Firmware Intern
About the role
We are seeking a firmware developer to join our team. Your responsibilities will include developing firmware for custom ASICs designed to run large AI models efficiently. You will work across the entire stack, from low-level drivers and hardware interfaces to integration with runtime libraries and model-execution frameworks. The goal is to make the hardware operate reliably and at peak performance, enabling high-throughput inference and training workloads.
Responsibilities
- Develop firmware for custom ASICs
- Work across the stack from low-level drivers to integration with runtime libraries and model-execution frameworks
- Ensure hardware operates reliably and at peak performance
- Collaborate with hardware, architecture, and software teams to bring up new silicon, validate features, and support real-world AI applications
Requirements
- Progress towards a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field
- Proficiency in C/C++ or Rust
- Strong fundamentals in data structures and algorithms
- Strong understanding of low-level software engineering
- Strong understanding of hardware/software co-design
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills
Nice to Have Qualifications
- Experience with Linux internals, kernel development, or driver debugging
- Experience with hardware diagnostics or interpreting hardware logs
- Exposure to server virtualization or CI/CD pipelines
- Experience with Rust or embedded development
Qualifications
- Progress towards a Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related technical field
- Proficiency in C/C++ or Rust
- Strong fundamentals in data structures and algorithms
- Strong understanding of low-level software engineering
- Strong understanding of hardware/software co-design
- Excellent communication and collaboration skills
Skills
- C/C++ or Rust
- Data structures and algorithms
- Low-level software engineering
- Hardware/software co-design
- Communication and collaboration
Benefits
- 12-week paid internship
- Generous housing support for those relocating
- Daily lunch and dinner in our office
- Based at our office in San Jose, CA
- Direct mentorship from industry leaders and world-class engineers
- Opportunity to work on one of the most important problems of our time
Pay
- Paid internship
Schedule
- 12-week internship
Contact
If you have any questions, please contact internships@etched.com.
How We’re Different
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.