Job Description Insight Global is supporting a client local to San Francisco to identify a Hardware AI Lead Engineer to join their founding team in a permanent role. This client is a tech startup tackling one of the biggest challenges in hardware engineering. While software engineers have embraced AI to supercharge productivity, hardware engineers that are designing and testing computer chips haven’t had the same advantage. This is because critical data for training AI in hardware tasks is locked inside companies, making automation nearly impossible. Our client is changing that by building the foundational data and simulation tools that enable AI to learn chip design and verification. They are already partnering with one of the world’s leading AI research labs to make this vision a reality, with several other labs in pilots right now. This opportunity is perfect for someone who is hungry to try something new in new chip architectures for AI or AI EDA tooling. Key Responsibilities: • Create simulation environments: Design and organize a catalog of simulation environments for reinforcement learning (RL), covering different semiconductor components like AXI, DMA, and specialized modules such as matrix multipliers in AI accelerators. Each environment will include clear goals, difficulty levels, and learning objectives for AI agents. • Define agent tasks: Set up realistic tasks for AI agents to learn within these environments, aimed at automating key hardware engineering processes. • Lead design and verification: Manage a team responsible for building and verifying each hardware module and system-on-chip (SoC), along with the tasks agents will perform. • Collaborate with top AI labs: Work closely with researchers from leading organizations like OpenAI and Anthropic to ensure agents learn behaviors that deliver practical automation for hardware engineering. We are a company committed to creating diverse and inclusive environments where people can bring their full, authentic selves to work every day. We are an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer that believes everyone matters. Qualified candidates will receive consideration for employment regardless of their race, color, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, marital status, national origin, ancestry, genetic factors, age, disability, protected veteran status, military or uniformed service member status, or any other status or characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or recruiting process, please send a request to HR@insightglobal.com.To learn more about how we collect, keep, and process your private information, please review Insight Global's Workforce Privacy Policy: https://insightglobal.com/workforce-privacy-policy/. Skills and Requirements • 2-3 years of experience in chip design (RTL). • Experience with chip testing (DV). • About 1 year of experience in leadership or a leadership-adjacent role. • Strong skills in verification tools and methods (like SystemVerilog, UVM). • Experience with industry-standard tools (Synopsys, Cadence, etc.). • Great problem-solving and communication skills. • Curiosity about how AI can transform hardware engineering. • BS in Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, or related. • Comes from a chip design company such as Nvidia, AMD, Lightmatter, MatX, d-Matrix, , Google TPU, Groq, SambaNova, Graphcore, Apple, Etched, Cerebras, Waymor, and/or Tesla. • Has experience with AI Accelerator Chips.