Firmware Intern

Etched.ai, Inc.; San Jose (CA); On-site; USD 55,800 - 78,120; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Paid internship

Housing support

Daily lunch and dinner

Mentorship from industry leaders

Job summary

Etched.ai, Inc. is seeking firmware developers for a 12-week paid internship in San Jose, CA, focused on developing custom firmware for high-performance AI applications. You'll work across various levels, from low-level drivers to integration with model-execution frameworks.

The internship includes generous housing support, daily meals, and mentorship from industry leaders, offering a unique opportunity to contribute to transformative technology during an amazing 12-week journey.

Qualifications

• Progress towards a degree in a related technical field.
• Proficiency in C/C++ or Rust is essential.
• Strong fundamentals in data structures and algorithms required.
• Knowledge of low-level software engineering is critical.
• Understanding of hardware/software co-design is a plus.

Responsibilities

• Develop firmware for custom ASICs to run large transformer models.
• Work on low-level drivers and system initialization code.
• Collaborate with hardware and software teams for new silicon validation.

Skills

C/C++ or Rust proficiency

Data structures and algorithms

Low-level software engineering

Hardware/software co-design

Communication and collaboration

Education

Bachelor’s, Master’s, or PhD in Computer Science or Engineering

Job description

About Etched

Etched is building the world’s first AI inference system purpose-built for transformers - delivering over 10x higher performance and dramatically lower cost and latency than a B200. With Etched ASICs, you can build products that would be impossible with GPUs, like real-time video generation models and extremely deep & parallel chain-of-thought reasoning agents. 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

In our firmware role, you will help develop firmware for custom ASICs designed to run large transformer models efficiently. You’ll work across the stack—from low-level drivers, hardware interfaces, and system initialization code to integration with runtime libraries and model-execution frameworks. Your work will focus on making the hardware operate reliably and at peak performance, enabling high-throughput inference and training workloads. You’ll collaborate with hardware, architecture, and software teams to bring up new silicon, validate features, and support real-world AI applications.

You may be a good fit if you have

• 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

Strong candidates may also have (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

We encourage you to apply even if you do not believe you meet every qualification.

Program details

• 12-week paid internship (June - August 2026)
• 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