Senior Firmware Validation Engineer

Graphcore is a globally recognised leader in Artificial Intelligence computing systems. The company designs advanced semiconductors and data centre hardware that provide the specialised processing power needed to drive AI innovation, while delivering the efficiency required to support its broader adoption.

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. We are opening a new AI Engineering Campus in Austin, which will play a central role in Graphcore's work building the future of AI computing.

Reporting to the Firmware Manager and working as a member of the Firmware Team, the Senior Staff Firmware Engineer is responsible for the design, development, and delivery of complex firmware systems across Graphcore’s next-generation hardware platforms.

This role requires significant technical breadth and deep embedded systems expertise. You will contribute to shaping the firmware architecture and design, guide engineering practices, and solve highly challenging problems while maintaining a strong hands-on focus. You will partner closely with hardware, drivers, silicon and platform teams to deliver robust, scalable, production-quality firmware.

The Firmware Team develops the low-level software responsible for the complete boot, configuration, and monitoring of Graphcore silicon and hardware platforms. Our work includes:

• Boot and power sequencing

• Low-level hardware interfaces and drivers

• Telemetry, monitoring and SMBus/BMC data exposure

• Silicon and system bring-up

Responsibilities and Duties

Technical Leadership

• Act as a technical authority for complex firmware features, flows, and subsystems

• Contribute to architectural development and design for substantial parts of the firmware stack, ensuring long-term maintainability and scalability

• Influence technical decision-making both within your immediate team and beyond

• Work closely with the Tech Lead to provide technical direction and maintain the long-term architecture of Graphcore’s firmware and tooling

Hands-On Design & Development

• Design, implement, and deliver high-quality, production-ready firmware in C

• Take ownership of technically challenging areas such as boot flows, real-time embedded logic, platform security, or silicon bring-up

• Perform deep system debugging using oscilloscopes, logic analysers, JTAG, emulation, and other low-level tools

• Review and improve code, designs, and implementation approaches across the team

Cross-Functional Interaction

• Collaborate closely with hardware, silicon, platform, drivers and test teams to define requirements and resolve interdependent issues

• Work directly with external partners, firmware vendors, or silicon suppliers on integration and technical problem-solving

• Communicate complex technical concepts clearly to both expert and non-expert audiences

Quality, Reliability & System Thinking

• Ensure correctness, robustness, security, and