Zettascale

Energy efficient chips for AI

Founding Engineer - RTL/Architecture/FPGA

$150K - $300K0.20% - 0.80%San Francisco, CA, US
Job type
Full-time
Role
Engineering, Hardware
Experience
1+ years
Visa
Will sponsor
Skills
Tcl, C++, Python, Verilog, Linux, FPGAs
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Elias Almqvist
Elias Almqvist
CEO

About the role

We're Building the Next Generation of Chips to Power AI. Join Us.

At Zetta, we're building the next NVIDIA. Our novel polymorphic chips are a generation ahead of anything on the market. We're essentially building the substrate that will power all future knowledge and scientific discovery.

Our XPU chips are state-of-the-art AI compute engines capable of reconfiguring themselves to optimize the dataflow of each model (training & inference!) to be fast and efficient enough to support AGI, and eventually ASI, without requiring massive power infrastructure. Through our novel polymorphic architecture, we're achieving unprecedented performance gains over current SOTA GPUs while dramatically reducing energy consumption.

The team consists of exceptional engineers obsessed with pushing the boundaries of what's possible in computing and AI, and we're now seeking our next technical member!

You Are

  • Ready to go all-in and do the work of your life
  • Willing to be hardcore when pushing technical boundaries
  • A technical powerhouse who loves working across the hardware-software boundary
  • Deeply passionate and obsessed with computing and AI
  • Hungry to build something that actually matters

Your Background (important in bold)

  • Background in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or equivalent field
  • Strong digital design fundamentals (pipelining, clocking/reset strategy, latency/throughput tradeoffs, clean microarchitecture)
  • Strong foundation in mixed-signal & digital IC design (VLSI, semiconductor physics, RTL)
  • RTL quality discipline (lint, CDC/RDC, X-prop awareness, assertions/SVA, code review hygiene)
  • Synthesis/constraints expertise (SDC constraints, synthesis/PPA iteration, timing closure with physical design)
  • Debug expertise (triage failures from simulation/emulation, interpret waveforms, drive root-cause closure with DV/PD)
  • Proficiency with front-end toolchains (VCS/Xcelium/Questa, Verilator, SpyGlass-style linting, DC/Genus-class synthesis)
  • Build/flow automation and tooling (Python, Tcl, Nix)
  • Work across architecture, verification, and physical design to hit PPA targets (area/power/perf)

Huge Plus If

  • Experience designing compute datapaths and memory subsystems for AI accelerators, GPUs, or high-performance CPUs (bandwidth/latency-driven design)
  • High-speed interface/IP integration experience (PCIe, CXL, DDR/HBM, Ethernet, SerDes)
  • DFT-aware RTL (scan-friendly coding patterns, test hooks, clean resets, well-defined clock gating strategy)
  • Experience writing/maintaining reusable IP (parameterization, clean bus protocols, well-structured interfaces)
  • 5+ years (or equivalent) designing synthesizable RTL (SystemVerilog/Verilog) for ASICs and/or high-performance FPGA prototypes
  • Formal methods experience (property writing, bounded proofs) and/or post-silicon debug workflows
  • HW/SW boundary experience (drivers/firmware bring-up, performance counters, profiling, build systems)
  • Experience with systems programming (Linux kernel modules, low-level)
  • Experience with (Sci)ML frameworks (e.g., PyTorch/TinyGrad/JAX/Lux.jl)
  • Autodidactic polymath with a strong mathematical background
  • Someone who doesn't fret when faced with near-impossible technical challenges

The Opportunity

  • Be one of the first employees shaping a revolutionary technology
  • Work directly with the founding team of exceptional engineers at our San Francisco HQ
  • Own critical decisions that will influence the future of AI compute
  • Grow into a technical leader as we scale
  • Highly competitive compensation + significant equity

This is THE chance to do the work of your life. The chance to build something that will be remembered. To go hardcore on a technical moonshot that will actually matter for over 100 to 1,000 years.

About the interview

  1. Interview #1 (with one of the founders)
  2. Interview #2 (with the other founder)
  3. In-person technical interview (at our SF HQ)
  4. Done

About Zettascale

Building energy-efficient chips ("XPUs") for AI training and inference.

Our XPUs are reconfigurable, capable of optimizing the dataflow of each model, making them faster and more energy-efficient than the current SOTA GPUs on the market. This saves data centers billions in cooling and energy costs.

Zettascale
Founded:2024
Batch:S24
Team Size:4
Status:
Active
Location:San Francisco
Founders
Elias Almqvist
Elias Almqvist
CEO
Prithvi Raj
Prithvi Raj
Founder