Performance Modeling Engineer
Company: Etched
Location: Cupertino
Posted on: February 18, 2026
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Job Description:
Job Description Job Description Etched was founded on the belief
that new hardware will be needed to run human- and superhuman-level
artificial intelligence. Our ASIC systems deliver orders of
magnitude higher performance than conventional AI chips. Etched is
actively developing Sohu, an ASIC exclusively for transformers,
which will enable products that would be impossible with GPUs, like
real-time video generation models and extremely deep
chain-of-thought reasoning. And we're bringing this technology to
market in months, not years. Sohu is hard-coded for individual
model architectures and only supports transformers, but has an
order of magnitude more throughput and lower latency than a B200.
WHAT YOU'LL DO Develop and own SoC functional models from
architecture to deployment, including integration with
infrastructure, thorough testing, and debugging. Collaborate
closely with architecture, RTL design, design verification,
emulation, and software teams to ensure alignment and performance.
Innovate tooling and infrastructure to enhance usability and
effectiveness for internal and external partners. Optimize model
and infrastructure performance, ensuring scalability for real-world
AI workloads. Create software that is well-documented,
maintainable, and reusable , ensuring longevity and ease of future
development. Simulate performance of existing and upcoming
state-of-the-art (SOTA) Transformer models on our ASIC architecture
vs other alternatives (GPUs, TPUs etc) WE'RE LOOKING FOR ENGINEERS
WITH: Expert knowledge in functional modeling of ASICs (TPUs, GPUs,
CPUs, or equiv. accelerators) Strong command of C++ for modeling
with Python familiarity for scripting and automation. Insights
bridging simulation to analysis of complex systems involving
multiple domains (e.g., physical link IO / memory / chip firmware /
system software / overall performance). High interest in learning
transformer architecture, developing insight into AI
hardware/software co-design. Passion for AI and a desire to push
performance and efficiency boundaries. Machine learning experience
is not required. This role will provide opportunities to ramp on
relevant ML concepts on the job. Minimum qualifications: Bachelor's
degree or equivalent practical experience. 5 years of experience in
software development with data structures/algorithms. 5 years of
experience developing and testing software models/simulations of
shipping ASICs. 3 years of experience modeling SoC relevant
technologies (DRAM, HBM, I2C, SPI, PCIe, etc.). Preferred
qualifications: Master's or PhD degree Computer Science, or a
related technical field. Experience in computer architecture, SoC
design, and RTL languages. Experience solving ambiguous problems.
Excellent verbal and written communication skills. If you're a
talented software engineer who's excited to shape the future of AI,
we encourage you to apply! To Apply: Please visit our website at
etched.com/careers to submit your resume and cover letter.
Location: Cupertino, California
Keywords: Etched, San Francisco , Performance Modeling Engineer, IT / Software / Systems , Cupertino, California
