Product Quality Engineer

About Etched

Etched is building hardware for frontier intelligence. We co-design chips, racks, software, and manufacturing to deliver best-in-class throughput and latency across both prefill and decode workloads. Our first products are heavily focused on inference. 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

Etched is hiring a Product Quality Engineer based in the US to ensure robust quality systems across our suppliers, domestic contract manufacturing and integration partners (L10 server, L11 rack). You will own quality assurance for our advanced AI hardware builds—driving inspection and test strategies, resolving systemic issues, and ensuring that every system leaving the factory meets Etched’s standards for performance and reliability.

This role will collaborate closely with Manufacturing Operations, Supply Chain, and Test Engineering, serving as the bridge between Etched HQ and factory teams. It is ideal for someone who enjoys being hands-on in the factory, while also establishing the scalable quality processes needed to support high-volume production.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead quality assurance across semiconductor (ASIC/chip), PCB/A, L6 component suppliers, L10 server manufacturers, and L11 rack integration partners in both the US and overseas.

• Establish and maintain robust IQC, IPQC, and OQC processes, including inspection criteria, control plans, and quality gates across incoming materials, PCB/A manufacturing, system assembly, and rack integration.

• Partner with suppliers and contract manufacturers to oversee SMT processes, including SPI, AOI, and X-ray inspection, ensuring process capability and defect prevention throughout PCB/A production.

• Partner with Test Engineering to define system-level test coverage, burn-in protocols, reliability validation, and production acceptance criteria.

• Drive failure analysis, root-cause investigations, and structured corrective and preventive actions using 8D, CAPA, and FMEA methodologies.

• Track, analyze, and report quality metrics including yield, Cpk/SPC, defect density, escapes, and DPPM, driving data-based improvements with engineering and operations teams.

• Participate in ECO reviews, configuration changes, and NPI build reviews to establish and enforce quality gates throughout product introduction and production ramp.

• Conduct supplier audits and ensure adherence to applicable quality standards (ISO/AS, IPC) and Etched manufacturing requirements.

• Collaborate with Manufacturing Operations to improve line capability, documentation, training, process controls, and continuous improvement initiatives across suppliers and manufacturing partners.

You may be a good fit if you have (Must-have qualifications)

• 5+ years of experience in quality engineering, supplier quality, or manufacturing quality supporting ASIC/chip, semiconductor, PCB/A, server, or other high-performance hardware products.

• Hands-on experience supporting quality across L6 components, L10 server assembly, and L11 rack integration in partnership with Tier 1 contract manufacturers and/or ODMs.

• Strong working knowledge of PCB/A manufacturing processes, including SMT, SPI, AOI, and X-ray inspection, with the ability to drive process improvements alongside manufacturing partners.

• Demonstrated experience establishing and managing IQC, IPQC, and OQC quality systems in high-volume manufacturing environments.

• Deep knowledge of structured quality methodologies including 8D, CAPA, FMEA, SPC, Cpk, control plans, and statistical process control.

• Experience tracking and improving manufacturing quality metrics such as yield, DPPM, defect density, and production escapes.

• Familiarity with server assembly, burn-in, and system-level test workflows.

• Excellent cross-functional communication skills with the ability to drive alignment across engineering, operations, suppliers, and contract manufacturers.

• Comfortable working on-site at supplier and CM factories, resolving production issues in real time.

Strong candidates may also have experience with (Nice-to-have qualifications)

• Background in AI ASIC or high-performance compute hardware.

• Experience with L11 rack-level integration and validation.

• Exposure to thermal/power stress testing and system reliability engineering.

• Prior experience ramping high-complexity systems from NPI into mass production.

• Engineering background in electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, or industrial engineering.

• Experience developing supplier quality strategies for advanced compute hardware programs.

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

• Unlimited compute budget subject to ROI justification

How we’re different

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We are the first inference-focused frontier AI system, betting early on transformer and transformer-like architectures and on increasing model sizes. Our addressable market is the entirety of inference, unlike many of our competitors.

We are a fully in-person team in San Jose (Santana Row), and greatly value engineering skills. We do not have boundaries between engineering and research, and we expect all of our technical staff to contribute to both and work across disciplines as needed.