Test Design Engineer
Etched · San Jose
About this role
## About Etched Etched is building hardware for frontier intelligence—co-designing chips, racks, software, and manufacturing to deliver best-in-class throughput and latency across prefill and decode workloads. Backed by hundreds of millions from top-tier investors, Etched is redefining the infrastructure layer for the fastest growing industry in history. ## Job Summary Etched is seeking a **Test Design Engineer** to own how our AI systems are tested end to end. You’ll define the overall test strategy and build the test systems that execute it—from **silicon bring-up** through **boards, servers, and full racks**, and from early validation into **production**. You’ll join a new, small central team focused on making testing **reliable, repeatable, and scalable**. Domain teams (firmware, system software, inference, platform hardware, and silicon validation) bring deep expertise—your job is to connect the full picture, ensure tests catch the defects that matter, and drive improvements when failures don’t have an obvious owner. ## Key Responsibilities - **Define and own** the overall test strategy and coverage map across **silicon, firmware, board, server, and rack** levels (EVT/DVT/PVT through production). - **Design test systems and frameworks** to execute the strategy, including how tests are structured, versioned, gated, and run across lab and factory. - **Review domain test plans** at each build phase to find coverage gaps and reduce unnecessary duplication while balancing coverage vs. test time. - Build **regression gating** so changes to firmware, drivers, and test packages are validated on representative hardware before shipping. - Define **pass/fail criteria**, **retest policies**, and **diagnostics**; work with Production to turn them into clear procedures. - Lead **technical triage** for failures spanning hardware, firmware, and software: read logs, reproduce, isolate root cause, and drive corrective actions. - Convert repeated failures into **better tests**, upstream screening, and improved diagnostics. - Partner with **Test Infrastructure** and manufacturing partners to bring the strategy into production (including **travel to Taiwan**). ## Qualifications ### Must-have - Owned the **test strategy or test systems** for at least one hardware product from bring-up into production. - Hands-on experience across test levels: **firmware**, **board-level**, and **system-level** testing. - Experience designing **regression gating** or **CI** for hardware and firmware. - Strong debugging skills across hardware/firmware/software using logs and lab tools. - Clear communication and comfort making **coverage and risk tradeoffs** explicit. - Bachelor’s degree in **EE, CE, CS**, or equivalent practical experience. - Willingness to work **onsite in San Jose** and travel internationally to manufacturing partners. ### Nice-to-have - 8+ years in test engineering, test architecture, system validation, or test automation for hardware products. - Experience with **server/rack/GPU/accelerator** systems, including post-silicon bring-up and rack-level integration testing (L10/L11). - Familiarity with **BMC, BIOS, PCIe, high-speed interconnects**, and **power/thermal validation**. - Hardware-in-the-loop test systems. - Factory test, test stations, or experience with contract manufacturers/ODMs. - Yield analysis and data-driven test optimization. - Experience bringing first-generation hardware into production in a fast-paced startup. ## Benefits - Med
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