PCBA DFM Engineer

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.

We are seeking a PCBA Design for Manufacturing (DFM) Engineer to ensure our next generation of hardware is designed for reliable, scalable manufacturing. You will bring manufacturing expertise into the design process, resolve risks before boards are released, and establish the design rules, documentation, and review practices that support successful production ramps.

You will work closely with Electrical Engineering, PCB Layout, Mechanical, Thermal, Power, Test, and Manufacturing teams to prepare products for production across our internal SMT operation and external manufacturing partners. The ideal candidate combines strong PCBA manufacturing knowledge with disciplined documentation, clear technical communication, and practical experience using AI tools to improve engineering workflows.

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• A degree in electrical, mechanical, manufacturing, or materials engineering, or equivalent practical experience.

• Experience in PCBA DFM, manufacturing engineering, or hardware NPI, with direct involvement in moving complex electronics from design into production.

• Strong understanding of SMT assembly processes, including stencil design, solder paste printing, component placement, reflow, inspection, and rework.

• Experience reviewing PCB layouts, component footprints, assembly drawings, bills of materials, and manufacturing release packages.

• Knowledge of manufacturability challenges associated with high-density assemblies, fine-pitch components, and large BGA packages.

• The ability to distinguish issues that require design changes from those that can be addressed through manufacturing process development.

• Strong documentation and organizational skills, including managing revision history, tracking reviews and action items through closure, and producing clear technical reports for engineering and business stakeholders.

• Practical experience using AI tools for technical reporting, analysis, automation, or application development, with sound judgment when reviewing generated outputs.

• Experience working directly with design engineers and contract manufacturers to resolve technical issues.

• Familiarity with IPC-A-610, J-STD-001, and relevant PCB design and fabrication standards.

• Strong ownership, clear communication, and the ability to prioritize manufacturing risks across concurrent programs.

• High-performance compute, accelerator, server, or networking hardware.

• High-layer-count PCBs, HDI structures, via-in-pad designs, and board or package warpage.

• Thermally demanding or high-power assemblies.

• Establishing DFM guidelines and formal design review processes.

• Hands-on solder paste inspection, AOI, X-ray inspection, and assembly failure analysis.

• Supporting both internal SMT operations and external manufacturing partners.

• Python, SQL, or similar tools for engineering data analysis, automation, and application development.

• Machine learning applications in manufacturing, such as defect classification, anomaly detection, yield prediction, or automated inspection.

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.