Manufacturing Engineering Lead

About Etched Etched is building AI chips that are hard-coded for individual model architectures. Our first product (Sohu) only supports transformers, but has an order of magnitude more throughput and lower 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. Job Summary We are seeking a Manufacturing Engineering Lead to drive the manufacturing engineering strategy and execution for Etched’s silicon-to-system products. This role will focus on building and scaling manufacturing processes, line bring-up, and production execution for boards, servers, and rack-level systems in close partnership with our contract manufacturing partners. This is a senior, hands-on role for a leader who can operate at both the factory floor and systems level. You will serve as the technical bridge between product development and manufacturing, ensuring our designs, processes, tooling, and work instructions are ready to support NPI, production ramp, and sustained volume execution. You will work cross-functionally with hardware, manufacturing test, manufacturing quality, supply chain, and operations teams to deliver high-quality systems against aggressive schedules. The ideal candidate has deep experience in manufacturing engineering for complex hardware systems, including process development, DFX, line qualification, yield improvement, and factory readiness. You should be comfortable owning external manufacturing relationships, driving technical issue resolution, and building the manufacturing engineering foundation required to scale a world-class AI hardware company. Key responsibilities - Lead manufacturing engineering strategy and execution for Etched products from prototype builds through mass production. - Serve as the primary technical manufacturing interface between Etched and external JDM/CM partners. - Build and scale manufacturing processes, controls, tooling, and documentation required for reliable factory execution. - Partner with hardware, systems, and test teams early in development to drive DFM, DFA, DFT, and DFY into product designs. - Establish manufacturing readiness criteria across NPI builds, pilot runs, ramp, and sustaining production. - Develop, qualify, and scale manufacturing processes for server and rack-level systems, including mechanical assembly, PCBA integration, bring-up, burn-in, and final system test. - Drive production line bring-up, fixture and tooling readiness, operator instructions, and process validation at manufacturing partners. - Ensure processes are repeatable, controlled, and capable of meeting quality, throughput, and cost targets. - Identify bottlenecks in assembly, test, rework, and material flow, and implement corrective actions to improve factory performance. - Define manufacturing line layouts, staffing assumptions, UPH targets, and capacity models to support ramp planning. - Expertise in PFMEA, control plans, data analysis, and strong communication skills to influence executive stakeholders. - Strong SMT - process development capabilities, able to drive pragmatic DOEs to develop new cutting edge processes as well as enhancing existing processes. - Partner closely with Manufacturing Test to ensure smooth handoff and integration of test stations into production lines. - Partner with Manufacturing Quality on process controls, nonconformance trends, CAPAs, and closed-loop factory improvement. - Partner with MPM on build planning, readiness tracking, ramp execution, and issue escalation. - Drive root cause analysis and corrective actions for process deviations, line issues, and manufacturing inefficiencies. - Support failure analysis and closed-loop feedback between factory, design, reliability, and quality teams. - Strong ability to influence without authority, mentor engineers, and communicate with executive leadership. - Work directly with contract manufactu