Global Supply Manager, Mechanicals

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.

As Etched scales global deployments of our transformer inference systems, we are seeking an experienced Global Supply Manager to own sourcing and supplier strategy for mechanical components and assemblies, including enclosures, thermal hardware, structural components, racks, and custom fabrication.

You will be responsible for building and managing Etched’s global supply base for critical mechanical systems — ensuring we can deliver high-performance hardware with tight tolerances, aggressive thermal requirements, and rapid production ramps. This is a strategic and highly cross-functional role working closely with mechanical engineering, thermal engineering, and manufacturing operations.

• →

  Develop and execute sourcing strategies for mechanical components and assemblies, including sheet metal, CNC machined parts, castings, extrusions, and rack-level enclosures

• →

  Build and manage relationships with fabrication partners, contract manufacturers, and integrators across regions

• →

  Negotiate pricing, tooling, NREs, and long-term supply agreements for complex mechanical systems

• →

  Partner closely with Mechanical and Thermal Engineering teams on design decisions, DFM, material selection, and supplier qualification

• →

  Drive cost modeling, should-cost analysis, and benchmarking for fabricated and assembled mechanical components

• →

  Ensure suppliers can meet tight tolerances, flatness requirements, cosmetic standards, and thermal/mechanical performance specifications

• →

  Identify and mitigate supply risks related to capacity, tooling lead times, yield, and regional concentration

• →

  Align sourcing strategies with NPI schedules, product ramps, and datacenter deployment timelines

• →

  Support build readiness, pilot builds, and ramp by coordinating closely with manufacturing and program management

• →

  Present sourcing strategies, cost tradeoffs, and supply risks to executive leadership

• Bachelor’s degree in Mechanical Engineering, Supply Chain, or related field

• 7+ years of experience in sourcing or commodity management for mechanical components in hardware systems

• Strong understanding of fabrication processes including sheet metal, CNC machining, die casting, extrusion, and finishing processes

• Experience working with mechanical engineering teams on DFM, tolerancing, and material selection

• Proven track record managing complex supplier relationships and negotiating high-value contracts

• Strong analytical skills in cost modeling, should-cost analysis, and BOM evaluation

• Experience scaling mechanical supply for NPI and high-volume production

• Ability to operate in fast-paced, ambiguous environments and make critical decisions with limited data

• Experience managing global suppliers, particularly across Asia
  

• Experience with datacenter hardware, server enclosures, or rack-level mechanical systems

• Familiarity with thermal solutions including heat sinks, cold plates, liquid cooling integration, and airflow management

• Experience with precision tolerance stack-ups for high-performance compute systems

• Background in tooling strategy and lifecycle management for mechanical parts

• Experience working in a high-growth hardware startup environment

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We think most of the progress in the AI field has come from using more FLOPs to train and run models, and the best way to get more FLOPs is to build model-specific hardware. Larger and larger training runs encourage companies to consolidate around fewer model architectures, which creates a market for single-model ASICs.

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 as needed.