CareersRead this first
FELSITE · 2026

The founding team
closes once

A founding stake, and a decade of a chip’s behaviour decided by choices made in the next eighteen months.

See the open roles → How we hire
01 · The arithmetic

This is not a sales tactic

There are four core founding seats — SoC and tape-out, firmware, cryptography, validation. One is filled. When the rest are, the equity band that goes with them is gone: later hires join a company with a product and a round behind it, on terms that reflect that.

02 · The job

What is different about this one

  • You will be there at tape-out — architecture, RTL, verification, bring-up, silicon.
  • The decisions are permanent. Silicon does not ship patches.
  • Your work is verifiable in public. Five patches merged upstream so far.
  • Small and senior by design. Nowhere to hide, which some people love.
  • It is in Kerala. For a lot of good engineers that is the entire argument.
Read the open-source record →
03 · Straight talk

Cash, equity, and AI

Cash is competitive for Kerala. It is not competitive with Bangalore or the Bay Area in absolute terms and we will not pretend otherwise — though housing and schooling here change the real sum, and we will go through that arithmetic honestly, including the parts that do not favour us.

We use AI tooling heavily across design, firmware and verification. It does not do the engineering: it writes code quickly and confidently, including when it is wrong. Judgement becomes the scarce input, and senior people get far more leverage than on a conventional team.

4

Ordering information — all roles

One list, the whole team. Every open row links to the full description. All roles are Kochi-based with meaningful equity.

Four core seats, seven rows — here is why. Four technical ownership seats sit at the core of the company: SoC and tape-out, firmware, cryptography, and validation. Validation closed in August 2026. The other three rows are additional early engineering leads who join the founding team. All seven carry founding-team terms; the four core seats carry the largest ownership. There is one founder, and co-founder status is earned here rather than granted at the door.
CodeRoleBandStatus
FEL-FT-SOCSilicon Design — RTL & Microarchitecture8–20 yearsIN CONVERSATIONS
FEL-FT-DVDesign Verification8–20 yearsOPEN
FEL-FT-FWFirmware & Boot6–15 yearsIN CONVERSATIONS
FEL-FT-FPGAFPGA & Emulation8–20 yearsOPEN
FEL-FT-PDPhysical Design10–20 yearsOPEN
FEL-FT-CRYPTOHardware Security Architect12+ yearsOPEN NOW
FEL-FT-VALValidation Lead8–20 yearsFILLED · AUG 2026

Statuses current as of 16 August 2026

Not seeing your role? Seats are defined by ownership, not title. If you have shipped silicon and want in, write anyway — careers@felsite.com.
05 · How hiring works

Four steps, no puzzles

  • A conversation. Forty-five minutes with the founder. No whiteboard.
  • A technical deep-dive. Your work and our problems, both directions.
  • A short exercise, or a code read. Timeboxed, never speculative work we would use.
  • A day in Kochi. Meet the team, talk to whoever you want, decide.

Every application answered within five working days. If we are not going forward we say so, and why.

06 · What to send

Three points, no cover letter

Email careers@felsite.com with what you have worked on that you would want to talk about, a link to anything public, and where you are and what you are looking for. A CV if one is to hand.

Not ready to move yet? Say so — we will keep you on a short list and come back when the timing is better. No newsletter, no sequence.

Join the talent registry →