Build Engineer

Digitailor; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 150,000 - 210,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Medical coverage

Housing subsidy

Relocation support

Lunch & dinner

Wellness benefits

Unlimited compute budget

Job summary

Etched is building a new category of AI hardware focused on frontier inference clusters. The Build Engineer will own internal rack builds end to end, plan each build, secure parts, tools, and staffing, run on the floor, and optimize the process as we scale.

You'll work closely with mechanical, electrical, thermal, test, inventory, and lab operations teams to implement robust build workflows and drive on-time delivery in a fast-paced environment.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, or aerospace engineering, physics, or equivalent hands-on experience.
• Hands-on experience building hardware.
• Ownership of a hardware program end-to-end.

Responsibilities

• Own internal rack and subassembly builds from kickoff to delivery.
• Run build checks against the BOM and address shortages.
• Write and maintain build procedures, work instructions, and travelers.
• Review CAD models for manufacturability, assembly, and serviceability.
• Design the fixtures, tooling, and build stations needed.
• Integrate subsystems into full rack assemblies and develop test procedures.
• Lead build technicians on the floor and troubleshoot issues.
• Capture lessons and turn them into scalable build processes.

Skills

Hardware assembly

GD&T knowledge

Manufacturing processes

On-floor leadership

CAD review

Education

Bachelor's degree in engineering

Tools

Python

Excel

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

Etched is building a new category of AI hardware: frontier inference clusters. To bring them up at the pace this market demands, we build and integrate our own server racks in-house, and that work is growing fast as we move from early builds into NPI and production. As a Build Engineer, you'll own our internal builds end to end. Think of the role as an operations program manager for internal builds who is also a hands-on engineer: you'll plan each build, get the parts, tools, and people in place, run it on the floor, and fix whatever slows it down. You'll work closely with our mechanical, electrical, thermal, test, inventory, and lab operations teams, and the processes you set up will become how Etched builds hardware as volume ramps.

Key Responsibilities

Own internal rack and subassembly builds from kickoff to delivery, including schedule, material readiness, staffing, and on-time completion Run clear-to-build checks against the BOM and work with inventory and supply chain to close shortages before they stop a build Write and maintain build procedures, work instructions, and travelers, and manage the transition of assemblies from development builds to production Review CAD models and drawings with design engineers to flag manufacturability, assembly, and serviceability issues early Design or specify the fixtures, tooling, and build stations the team needs Integrate mechanical, thermal, power, and electrical subsystems into full rack assemblies, and develop and run the test procedures that go with them Lead build technicians on the floor and be the first engineer on the problem when a build hits an issue Question requirements, remove unnecessary parts and steps, and simplify the build flow to cut cycle time Track build status, risks, and blockers, and give leadership a clear read on what will ship and when Turn lessons from each build into the processes and documentation we'll use as we scale into NPI and higher-volume production You may be a good fit if you have (Must-have qualifications) A bachelor's degree in mechanical, electrical, manufacturing, or aerospace engineering, physics, or equivalent hands-on experience Hands-on experience building hardware A track record of owning a build or hardware program end to end and delivering it on time Working knowledge of manufacturing and assembly processes, reading drawings, and GD&T Comfort working on the floor alongside technicians, and clear communication with technicians, engineers, and leadership The ability to move fast with incomplete information and stay calm when a build goes wrong Strong candidates may also have experience with (Nice-to-have qualifications) Server, rack, data center, or other electronics hardware integration Building hardware at a high-rate company in aerospace, automotive, or consumer electronics Designing fixtures and tooling in CAD PLM, MES, or ERP systems such as Teamcenter Scaling a build from prototype to volume production Python, Excel, or other scripting for build tracking and analysis

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, 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.