Staff Power and Performance Validation Engineer
Graphcore is a Bristol-based AI chipmaker (IPU accelerators), a SoftBank subsidiary and a Molten Ventures portfolio company.
Maintainer signals as of 8/20/2026
About Graphcore
Graphcore (graphcore.ai) is a British semiconductor company building Intelligence Processing Units (IPUs) for AI workloads. Founded in Bristol in 2016, it was acquired by SoftBank in 2024. It is a portfolio company of Molten Ventures.
Skills
Candidate Availability
Required and preferred rules are kept separate and reflect the wording in the original posting.
About the Role
You will lead power, thermal, and performance validation for advanced AI compute silicon and systems across pre-silicon and post-silicon environments. You will define validation strategies and plans, lead silicon bring-up and characterization, develop Python automation and regression infrastructure, design benchmark workloads, analyze performance data, debug hardware-software interactions, and communicate technical findings and recommendations.
Requirements
- Strong experience in power and performance validation, silicon characterization, or system performance engineering
- Deep understanding of modern SoC architecture, including CPU, memory, interconnect, and high-speed I/O technologies
- Strong Linux systems knowledge and low-level performance analysis experience
- Strong Python programming skills for automation, orchestration, and data analysis
- Experience with benchmarking and profiling tools such as stress-ng, fio, perf, and iperf
- Experience debugging complex hardware and software interactions
- Ability to define structured validation methodologies, workload models, and test strategies
- Strong analytical skills for interpreting large datasets and identifying system bottlenecks
- Strong communication and cross-functional collaboration skills
- Experience with AI accelerator, GPU, or high-performance compute architectures
- Experience with pre-silicon modeling or simulation environments
- Knowledge of power management technologies and silicon characterization methodologies
- Programming experience in C/C++ for low-level system or benchmark development
- Familiarity with hardware instrumentation and telemetry systems
Responsibilities
- Define and lead validation strategies for power, thermal, and performance characterization
- Plan and execute validation activities across projects and milestones
- Develop validation plans covering functional, stress, workload, and corner-case scenarios
- Lead post-silicon bring-up and characterization activities
- Validate CPU, memory, interconnect, and high-speed I/O subsystems under complex workloads
- Develop Python automation frameworks, regression infrastructure, and reporting tools
- Design benchmark workloads, parameter sweeps, and performance experiments
- Debug and resolve complex hardware and software issues
- Define validation metrics, pass/fail criteria, and reporting methodologies
- Develop custom workload generators and micro-benchmarks
- Analyze power, thermal, and performance data to identify bottlenecks
- Communicate technical findings, project status, risks, and recommendations
Benefits
- Flexible working
- Medical coverage
- Dental coverage
- Vision coverage
- Flexible Spending Accounts
- Health Savings Accounts
- Disability insurance
- Life insurance
- 401(k) retirement plan
- Commuter benefits
- Wellness services
- Employee Assistance Programme