RMA & Repair Lead at Etched (San Jose, CA)RMA & Repair Lead

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 seeking an RMA and Repair Lead to build and run the end-to-end returns and repair operation for our AI hardware — from the moment a customer reports a failure through diagnosis, repair, and supplier recovery. You’ll be responsible for managing the repair capability whether it’s in-house or through outsourced partners. This role is deeply technical and hands-on: you'll own the repair, debug, and failure analysis requirements for our products, translate our manufacturing processes into repeatable repair processes, and feed what you learn back into design and production.

If you thrive in fast-paced environments, enjoy solving ambiguous problems, and want to shape the repair ecosystem at a rapidly scaling startup, this role is for you.

• Own the end-to-end RMA process — from customer return authorization through triage, repair or replacement, reverse logistics, and supplier recovery/warranty claims
• Develop and manage RMA workflows, including return authorization, repair/replacement, and reverse logistics
• Build and manage Etched's repair operations, whether in-house or outsourced, capacity planning, and day-to-day management of in-house depots and/or outsourced repair partners
• Own the technical definition of repair: repair strategy by product and level (rack, server, module, component), debug flows, failure analysis requirements, test coverage, and repair-vs-scrap criteria
• Translate production and manufacturing processes into repair processes — repair travelers, work instructions, tooling and fixtures, test stations, calibration, and operator training and certification
• Build the data layer for repair: turnaround time, failure rates by part and failure mode, cost of service, and repeat-failure tracking — and close the loop with design, quality, and manufacturing to drive corrective actions and improve product reliability
• Design and implement metrics and dashboards (turnaround time, failure rates, cost of service) to monitor and improve operations
• Define SLAs and escalation paths, and act as the technical point of contact for escalated customer issues.

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

• 8+ years of experience in Repair operations, RMA, or hardware support operations, including ownership of end-to-end returns flow
• Direct experience standing up a repair operation — either building an in-house depot or selecting and managing an outsourced repair partner [ especially from scratch in a fast-paced environment
• Strong hands-on technical depth in hardware debug, board- and system-level troubleshooting, and failure analysis.
• Experience converting NPI/manufacturing process documentation into repair processes, work instructions, and test flows
• Strong understanding of failure analysis (FA), root cause, and corrective action processes
• Excellent communication skills and ability to work closely with customers, suppliers, and internal teams

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

• Experience supporting server, networking, or AI hardware deployments at rack scale
• Familiarity with PLM/ERP systems for tracking returns, parts, repairs and warranty claims
• Contract manufacturer or ODM relationship management, including repair statements of work and pricing
• Data-driven service analytics — failure rate analysis, Pareto/FMEA, cost optimization, predictive maintenance
• Global reverse logistics, customs, and cross-border repair flows
• ISO standards, quality systems, and regulatory requirements for hardware returns and repairs

• 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

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson incompleteideas.net/BitterLesson.html. 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.