Platform Technical Program Manager - NPI

Department: Platform

Location: San Jose

Compensation: $175K – $250K • Plus Significant Equity

Employment Type: FullTime

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

Etched is seeking a Technical Program Manager to lead board-level New Product Introduction (NPI), contract manufacturer (CM) execution, and manufacturing coordination for our ASIC-based accelerator hardware. This role is responsible for driving PCBAs and board assemblies from late design through EVT/DVT/PVT, ramp, and volume production, in close partnership with internal hardware engineering teams and external CMs.

You will own execution across board-level programs, including accelerator boards, power delivery boards, and associated subassemblies, ensuring designs are manufacturable, testable, and scalable. This role sits at the intersection of engineering, manufacturing, and supply chain, with a strong focus on CM alignment, build readiness, and disciplined NPI execution.

Key Responsibilities

• Lead board-level NPI programs from design freeze through EVT, DVT, PVT, and volume ramp, with clear ownership of schedules, risks, and deliverables.

• Serve as the primary interface to contract manufacturers for PCBA and board assembly, driving build planning, execution, and issue resolution.

• Drive manufacturing readiness reviews with engineering and CMs, including DFM/DFA, test strategy, and factory bring-up.

• Coordinate CM activities across PCB fabrication, SMT assembly, test, and final board integration.

• Manage BOM readiness, AVL qualification, and component sourcing in partnership with supply chain and CMs.

• Own change management during NPI, including ECO tracking, revision control, and communication of changes to manufacturing partners.

• Plan and execute prototype, pilot, and production builds, tracking yield, defects, and corrective actions through ramp.

• Identify manufacturing risks related to design, process, or supply chain; develop mitigation plans and drive closure.

• Establish and track KPIs for board-level manufacturing, including yield, first-pass success, cycle time, and quality escapes.

• Coordinate closely with system, thermal, and mechanical teams to ensure board-level requirements are aligned with system integration and deployment.

• Provide clear, regular program updates to engineering leadership and executives, highlighting risks, tradeoffs, and decisions.

• Continuously improve board-level NPI and CM engagement processes to support faster iteration and scalable production.

You might be a good fit if you have

• Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering or a related technical discipline.

• 5+ years of experience in technical program management, hardware NPI, or manufacturing program leadership for PCBAs or complex electronic assemblies.

• Hands-on experience working with contract manufacturers for board-level builds, including EVT/DVT/PVT and volume production.

• Strong understanding of PCB fabrication, SMT assembly, board-level test, and manufacturing quality systems.

• Experience managing cross-functional hardware programs involving EE, PD, SI, test, supply chain, and operations.

• Comfort operating in fast-paced, ambiguous environments with high technical and executional complexity.

• Strong communication and organizational skills, with the ability to align internal teams and external manufacturing partners.

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 + dinner in our office

How we’re different

Etched believes in the Bitter Lesson. We think most of the progress in the AI field has come from using more FLOPs to train and run models, and the best way to get more FLOPs is to build model-specific hardware. Larger and larger training runs encourage companies to consolidate around fewer model architectures, which creates a market for single-model ASICs.

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 as needed.