Director, Silicon Logical Design

Graphcore; West of England; On-site; GBP 110,000 - 170,000; Full time

Job summary

Graphcore is seeking a Director of Silicon Logical Design to lead and scale the Logical Design group within the Silicon department. This role oversees strategy, technical direction, execution quality and team development for Graphcore's microarchitecture and RTL design efforts.

The Director will ensure RTL implementations meet world-class standards for performance, power, area, and schedule, partnering with Architecture, Physical Design, Verification, DFT and Program Management to align with the

Qualifications

• Degree in Computer Science, Electrical Engineering or a related field.
• Extensive experience in digital logical design, micro-architecture and RTL development for large scale, high performance silicon projects.
• Proven success leading and developing technical teams in a semiconductor environment.

Responsibilities

• Define and execute the strategic roadmap for Logical Design, aligned with Graphcore's silicon and product strategy.
• Lead, grow and mentor a high-performing RTL/microarchitecture design organization.
• Establish and implement best-in-class design methodologies, documentation standards and quality metrics.
• Drive continuous improvement across team structure, workflows, tooling and design processes.
• Provide technical oversight of microarchitecture specification and RTL development across major blocks and subsystems.

Skills

Digital design

Micro-architecture

RTL development

Cross-functional leadership

Python/Tcl scripting

Education

Bachelors in CS/EE or related

Advanced degree preferred

Tools

SystemVerilog

VHDL

Scripting (Python, Tcl)

Job description

About Graphcore

At Graphcore, we're building the future of AI compute.

We're a team of semiconductor, software and AI experts, with deep experience in creating the complete AI compute stack - from silicon and software to infrastructure at datacenter scale.

As part of the SoftBank Group, backed by significant long-term investment, we are delivering key technology into the fast-growing SoftBank AI ecosystem.

To meet the vast and exciting AI opportunity, Graphcore is expanding its teams around the world.

We are bringing together the brightest minds to solve the toughest problems, in a place where everyone has the opportunity to make an impact on the company, our products and the future of artificial intelligence.

Job Summary

We are seeking a Director of Silicon Logical Design to lead and scale our Logical Designgroupwithin the Silicon department. This role is accountable for the overall strategy, technical direction, executionqualityand team development forGraphcoresmicroarchitecture and RTL design efforts.

The Director willbe responsible forensuring that our logical design methodologies,architecturesand RTL implementations meet worldclass standards for performance, power, area, and schedule. This leader will partner closely with Architecture, Physical Design, Verification, DFT and Program Managementteamsto ensure successful, predictable silicon delivery aligned withGraphcoreslongterm product roadmap.

The Team

The Logical Design team deliver the micro-architecture and RTL that realise our advanced chip architectures. As Director, you will guide this multi site team, strengthen cross functional collaboration, and drive the evolution of our design flows and capabilities.

Responsibilities and Duties

Leadership & Strategy

• Define and execute the strategic roadmap for Logical Design, ensuring alignment withGraphcoressilicon and product strategy.

• Lead, grow and mentor a highperformingRTL/microarchitecture design organisation.

• Establishand implementbestinclass design methodologies, documentationstandardsand quality metrics.

• Drive continuous improvement across team structure, workflows, tooling, and design processes.

Technical Ownership

• Provide technical oversight of microarchitecture specification and RTL development across all major blocks and subsystems.

• Guide architectural feasibility studies, contribute to architecturaltradeoffsand microarchitecture definition.

• Oversee the integration ofthirdpartyIP, complex applicationspecific blocks, andhighperformancecustom designs.

• Ensure robust design signoff through highquality linting, synthesis, CDC/RDC, timing closure and coverage metrics.

Cross-Functional Collaboration

• Partner closely with Physical Design, Verification, DFT, Architecture and Program Managementteamsto ensure cohesive planning and execution.

• Fosterstrong communicationacross teams and global sites, ensuring alignment on priorities,risksand deliverables.

• Support silicon bring-up and debug efforts by providing expert guidance and deep understanding of RTL behaviour and architecture.

Execution & Delivery

• Own delivery of highquality, onschedule RTL for multipleparallelsilicon programs.

• Establish scalable project planning and tracking practices, including resource planning and risk mitigation.

• Champion design automation and infrastructure improvements to accelerate productivity and improve design quality.

Essential Skills & Experience

• Degree in Computer Science, ElectricalEngineeringor a related field; advanced degree preferred.

• Extensive experience in digital logical design, micro-architecture and RTL development for large scale, high performance silicon projects.

• Proven success leading and developing technical teams in a semiconductor environment.

• DeepexpertiseinSystemVerilogor VHDL and familiarity with modern digital design flows.

• Strong ability to diagnose and resolve complex design issues, including via scripting/programming (Python,Tcl, etc.).

• Demonstrated excellence in crossfunctional leadership and communication across global teams.

• Strong organisational skills with ability to manage multiple priorities and drive execution in fast-paced environments.

Desirable Experience

• Processor or accelerator microarchitecture.

• High-speed serial interfaces and complex, highbandwidth IP blocks.

• Arithmetic pipeline design and floatingpointdatapaths.

• Advanced synthesis, timing analysis, power analysis, and logical equivalence checking.

• Design-for-test methodologies.

• Power integrity and silicondevice level understanding.

• Experience with silicon bring-up and post-silicon validation.

• Program planning and multi-project execution leadership.