Senior Director, System Software New Bristol, UK

Graphcore; West of England; Hybrid; GBP 180,000 - 280,000; Full time

Benefits offered by this job

Flexible working

Generous leave

Matched pension

Phantom equity

On-site barista + free food

Income protection & life assurance

EV salary sacrifice

Private medical insurance

Dental cover

Cycle to work scheme

Job summary

Graphcore is seeking a Director of System Software to lead the team responsible for firmware, drivers, OpenBMC and QA, translating software strategy into concrete priorities across hardware, silicon and software. You will report to the VP of Software, build a strong engineering organisation, own delivery milestones, and shape platform bring-up, production release and long-term support.

We value diverse experiences and welcome returnships.

Qualifications

• Track record leading system software teams across hardware and software programs.
• Experience managing managers or multiple technical teams with clear delivery ownership.
• Ability to coach and develop engineering leaders through change and technical uncertainty.
• Strong judgement across planning, resourcing, dependencies, risk and production release readiness.
• Experience embedding validation, automated testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing and clear release criteria.

Responsibilities

• Lead firmware, drivers, OpenBMC and QA teams.
• Shape platform bring-up, production release and long-term support across Graphcore systems.
• Align technical decisions with business priorities, delivery milestones and product readiness.
• Own execution, quality and cross-functional delivery across hardware, silicon, software and product teams.

Skills

Lead system software teams

Experience managing managers

Develop engineering leaders

Release readiness

Firmware and OpenBMC

Low-level software domains

Job description

Lead the system software organisation that turns complex hardware platforms into reliable Graphcore systems.As Director of System Software, you will report to the VP of Software and turn software strategy into clear priorities, plans and outcomes. You will lead the teams delivering firmware, drivers, OpenBMC and system software QA.Your work will shape platform bring-up, production release and long-term support across Graphcore systems. You will align technical decisions with business priorities, delivery milestones and product readiness.You will build a strong engineering organisation, developing managers, technical leaders and engineers. You will own execution, quality and cross-functional delivery across hardware, silicon, software and product teams.

This is a role for a leader who can think big, act fast and take responsibility for complex system outcomes.

The team and culture

System Software works close to the hardware, where small decisions can shape product reliability at scale. The team operates through clear ownership, evidence-based planning and direct technical debate.You will lead managers and specialists across firmware, drivers, OpenBMC and QA. Decisions are made through engineering judgement, clear trade-offs and a strong focus on delivery impact.You will be expected to speak up, challenge assumptions and help resolve issues across hardware and software boundaries. Pace matters, but so do maintainability, security and long term quality.

What we’re looking for

• A strong track record leading system software teams across closely coupled hardware and software programmes.
• Experience managing managers or multiple technical teams, with clear ownership of delivery outcomes.
• Proven ability to build, coach and develop engineering leaders through change and technical uncertainty.
• Strong judgement across planning, resourcing, dependencies, risk and production release readiness.
• Experience embedding validation, automated testing, hardware-in-the-loop testing and clear release criteria.
• Credible technical breadth across firmware, drivers, OpenBMC, QA or related low-level software domains.

While we have outlined a set of requirements, we value transferable skills and diverse experiences. We also welcome engineers returning to the profession after a career break, including through returnship routes.

• Flexible working: Balance your work and personal life with greater flexibility
• Generous leave: Take time to rest, recharge and enjoy life outside of work
• 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.

Join the Team at 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 brings together deep expertise to solve complex problems and deliver meaningful progress in AI compute.

If you want to lead the system software organisation behind Graphcore’s next generation platforms, we’d love to hear from you.

Sponsorship

Applicants must have the legal right to work in the UK. Unfortunately, we are unable to provide visa sponsorship or support visa applications for this role.

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.