Power Validation Engineer
Etched · San Jose, United States · 4mo ago
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
We are looking for a Power Validation Engineer to own the end-to-end power characterization of our ASIC and the mezzanine card platform — from early silicon bring-up through production qualification. You will design measurement methodology, build test benches, and drive findings directly into silicon, package, and system design decisions.
Key Responsibilities
Design and execute power measurement campaigns across all voltage rails (VDD_CORE, HBM, PCIe, AUX, etc) under realistic LLM inference and power virus workloads; characterize peak, sustained, and idle power envelopes across PVT corners and define derating curves used in system thermal and PDN specs
Validate power delivery network (PDN) performance — VRM load step response, PCIe power compliance, PDN impedance — and translate measurements into actionable feedback on capacitor placement, plane geometry, and de-cap strategy for PCB and package design teams
Profile power transient events (ramp rates, droop amplitudes, recovery profiles) and correlate them with on-die performance monitor data; build automated power sweep frameworks exercising the full inference workload space across model sizes, batch sizes, sequence lengths, and precision modes
Run extended stress workloads (72 h+ continuous) to surface reliability risks and throttling behavior; instrument multi-zone thermal profiles and support our overseas partners with SLT, production and debugging.
Validate power sequencing, PMBus telemetry accuracy, and BMC alert thresholds across cold-start, hot-restart, and fault-injection scenarios; own power-related pass/fail criteria across FAT, SFT, and RIN qualification stages
Feed characterization data back to RTL and physical design teams as input for DVFS policy, clock gating coverage, and leakage optimization; write precise validation reports that enable silicon and firmware teams to act without re-running experiments
Lead the electrical characterization, validation, and qualification process for the on-board system-level power distribution network, spanning from power converter design to ASIC power integrity validation.
Provide critical support to design engineers through debug, component validation, and failure analysis for released products, independently troubleshooting and determining the root cause of electrical component defects and design flaws.
Develop and implement automated/scripted test procedures for the general qualification and testing of Devices Under Test (DUTs) as part of a comprehensive automation suite.
Collect, analyze, and aggregate test data to support data-driven engineering decisions, generate reports on findings, reduce data sets, and thoroughly investigate test outcomes down to the hardware interface or component level.
Collaborate with hardware designers and diagnostics development teams to understand new project architectures and system components, ensuring the necessary support for testing and debug efforts is implemented.
You may be a good fit if you have (Must-have qualifications)
A Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related field. Advanced degrees or certifications in power electronics or related areas are a plus
Deep understanding of ASIC and system-level power delivery — VRM topology, PDN impedance, decoupling strategy, and transient response — with hands-on bench experience using precision shunts, isolated differential probes, and VNA-based PDN impedance measurement
Expertise with multi-phase solutions with high dynamic content and low tolerance.
Experience with VR tuning to a well defined power test plan to ensure VR specifications meet CPU/ ASIC
Demonstrated ability to design experiments that isolate root cause in a complex hardware-software stack, strong oscilloscope and lab instrument fluency (triggering on rare transient events, correlating multi-channel captures), and a track record of finding bugs that only surface under specific workload or environmental conditions
Relevant experience with Silicon bring ups
Strong candidates may also have experience with (Nice-to-have qualifications)
Masters Degree in Power Electronics
Experience with high voltage testing (800V and higher)
Prior power validation work on AI accelerators, GPUs, or high-performance server platforms, including HBM power characterization or memory power management interfaces
Experience with OpenBMC, IPMI, or custom BMC firmware for sensor monitoring and power capping; familiarity with LLM inference stacks (vLLM, TensorRT-LLM, or similar) sufficient to construct representative power workloads
Proficiency in Python for test automation, data pipeline construction, and statistical analysis; experience debugging across the stack from PMBus register dumps and BMC sensor logs to firmware traces and Linux kernel power management
Benefits
Medical, dental, and vision packages with generous premium coverage
$500 per month credit for waiving medical benefits
Housing subsidy of $2,500 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. 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 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.