Horizon Search is hiring: Founding Hardware Design Engineer (Stealth AI/Hardware

Founding Hardware Design Engineer (Stealth AI/Hardware Startup)

Early-stage AI + hardware startup building reinforcement-learning environments that train frontier models to master real-world engineering workflows — starting with end-to-end chip design.

About the Company: We are building high‑fidelity simulation environments that enable leading AI models to learn complex ASIC and SoC design from scratch, giving agents the real‑world training data that has long been missing from hardware engineering. Our current customers are the world’s top AI research labs. In the long term, we plan to expand the platform to aerospace, mechanical systems, robotics, manufacturing, and other high‑IP engineering domains.

Base Pay Range: $180,000.00/yr – $250,000.00/yr

The Role:

• Founding Hardware Design Engineer — literally the first hardware hire.
• Fully in‑person (5 days/week) in San Francisco, CA.
• Salary: $180k – $250k + meaningful equity package.

What You’ll Do:

• Individually contribute to building the initial library of RL‑ready hardware design environments.
• Partner directly with the world’s leading AI labs to capture their real chip‑design workflows and turn them into trainable simulations.
• Define the technical roadmap and engineering culture from day one.
• Naturally grow into a senior leadership position (Director/VP‑level) as the platform expands across engineering domains.

Who You Are / Must‑Have:

• Hands‑on, front‑to‑back ASIC or SoC design experience (RTL in Verilog/SystemVerilog, synthesis, place‑and‑route, timing closure, etc.)
• Proven ownership mindset and excellent communication
• Any exposure to ML, reinforcement learning, or AI‑generated code

This is a rare opportunity to be the bridge between cutting‑edge hardware engineering and frontier AI at the earliest possible stage, with massive technical influence and equity upside in a tiny, well‑funded team.

Seniority Level: Mid‑Senior level

Employment Type: Full‑time

Job Function: Engineering, Design, and Information Technology

Industries: Computer Hardware Manufacturing, Robotics Engineering, Technology, Information and Media