Director of Software Architecture

Foundation Capital; West of England; On-site; GBP 120,000 - 180,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Private medical insurance

Pension (matched)

Life assurance

Health cash plan

Parental leave

Job summary

Graphcore, a leading AI compute company, seeks a Director of Software Architecture to steer the architectural vision of the software stack for the Graphcore ML accelerator. You will lead an architecture team defining software architecture from firmware to ML frameworks and communicate decisions as the product evolves.

You are a thought leader, engaging with stakeholders, partners and customers to ensure alignment with our long-term technical strategy and user-centric focus.

Qualifications

• Proven leadership experience in techn­ical environments.
• Experience working with silicon and hardware teams.
• Technical expertise in ML accelerator software.
• Excellent written and verbal communication skills.
• Collaborative mindset with influencing ability.
• Pragmatic decision making with trade-offs awareness.
• Experience with Firmware, Drivers, ML frameworks (PyTorch, Triton), HPC, tooling, C & C++, CPU architectures.

Responsibilities

• Articulate long-term technical vision and software architecture strategy.
• Define processes to develop and maintain software architecture.
• Act as a technology advocate across the organisation.
• Champion user experience in software architecture decisions.
• Manage architectural risks at technical and project level.
• Collaborate with engineering, product, leadership, and partners for alignment.
• Mentor and develop the software architecture team.
• Communicate trade-offs with company-wide impact.
• Stay informed on ML/software ecosystem trends.

Skills

Leadership experience

Silicon and hardware collaboration

ML accelerator software

Communications

Collaborative mindset

Pragmatic decision making

Firmware

Drivers

ML frameworks (PyTorch, Triton)

C & C++

CPU architectures

Tools

Firmware tools

Driver development

ML tooling

HPC

Job description

About Graphcore

Graphcore is one of the world’s leading innovators in Artificial Intelligence compute.

It is developing hardware, software and systems infrastructure that will unlock the next generation of AI breakthroughs and power the widespread adoption of AI solutions across every industry.

As part of the SoftBank Group, Graphcore is a member of an elite family of companies responsible for some of the world’s most transformative technologies. Together, they share a bold vision: to enable Artificial Super Intelligence and ensure its benefits are accessible to everyone.

Graphcore’s teams are drawn from diverse backgrounds and bring a broad range of skills and perspectives. A melting pot of AI research specialists, silicon designers, software engineers and systems architects, Graphcore enjoys a culture of continuous learning and constant innovation.

Job Summary

We are looking for a Director of Software Architect to lead the architectural vision of the software stack for the Graphcore ML accelerator.

In this role, you lead an architecture team that will define the software architecture for Graphcore products.

You are a thought leader and an advocate for our long-term technical vision, engaging with project stakeholder, external partners and customers to ensure alignment and clarity.

You are an excellent communicator, and you proactively convey architectural decisions and changes as the product evolves.

The Team

The software architecture team is responsible for defining, maintaining and communicating the overarching architecture of our software stack, from firmware to ML frameworks.

The team works within the wider software organisation, partnering closely with engineering teams who deliver against this architectural vision.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Communicate the long-term technical vision & strategy for the software architecture
• Define the processes and procedures to define, agree and maintain the software architecture.
• Act as an advocate and thought leader for the long-term technical vision across the organisation.
• Advocate for the user experience to ensure that the software architecture results in a software stack that is easy to use.
• Manage technical and project-level architectural risks.
• Work closely with engineering, product, leadership, and partners to ensure alignment between business goals and architectural vision.
• Inspire, grow, mentor and develop the software architecture team.
• Clearly communicate the trade off’s for architectural decisions that have company wide impacts.
• Stay informed about trends and developments in the ML/software ecosystem.

Candidate Profile

Essential:

• Proven experience in a leadership role.
• Experience of working with silicon and hardware teams.
• Technical expertise in the ML accelerator software space.
• Excellent communication skill, both written and verbal.
• Collaborative mindset and ability to influence.
• Pragmatic approach to decision making, being very aware of trade-offs and implications.
• Experience in one or more of these technologies; Firmware, Drivers, ML frameworks (PyTorch, Triton, etc), Collectives, HPC, Tooling, C & C++, CPU architectures.

Desirable

• Demonstrable experience in a previous architecture role.

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, Graphcore offers flexible working, a generous annual leave policy, private medical insurance and health cash plan, a dental plan, pension (matched up to 5%), life assurance and income protection. We have a generous parental leave policy and an employee assistance programme (which includes health, mental wellbeing, and bereavement support). We offer a range of healthy food and snacks at our central Bristol office and have our own barista bar! We welcome people of different backgrounds and experiences; we’re committed to building an inclusive work environment that makes Graphcore a great home for everyone. We offer an equal opportunity process and understand that there are visible and invisible differences in all of us. We can provide a flexible approach to interview and encourage you to chat to us if you require any reasonable adjustments.

Applicants for this position must hold the right to work in the UK. Unfortunately at this time, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or support for visa applications