Hardware Development Engineer

About Graphcore

How often do you get the chance to build a technology that transforms the future of humanity?

Graphcore products have set the standard in made-for-AI compute hardware and software, gaining global attention and industry acclaim. Now we are developing the next generation of artificial intelligence compute with systems that will allow AI researchers to develop more advanced models, help scientists unlock exciting new discoveries, and power companies around the world as they put AI at the heart of their business.

Graphcore recently joined SoftBank Group – bringing large and ongoing investment from one of the world’s leading backers of innovative AI companies.

Job Summary

As a hardware development engineer you will analyse system requirements and design circuit solutions, in collaboration with Graphcore’s Silicon, Architecture and Software Teams.

You will generate schematics and PCB layout constraints and work closely with the PCB CAD team to realise the designs. You will define test and validation plans, run test campaigns, report results, work closely with the firmware and system architecture teams to interpret results, debug and improve performance.

You will be expert in microprocessor system design and debug, with a deep understanding of processor power supply, reset & clocking requirements, memory, communications and control interfaces.

About the Hardware Engineering Team

Graphcore’s Hardware Engineering Team creates both products for sale in volume production and hardware test & validation systems based on Graphcore’s IPU processor. These systems allow Graphcore’s customers to develop leading-edge machine-learning solutions for training and inference.

Responsibilities and Duties

Development of production systems and test boards for Graphcore’s family of processors which includes:

• Circuit design, requirements analysis, functional definition, and component selection
• PCB Layout constraint definition, and support of PCB CAD layout team
• Circuit validation and verification
• Design and running of tests to validate circuit performance and margin
• Debugging and optimisation, in collaboration with the firmware team, of the correct system performance of microcontroller hardware control code
• Prototype production support, prototype bringup, evaluation & system test, prototype validation.
• Support of transfer to mass production.

Candidate Profile

Essential experience in (one of) the following areas.

• Knowledge of DCDC voltage (including multi-phase) regulators, linear regulators and PCB design requirements for efficient power delivery
• Processor system development, as STM32, with experience in processor interfaces such as Ethernet, PCIe, DDR, FLASH, USB, I2C, SPI, JTAG etc
• Experience in SERDES (eg 112Gbps, PAM4) a benefit

Other experience required:

• Demonstrable experience in digital circuit development and validation
• Extensive practical lab experience, bringing up, debugging and validating designs
• Expertise in the use of high-speed digital oscilloscopes, logic analysers and signal generators
• Experience in scripting (Linux, Python, Bash) of tests and Excel to analyse results

Desirable:

• Experience in Mentor (or similar) PCB design flow for schematic capture, design constraints, PCB layout
• Rigorous approach to ensure designs will work correctly first time
• Excellent communications skills with the ability to work both independently and as part of a small team, taking responsibility and willing to participate in all parts of the development cycle

Benefits

In addition to a competitive salary, Graphcore offers flexible working, a generous annual leave policy, private medical insurance and health cash plan, a dental plan, pension (matched up to 5%), life assurance and income protection. We have a generous parental leave policy and an employee assistance programme (which includes health, mental wellbeing, and bereavement support). We offer a range of healthy food and snacks at our central Bristol office and have our own barista bar! We welcome people of different backgrounds and experiences; we’re committed to building an inclusive work environment that makes Graphcore a great home for everyone. We offer an equal opportunity process and understand that there are visible and invisible differences in all of us. We can provide a flexible approach to interview and encourage you to chat to us if you require any reasonable adjustments