Infrastructure Software Engineer Intern

About fab2

The fab2 team can build anything. We design all the hardware and software needed to make chips and we make the fabs, tools, and components ourselves.

We're looking for exceptional, hands-on people who can iterate to the limits of what's possible.

fab2 was founded by Sam Zeloof and Jim Keller. Sam is best known for making chips in his garage, and Jim has been a leader in the semiconductor industry for the past 40 years.

About the Role

We are seeking a Infrastructure and Site Reliability Intern for the winter term. The internship begins in January, with a preferred commitment of 4 to 8 months. You will design, build, deploy, and manage the on-prem backend infrastructure that powers our small, fast semiconductor fab.

This is a broad role encompassing all aspects of backend infrastructure and services.

Our philosophy towards infra is minimal, understandable, on-site, and close to the hardware. You won’t find much docker, cloud services, or kubernetes. Instead, there is a lot of bare-metal linux, systemd, and single file binaries. You’ll see a lot of rust and go and occasionally some python.

What matters most is that you’ve already built real things, you love getting close to the metal, and show strong signs of engineering excellence. If you’re excited by performance engineering, building complex features from scratch, and learning new domains quickly, this is a great place for you.

Our philosophy is to get things built and tested in days or weeks, not months. Because of this, a portfolio (can be your GitHub) is required to apply: show us the things you’ve actually built! For us, a good portfolio includes evidence of software engineering excellence and curiosity.

Responsibilities

• Build and evolve our infrastructure-as-code tooling to manage complex, multi-environment deployments

• Help manage and maintain our fleet of on-premises servers, ensuring high availability and optimal resource utilization

• Monitor and maintain system performance and health across diverse production workloads

• Design, implement, and refine alerting systems to catch issues before they impact users

• Build automation to reduce toil and improve operational efficiency

• Implement secure secret management

• Debug production issues across the stack

• Work closely with engineering teams to understand their infrastructure needs and deliver robust, scalable solutions

Required Experience

• Pursuing a BS in Computer Science, Computer Engineering, or demonstrated exceptional skill in software engineering

• Strong programming skills in Rust, Go, or other systems-oriented languages

• Solid understanding of Linux systems, networking fundamentals, and distributed systems concepts

• Experience building or maintaining non-trivial infrastructure, automation, or tooling projects (personal, academic, or professional)

• Interest in one or more of the following areas: systems reliability, observability, infrastructure automation, performance optimization

Nice-to-have

• Experience with configuration management or fleet management at scale

• Background in monitoring and observability tools (Prometheus, Grafana, ELK stack, Datadog)

• Familiarity with performance profiling and capacity planning

• Experience with database administration, backup strategies, or disaster recovery

• Exposure to secret management systems (Vault, SOPS) or PKI

Working at fab2

We’re an early-stage hardware startup with solid funding, world-class advisors, and labs/offices in Austin, TX, Lockhart, TX, and San Francisco, CA. fab2 is committed to fair and equitable compensation. Software Interns are paid hourly, at a rate equivalent to an annualized range of $114,000–$131,000 depending on experience and education. Actual earnings vary with hours worked.

Internship Benefits:

• Housing Stipend to help with first month expenses

• Lunches daily, Dinners 3x per week, Stocked Office Kitchen with Snacks and Spindrifts

• Weekly Learning & Development opportunities

• Commuter Benefits including Parking and Late Night Uber rides from the office

• Paid Time Off inclusive of Holidays and Sick Time

• Visa Sponsorship

• Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance

• 401(k) retirement plan

• Life and Disability Insurance

We are an equal-opportunity employer and do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, veteran status, disability or other legally protected statuses.

Export Control Analysis: This position involves access to technology that is subject to U.S. export controls. Any job offer made will be contingent upon the applicant’s capacity to serve in compliance with U.S. export controls.

fab2, formerly known as Atomic Semi