Silicon Characterisation Engineer

About 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 enjoys a culture of continuous learning and constant innovation. 

Job Summary

We are looking for a Characterisation and Bring-Up engineer to work with Architecture, Silicon Engineering, Hardware Engineering, Operations (device manufacture) and Product teams to help create and execute the bring-up and characterisation of our cutting-edge silicon devices and system platforms. Graphcore design and develop leading edge silicon processors and high-power high-speed blade systems at the forefront of AI technology. As such you will need to develop a detailed understanding of our silicon and platform products.

Your role will be to create and execute bring-up and characterisation plans of our silicon devices in systems to show that they will operate correctly over all conditions in the final product. You will concentrate on automated and manual testing of systems in the lab and datacentre. The results will be integrated with data from other teams to provide the complete characterisation solution for the product. For example, a large amount of device testing can be performed by the production test team using high-speed production test equipment.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Understand the architecture and design of silicon devices and systems, and clearly document the requirements for characterisation.
• Creation of product specific characterisation plans.
• Liasing with engineering teams to understand what are tests are available for characterisation purposes and driving change where appropriate.
• Create and maintain an automated system for running characterisation testing, capturing the results to a central database and performing data analysis.
• Execution of manual characterisation tests where automation is not appropriate.
• Report regularly on progress and issues during the characterisation.
• Produce characterisation reports containing platform test results and feeding them up into the overall product characterisation report.
  
  
  

Candidate Profile

Essential

• A proven track record of delivering technical output, perhaps as an individual contributor, manager, or project manager.
• Solid experience and understanding of silicon digital device design characterisation.
• Knowledge of silicon process technology and how that impacts device performance at transistor and system level.
• Knowledge of high-performance processor and system-on-chip systems.
• Experience of high-speed digital interfaces, such as PCIe, Ethernet or DDR.
• Knowledge of measurement automation and data analysis.
• The ability to code or script automation and data analysis using appropriate coding languages such as Python, JMP for example.
• An ability to work independently without daily oversight.
• Bachelor's degree or equivalent practical experience.
  
  
  

Desirable

• Knowledge of PCBA and system level technologies.
• Background knowledge of ATE systems and capabilities. Whilst you will not be directly involved with such testing, some of the characterisation work will be performed on such systems.
  
  
  
  

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.