Graduate Software Engineer, System Software QA 2027

Graphcore Early Careers; West of England, Cambridge; On-site; GBP 32,000 - 46,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Pension matching

Phantom equity

Office spaces with free food & on-site

Income protection

Private medical insurance

Job summary

Graphcore is offering a Graduate Software Engineer (System Software QA) placement in Bristol or Cambridge. The two‑year programme provides hands‑on learning from day one, with responsibility for validating firmware, Linux drivers and platform tools, and shaping CI pipelines.

You will work closely with System Software teams to strengthen test‑driven development and gain practical engineering experience that matters to customers.

Qualifications

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in CS, maths or data science or related field.
• Experience with Linux internals and/or firmware.
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ and Python.
• Clear written and verbal communication; collaborative, ownership‑driven approach. Knowledge of low‑level testing, virtualization or automation pipelines is useful.

Responsibilities

• Validate low‑level firmware, Linux kernel drivers and platform tools.
• Design and develop tests; investigate issues and provide clear feedback on software quality.
• Maintain and improve CI pipelines across platforms.
• Collaborate with System Software teams to connect findings to software improvements.
• Support test‑driven development and practical engineering problem solving.

Skills

Linux internals

Firmware

C/C++

Python

Education

Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Computer Science, Maths, Data Science or a related field

Job description

Graduate Software Engineer, System Software QA 2027

Bristol, UK; Cambridge, UK

Location: Bristol or Cambridge, UK
Start date: September 2027
Application deadline: Midnight, 29th November 2026
We encourage you to apply early, as we may close applications before the advertised deadline.

The Graduate Programme at Graphcore

Join Graphcore in a permanent role and start your career with two years of hands‑on learning. From day one, you’ll be trusted to take ownership, share your ideas and help shape what we’re creating. You’ll tackle challenging problems alongside a team who support your development and are as excited about your success as you are.

Put your programming and Linux skills to work on the software that helps Graphcore’s AI systems run reliably.

As a Graduate Software Engineer in System Software Quality Assurance (QA), you’ll help validate low‑level firmware, Linux kernel drivers and platform tools. You’ll design and develop tests, investigate issues and give development teams clear feedback on software quality.

You’ll also maintain and improve continuous integration pipelines across different platforms. Working closely with System Software development teams, you’ll help strengthen test‑driven development and solve practical engineering problems that matter to customers.

Your team and support

You will be working closely with a team of passionate engineers who will help you each step of the way. Your buddy will be Myles who has recently completed his own graduate program, they can not only help you with becoming an individual contributor but also suggest some fascinating travel destinations for your next holiday.

How you’ll learn and grow

During the two-year programme, you’ll deepen your systems knowledge through hands‑on testing across firmware, Linux kernel drivers and platform tools.

Designing tests will help you understand the foundations on which some of the most popular models run, finding and debugging defects will teach you about the low‑level software and interactions with the hardware. You will have a chance to work in the lab configuring hardware connections and work on building automation pipelines to seamlessly run tests in loop and process results.

Collaboration with development teams will help you connect your findings to software improvements, explain technical issues clearly and develop your engineering judgement from design through delivery.

What we're looking for

• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Computer Science, Maths, Data Science or a related field
• Experience working with Linux internals and or firmware
• Strong proficiency in C/C++ and Python
• Clear written and verbal communication, with a collaborative, practical approach to solving challenging technical problems and taking ownership of quality work

You can demonstrate these skills through coursework, a dissertation, personal or team projects, research, or other relevant experience. Tell us what you built or investigated, how you approached it and what you learned.

Knowledge of low-level software testing, virtualisation, hypervisor concepts or automation pipelines would be useful. These are additional strengths, rather than essential requirements.

• Flexible working: Balance your work and personal life with greater flexibility
• Retirement planning support: Up to 5% matched pension
• Phantom equity: Share in Graphcore’s success
• Workplace experience: Enjoy thoughtfully designed office spaces for collaboration, with free food and an on‑site barista to support your day
• Peace of mind protection: Income protection and life assurance to provide financial security for you and your loved ones
• Electric Vehicle Scheme: Choose an electric vehicle and lease it through salary sacrifice
• Flexible benefits: Tailor your benefits package with a choice of additional options, including private medical insurance and dental cover
• Optional benefits: Dental cover, health cash plan, private medical insurance, cycle to work scheme, give as you earn

We welcome people from all backgrounds and experiences and are committed to building an inclusive environment where everyone can do their best work.
We’re an equal opportunity employer and recognise that everyone brings different strengths and perspectives. If you need any adjustments during the interview process, just let us know - we’re happy to support you.

Sponsorship

Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK for the full duration of the programme, without requiring visa sponsorship. We are unable to sponsor work visas for our Early Careers opportunities.

Introduction to Graphcore

At Graphcore, we’re building next generation AI compute: from semiconductors and software to systems at datacenter scale. We are proud to be owned by SoftBank Group and work with other companies in the SoftBank family to deliver AI compute to customers working at the AI frontier.Starting your career here means working alongside people with different backgrounds and expertise, from AI researchers to chip designers and software engineers. You’ll learn from each other, bring fresh ideas and help solve challenging problems together.

UK Demographic Data

We take pride in our commitment to creating an inclusive and diverse workplace. As part of our recruitment process, we ask for confidential diversity data from all applicants. This data will be anonymised so that no personal identification information will be collected, and is retained for statistical purposes only and is not attached to your application. Your responses to the following three questions will remain confidential and will not impact or be used in any way in regards to your application. We are only using this data to improve our hiring process to be inclusive of all diversity backgrounds.