post-silicon validation.
  • Provide critical feedback on test escapes, yield issues, and silicon errata, influencing silicon revisions and firmware/driver workarounds.

Qualifications

  • 7+ years of experience in post-silicon validation, bring-up, and debug of ASICs (preferably including AI/ML accelerators)
  • Proven expertise in early silicon bring-up, debug, and validation
  • Deep knowledge of peripheral interfaces and board-level debug
  • Proficiency in C, Python, and scripting for validation automation
  • Hands-on expertise with oscilloscopes, logic/protocol analyzers, and other validation lab tools
  • Familiarity with firmware, bootloaders, and low-level silicon debug environments
  • Strong problem-solving, analytical, and collaboration skills across hardware and software teams
  • Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field (Master's preferred)

Skills

Required:Post-silicon bring-up and debugRTL, firmware, and system-level debuggingPeripheral interfaces and board-level debugC, Python, and scripting for automationLab instrumentationProblem-solving and collaboration
Nice to have:Firmware/bootloaders

Benefits

  • Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage
  • $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits
  • Housing subsidy of $2.5k per month for those living within walking distance of the office
  • Relocation support for those moving to San Jose (Santana Row)
  • Various wellness benefits covering fitness, mental health, and more
  • Daily lunch + dinner in our office
  • Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification
Last updated Oct 15, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.
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About Etched

Etched is building frontier inference clusters: co-designs chips, racks, software and manufacturing to push the pareto frontier for AI hardware.

frontier inference clustersAI hardwarechipsrackssoftwaremanufacturingparto frontier
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