Lead Bring-up & Characterisation Engineer

Graphcore; Bristol; On-site; GBP 90,000 - 150,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Unlimited annual leave

Up to 5% matched pension

Phantom equity

Flexible work

On-site facilities and food

Health cash plan

Life assurance

Job summary

Graphcore in Bristol, UK is seeking a Lead Bring-up & Characterisation Engineer to lead the bring-up and characterisation of its silicon devices and system platforms. You will build a team, define characterisation plans, automate testing and analyse results to ensure reliability before customers.

The role requires strong experience in silicon design, SoC architectures, and high-speed interfaces, with a hands-on leadership style and close collaboration across multiple engineering functions.

Qualifications

• Proven track record delivering technical outcomes and strong stakeholder skills.
• Solid experience in silicon digital device design, bring-up and characterisation.
• Knowledge of high-performance processors and SoC architectures; familiarity with PCIe/Ethernet/DDR.

Responsibilities

• Lead bring-up and characterisation of Graphcore silicon devices and system platforms.
• Develop characterisation plans, automate testing, and analyse results across silicon and system platforms.
• Build and lead a team, collaborate with architecture, hardware, operations and product teams.

Skills

Technical leadership

Communication

Silicon design & bring-up

Data analysis

Automation scripting

Education

Bachelor's degree or equivalent

Tools

Measurement automation tools

Testing scripts

Job description

Lead Bring-up & Characterisation Engineer

Bristol, UK

About the job

Help shape the first moments of life for the next generation of AI processors.

You'll lead the bring-up and characterisation of Graphcore's silicon devices and system platforms. Your work will ensure products perform reliably before they reach customers.

You'll build and lead a team that develops characterisation plans, automates testing, and analyses results across silicon and system platforms. You'll work closely with architecture, silicon, hardware, operations and product teams to solve complex technical challenges.

This is a hands‑on technical leadership role with the opportunity to influence product design, shape new capabilities, and build a team from the ground up.

The team and culture

You'll join a newly formed team within Manufacturing Operations and help define how bring‑up and characterisation is delivered at Graphcore. Your decisions will shape the team's direction as it grows.

The team works closely with colleagues across Bristol, Cambridge and Taiwan. Success comes from solving problems together, sharing data, and making informed engineering decisions.

You'll be trusted to take ownership, remove blockers, and improve how work is done. We value people who speak up, challenge assumptions, and turn ideas into practical solutions.

What we're looking for

• Proven track record of delivering technical outcomes as an individual contributor, manager, or project manager, with strong communication and stakeholder management skills.
• Solid experience in silicon digital device design, bring‑up, and characterisation, with a good understanding of silicon process technology and its impact on transistor‑ and system‑level performance.
• Strong knowledge of high‑performance processors, system‑on‑chip (SoC) architectures, and high‑speed digital interfaces such as PCIe, Ethernet, and DDR.
• Experience with measurement automation, data analysis, and developing code or scripts to support automated testing and analysis workflows.
• Bachelor's degree (or equivalent practical experience), with a background understanding of ATE systems and their role in silicon characterisation.
• Knowledge of PCBA and system level technologies.
• Unlimited annual leave
• Up to 5% matched pension
• Phantom equity – share in Graphcore's success
• True flexibility in how and where you work
• Office spaces designed for collaboration
• Free food and an on‑site barista
• Health cash plan
• Income protection
• Life assurance
• Along with other benefits you can choose from (private medical insurance, dental plan etc)

Inclusion statement

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.

Join the Team at Graphcore

Graphcore is building the compute platform for the next generation of artificial intelligence. From advanced silicon to intelligent software, our technology is designed to unlock breakthroughs in AI and bring its benefits to every industry.

As part of the SoftBank Group, we're backed by one of the world's most ambitious technology investors, working alongside companies shaping the future of AI. Together, we share a bold goal: to help enable artificial superintelligence and ensure it delivers meaningful impact at a global scale.

At Graphcore, you'll work with people who are pushing the boundaries of what's possible. Our teams bring together AI researchers, chip designers, software engineers and systems experts from a wide range of backgrounds. It's an environment where we take on big challenges with curiosity and focus, move quickly and decisively, take real ownership of our work, and speak up to challenge ideas, stepping up to support each other and lead through action.

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.

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