PCB Rework Technician

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

We are seeking a highly skilled PCB Rework Technician with advanced capabilities in large BGA rework (including components >70mm) and complex board-level repairs involving fine-pitch components down to 0402. This role is critical to supporting engineering, validation, and bring-up efforts by performing high-reliability rework on advanced PCBs, including those supporting our chips.

Key responsibilities

• Perform precision rework and re-balling of very-large BGAs (large chip packages > 70 mm) with high first-pass yield.

• Operate large-format BGA rework systems, ensuring exact alignment, controlled thermal profiles, and clean re-flow on high-pin-count ICs.

• Rework SMT and through-hole components down to 0402 packages, maintaining exceptional workmanship and consistency across boards.

• Read and interpret ECNs, schematics, layout files, and BOMs to execute component swaps and design modifications accurately.

• Execute advanced board-level repairs: trace cuts, jumper-wire additions, micro-soldering, and circuit rerouting.

• Inspect reworked assemblies with X-ray or AOI equipment to verify solder-joint integrity, alignment, and overall quality.

• Maintain detailed rework documentation and clearly communicate findings or improvement ideas to engineers.

• Collaborate closely with hardware, validation, and bring-up teams to support rapid iteration and tight project timelines.

You may be a good fit if you have

• 5 + years of hands-on PCB rework experience on production-quality and/or R&D hardware.

• Proven expertise with large BGAs (> 70 mm), fine-pitch QFNs/BGAs, and 0402-scale components.

• Proficiency using advanced hot-air/IR rework platforms, precision microscopes, and large-area heaters designed for large chips or high-power devices.

• Skill in following detailed engineering rework instructions, layout files, and schematics with minimal supervision.

• Familiarity with IPC-A-610 and IPC-7711/21 workmanship and rework standards.

• Exceptional attention to detail, steady manual dexterity, and strong visual-inspection skills.

• Comfort working in a fast-paced, evolving R&D environment where requirements can change quickly.

Strong candidates may also have experience with

• Operating and programming X-ray or AOI systems for real-time inspection and failure analysis.

• Performing micro-soldering, trace repair, and circuit rerouting on high-density, multi-layer boards.

• Reballing large chip packages and handling ultra-large, high-pin-count ICs.

• Developing or optimizing thermal profiles for challenging package types (e.g., stacked dies, high-power BGAs).

• Documenting rework processes in MES/PLM systems and feeding back design-for-rework (DFR) recommendations.

• Supporting engineering bring-up with rapid component swaps, blue-wire fixes, and on-the-fly design experiments.

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.