Founding Member of Technical Staff - Hardware

Open Select

$200K — $500K *
Telecommunications & Hardware
Less than 5 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • 4+ years in FPGA/ASIC design or related hardware engineering, particularly in startups or leading AI/hardware/security firms
  • Expertise in FPGA design, HDL, Verilog, digital circuits, and electrical engineering fundamentals
  • Experience with data center infrastructure, confidential computing, and embedded programming (C, Rust)
  • Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or similar; PhD is a plus
  • Demonstrated success in building innovative hardware products from concept to production.

Responsibilities

  • Architect FPGA/ASIC flow control systems for high-bandwidth AI data centers
  • Implement formal hardware verification to ensure security against all attack scenarios
  • Integrate hardware within Confidential Computing and Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)
  • Engineer networking, routing, and integration solutions for data center environments
  • Design tamper-resistant hardware to address thermal, electrical, and mechanical challenges
  • Lead customer discovery and prototype development, transitioning designs to production hardware
  • Scale hardware security systems globally beyond the initial year.

Benefits

  • Join at inception and help shape the infrastructure for the AGI age
  • Operations based in both the US and UK with aspirations for global impact
  • Work on systems architected for AGI rather than legacy systems
  • Enjoy early-stage roles with high ownership and direct influence on technology
  • Early hires can expect significant impact and advancement opportunities as the company scales
  • Backed by influential leaders and a successful $3M seed round
  • Equity offer with rapid growth potential.
Full Job Description
Founding Member of Technical Staff - Hardware

Location: On-site, San Francisco, CA
Salary: $200k - $500k + 0.5-2.5% equity
Industry: AI, Cybersecurity, Hardware
What You'll Drive

Join the founding team building FPGA-based security switches for the world's largest AI data centers. Backed by a $3M seed round and top investors from Anthropic, DeepMind, CrowdStrike, and government advisors, you'll design hardware that protects AI model weights-critical digital assets-across facilities with 200,000+ GPUs. Your work will secure infrastructure vital to the global economy and AGI development.
What You'll Focus On
  • Architect FPGA/ASIC flow control systems for high-bandwidth AI data centers
  • Implement formal hardware verification to guarantee security under all attack scenarios
  • Integrate hardware with Confidential Computing and Trusted Execution Environments (TEEs)
  • Engineer networking, routing, and integration solutions for complex data center environments
  • Design tamper-resistant hardware addressing thermal, electrical, and mechanical challenges
  • Lead customer discovery and prototyping; transition prototypes to production hardware securing hundreds of thousands of GPUs
  • Scale hardware security systems globally beyond year one
Who You Are
  • 4+ years in FPGA/ASIC design or related hardware engineering, including startups or top-tier AI/hardware/security firms
  • Expertise in FPGA design, HDL, Verilog, digital circuits, and electrical engineering fundamentals
  • Experience with data center infrastructure, confidential computing, and embedded programming (C, Rust)
  • Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering or similar; PhD is a plus
  • Proven track record building 01 hardware products
Tech Stack

Arista data center networking, Xilinx FPGAs, TEEs, confidential computing, Rust, formal verification
Why You'll Thrive Here
  • Join at inception and help shape the infrastructure for the AGI age
  • Operations and incorporation in both the US and UK, with ambitions for worldwide impact
  • Build the backbone for the most advanced AI and scientific workloads on the planet
  • Work on systems designed from scratch for AGI - not legacy retrofits
  • Early-stage, high-ownership roles with direct influence on technology and company direction
  • Early hires will have outsized impact and advancement opportunities as the company scales
  • $3M seed round closed June 2025; backed by leaders from Meta, Anthropic, DeepMind, CrowdStrike, and global data center strategy
  • $200k-$500k salary plus 1-3% equity, with rapid growth and high-impact contracts

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