Location: Bristol, UK
Start date: September 2027
Application deadline: Midnight, 29th November 2026 
We encourage you to apply early, as we may close applications before the advertised deadline.

The Graduate Programme at Graphcore

Join Graphcore in a permanent role and start your career with two years of hands-on learning. From day one, you’ll be trusted to take ownership, share your ideas and help shape what we’re creating. You’ll tackle challenging problems alongside a team who support your development and are as excited about your success as you are. 

What you’ll work on 

Put your software skills to work testing how AI and machine learning workloads run on Graphcore accelerator hardware. 

As a Graduate Software Engineer in AI/ML Test Systems, you’ll create representative machine learning workloads and analyse their numerical accuracy and performance. You’ll design tests and help improve testing strategies and infrastructure across simulated and physical hardware. 

You’ll also build continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, investigate difficult problems and turn your findings into measurable improvements. Your work will connect machine learning frameworks and models with the hardware beneath them, helping improve software quality and customer experience. 

Your team and support 

The Software QA team combines software engineering, automation and data analysis to improve product quality and customer experience. We work extensively with industry-standard machine learning frameworks and models, including contributions to upstream open-source projects.  

Our team works in small squads, each with ownership of a particular area of software quality. As a graduate, you’ll have the opportunity to explore the breadth of our work, gain practical experience across different areas and discover what interests you before settling into a squad.  

You’ll work alongside engineers who investigate problems, share findings and collaborate closely with development teams to improve quality, security and maintainability. Test results, performance data and the needs of the wider software organisation guide our decisions.  

You’ll have a buddy to help you find your feet and a manager who will support your development, explore your career goals with you and help make time for learning. You’ll be encouraged to ask questions, challenge existing approaches and take initiative, with experienced colleagues to turn to for guidance as you build confidence and take ownership of your work. 

How you’ll learn and grow 

During the two-year programme, you’ll build practical experience across machine learning, testing, automation and performance analysis. 

Creating workloads and analysing results will help you understand how software behaves on accelerator hardware. Debugging issues will develop your problem-solving skills and help you connect numerical accuracy and performance to the systems running a model. 

Work on test infrastructure and CI/CD will show you how automated checks support software development across simulated and physical platforms. Sharing findings with development teams will help you explain technical problems clearly and turn evidence into improvements. 

What we're looking for 

• Bachelor’s/Master’s degree in Computer Science, Maths, Machine Learning, Data Science or a related field 
• Strong Python skills and proficiency in C++ 
• Experience working with Linux operating systems and the ability to learn new technologies quickly 

Exposure to machine learning frameworks such as PyTorch, JAX, Triton or TensorFlow, test automation, CI/CD, data analytics, hardware architectures or compilers would be useful. 

Experience with distributed workload management systems or machine learning operations (MLOps) pipelines would also be useful. These are additional strengths, rather than essential requirements. 

Benefits

• Flexible working: Balance your work and personal life with greater flexibility
• 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.

Sponsorship

Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK for the full duration of the programme, without requiring visa sponsorship. We are unable to sponsor work visas for our Early Careers opportunities.

Introduction to Graphcore

At Graphcore, we’re building next generation AI compute: from semiconductors and software to systems at datacenter scale. We are proud to be owned by SoftBank Group and work with other companies in the SoftBank family to deliver AI compute to customers working at the AI frontier. Starting your career here means working alongside people with different backgrounds and expertise, from AI researchers to chip designers and software engineers. You’ll learn from each other, bring fresh ideas and help solve challenging problems together.

How to apply and what to expect 

To apply, answer the application questions below and upload your CV and cover letter. We’ll let you know the outcome of your application by early December at the latest. If successful, you’ll be invited to complete a technical assessment. Candidates who reach the final stage will then be invited to attend in-person assessments in early spring.

Ready to put your learning into practice? Start your career in a permanent Software Engineer role in AI/ML Test Systems, with two years of hands-on learning through the Graphcore Graduate Programme. Apply now and help shape what comes next.