
Technical Program Manager, Infrastructure at Etched (San Jose, CA)
Etched· San Jose, CA·
Role details
Medical, Dental, And Vision Packages · $500 Monthly Credit For Waiving Medical Benefits · $2k Monthly Housing Subsidy · Relocation Support · Wellness Benefits · Daily Lunch And Dinner
Etched at a glance
Transformer-specific ASICs and rack-scale systems that hardwire the transformer into silicon for faster, cheaper AI inference.
Etched designs transformer-specific ASICs and full rack-scale inference systems. Its Sohu chip hardwires the transformer architecture directly into silicon, trading a GPU's general-purpose flexibility for far higher throughput, lower latency, and better power efficiency on AI inference. Customers buy complete co-designed clusters, chip plus rack plus software, not standalone chips.
$800M raised · latest: $500M · led by Stripes · Dec 2025 (reported Jan 2026) · backed by Stripes, Peter Thiel, Ribbit Capital, VentureTech Alliance
Summary
The Technical Program Manager, Infrastructure owns end-to-end program delivery across the organization, driving alignment between internal teams and external vendors. This role establishes KPIs, manages dependencies, and ensures visibility for technical complexity in ASIC design and software integration.
Job description
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
As our Technical Program Manager, Infrastructure you will own end-to-end program delivery across the org — driving alignment between internal teams, managing external vendor relationships, and ensuring that every dependency, risk, and milestone is visible to the people who need to act on it. You'll establish the KPIs and operational cadences that keep programs on track, and continuously refine our processes to make the entire Infrastructure organization faster and more effective.
You'll be the connective tissue between engineering and leadership — translating technical complexity into clear status, surfacing risks before they become blockers, and facilitating resolution of the cross-disciplinary issues that emerge at the intersection of ASIC design, hardware platforms, and software integration. When priorities shift, you don't just adapt — you help the organization navigate the shift without losing momentum.
This role demands deep technical fluency alongside exceptional organizational and communication skills. You're not just tracking tasks — you're building the program management foundation that lets world-class engineers move at the pace Etched needs to win.
Key Responsibilities
- Drive collaboration across our Infrastructure org, including DevOps/DevX, Core Engineering, Security and IT.
- Partner with external vendors to ensure any external services are being delivered on time and meet quality standards.
- Identify risks proactively and develop mitigation strategies to minimize impact on project timelines and quality.
- Optimize engineering and operational efficiency by continuously refining program management processes.
- Foster a culture of accountability and transparency by regularly communicating with executive and engineering leaders on project status, risks, and opportunities.
- Establish and track key performance indicators (KPIs) to monitor progress, success, and strategic alignment.
- Leverage technical understanding of hardware, ASIC, and software integration to facilitate cross-disciplinary communication and resolution of technical issues.
- Operate effectively in a fast-paced, dynamic environment with shifting priorities and emerging challenges.
You may be a good fit if you have:
- 8-10+ years of experience in technical program management, ideally in hardware, semiconductor, or AI technology environments.
- A PMP certification with a demonstrated track record of delivering complex, cross-functional projects.
- Strong technical knowledge in ASIC design, hardware platforms, and software integration.
- Excellent organizational, communication, and leadership skills that influence without authority.
- A proactive approach to identifying risks and opportunities for process improvement.
- Experience using program management tools and methodologies such as Google Workspace and JIRA.
Strong candidates may also have experience with:
- A bachelor’s degree in Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical discipline (advanced degree preferred).
- Managing and nurturing external vendor and supplier relationships.
- Implementing best practices in program delivery to drive operational performance improvements.
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 incompleteideas.net/BitterLesson.html. We are the first inference-focused frontier AI system. 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 Taipei, 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.
Why work at Etched
- Mission-driven, high-impact engineering: “Building the hardware for superintelligence” – the company is solving one of the hardest problems in compute (inference efficiency) with a focused team.
- Top-tier team and learning environment: Colleagues from Google, NVIDIA, Apple, Tesla, Broadcom, and Intel; exposure to full-stack chip-to-system design.
- In-office culture: All roles are in-office (Cupertino and San Jose, CA). The company emphasizes on-site collaboration for hardware development. Notable perks are not heavily advertised, but compensation is competitive for the AI hardware space (equity-heavy).
- Growth trajectory: 141% headcount growth YoY, hundreds of open roles, and a $5B valuation signal strong backing and career acceleration potential.
- Intellectual challenge: Work on chip simulation, RTL design, system validation, or software infrastructure for cutting-edge AI inference.