Head of SoC Architecture

About Etched
Etched is building the world’s first AI inference system purpose-built for transformers - delivering over 10x higher performance and dramatically lower cost and latency than a B200. With Etched ASICs, you can build products that would be impossible with GPUs, like real-time video generation models and extremely deep & parallel chain-of-thought reasoning agents. Backed by hundreds of millions from top-tier investors and staffed by leading engineers, Etched is redefining the infrastructure layer for the fastest growing industry in history.

Job Summary
We are hiring a Head of SoC Architecture to lead our architecture team driving Etched’s next-generation AI inference systems. This is not an incremental optimization role. You will own the end-to-end architectural direction for transformer-specific silicon, from high-level workload modeling and dataflow strategy to subsystem definition and SoC integration tradeoffs. You will set the standard for architectural rigor, performance modeling, and long-term technical differentiation.

You will partner closely with ASIC, software, and system leadership to ensure our chips and full systems deliver step-function improvements in performance. This is a foundational role shaping Etched’s long-term technical moat.

Key Responsibilities
Team Building and Technical Leadership

• Build and lead a world-class architecture team

• Establish architectural review processes and quality standards

• Mentor senior architects and cultivate deep bench strength in modeling and innovation

Architectural Vision and Strategy

• Define the multi-generation SoC architecture roadmap aligned to transformer evolution and emerging inference workloads

• Drive macro-architectural tradeoffs across compute, memory hierarchy, interconnect, I/O, and system topology

• Establish clear performance, power, and area targets grounded in workload-level modeling

Transformer-Optimized Compute Architecture

• Lead dataflow, scheduling, and memory architecture decisions for large-scale transformer inference

• Translate model characteristics into hardware primitives that maximize throughput and minimize latency

• Identify architectural innovations that unlock new classes of real-time and agentic workloads

Performance Modeling and Analysis

• Oversee cycle-accurate simulation, analytical modeling, and workload characterization

• Build frameworks that connect model-level metrics to silicon-level constraints

• Ensure architectural decisions are quantitatively justified rather than intuition-driven

SoC Integration and Cross-Functional Leadership

• Partner with RTL, verification, physical design, firmware, and system software teams to ensure architectural feasibility

• Own architectural specifications, interface definitions, and subsystem boundaries

• Resolve cross-functional tradeoffs across power delivery, floorplan constraints, packaging, and bring-up realities

You may be a good fit if you have

• 12+ years of experience in computer architecture and ASIC design, with demonstrated ownership of complex SoC architectures

• Proven leadership defining high-performance compute or accelerator architectures

• Deep understanding of memory hierarchies, interconnects, compute pipelines, and system bottlenecks

• Experience driving architectural decisions through tapeout and silicon bring-up

• Strong background in performance modeling and workload-driven design

• Experience with AI/ML accelerator architectures or large-scale compute systems

• Strong intuition for power, area, and frequency tradeoffs at advanced process nodes

• Familiarity with cycle-accurate simulators and architectural modeling tools

• Ability to translate high-level workload requirements into microarchitectural specifications

Benefits

• Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage

  • $500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits

• Housing subsidy of $2k 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 and dinner in our office

How we’re different

Etched believes in the