Director, Silicon Verification

About the role

Graphcore is seeking a senior leader to shape and direct silicon verification strategy across multiple chip programs. Reporting to the Senior Director of Verification, you will guide a globally distributed team through the full verification lifecycle, from planning and infrastructure through coverage closure and sign-off. The role sits within the Silicon Design organisation and directly influences the quality of high-performance AI accelerators. You will establish the long-term vision, roadmap, and methodology that ensure Graphcore's silicon meets the most rigorous standards of quality and performance. This position requires a strategic thinker who can translate complex verification challenges into actionable plans for a multi-site engineering organization. The successful candidate will own the end-to-end verification execution for critical RTL blocks and complete SoCs, ensuring alignment with product goals. You will be a key architect in building the verification infrastructure that supports the next generation of AI compute hardware at Graphcore.

Key facts

What you'll do

• Set the long-term vision, roadmap and methodology for functional verification across all Graphcore silicon programs.
• Build and develop a high-performing, multi-site verification organisation that operates with excellence and consistency.
• Own verification planning, execution and sign-off for RTL blocks and top-level SoCs, managing all associated risks and dependencies.
• Define test plans with functional coverage targets, prioritise test content and iterate rapidly to close verification gaps.
• Lead debugging strategies, triage processes and root-cause analysis workflows to resolve complex issues efficiently.
• Guide integration of formal methods, simulation acceleration, emulation and system-level validation into a cohesive verification approach.
• Work with Architecture to refine specifications for verifiability and risk reduction, ensuring designs are testable from the outset.
• Coordinate with Logical Design on design intent, corner cases and test scenarios to build robust verification environments.
• Align with Physical Design and DFT teams on interface verification, timing assumptions and test structures to enable comprehensive testing.
• Drive post-silicon debug alignment and feed lessons learned back into RTL and verification methodology for continuous improvement.
• Deliver verification sign-off on schedule across parallel projects, balancing multiple priorities and deadlines effectively.
• Manage program risk, resource planning, milestones and verification budgets to ensure successful project execution.
• Establish metrics-based verification management covering structural and functional coverage, bug funnels, simulation performance and CI health.
• Evaluate emerging tools and technologies and drive their adoption to secure a competitive advantage for Graphcore.

Requirements

• Proven track record leading large-scale silicon verification organisations in complex, high-performance environments.
• Deep expertise in UVM-based constrained-random verification environments and the methodologies that support them.
• Strong background in formal verification techniques and the application of formal methods to real-world problems.
• Experience with simulation acceleration and emulation platforms, including their integration into verification flows.
• Ability to define and execute verification strategies for complex, high-performance SoCs that meet strict quality standards.
• Demonstrated success managing globally distributed engineering teams across multiple time zones and locations.
• Strong collaboration skills across Architecture, Logical Design, Physical Design, DFT, Systems and Program Management functions.
• Excellent communication and documentation skills to articulate verification status, risks, and decisions to diverse stakeholders.
• Commitment to building and maintaining a world-class verification culture that prioritizes quality, ownership, and continuous learning.
• Understanding of AI accelerator architectures and the verification challenges they present is highly relevant to the role.

Nice to have

• Experience verifying AI accelerators or similar high-performance compute silicon.
• Background in advanced verification methodologies such as portable stimulus and standardized IP.
• Familiarity with graph neural network architectures and their computational characteristics.
• Experience with hardware security verification and trustworthiness considerations in AI silicon.
• Knowledge of open-source verification frameworks and their application in production environments.
• Prior work in multi-project wafer (MPW) or multi-die integration verification scenarios.

Practical notes

• Graphcore is part of the SoftBank Group with long-term investment backing.
• The company is expanding teams globally to address growing AI compute demand.
• This is a full-time position based in Bristol, United Kingdom, with no travel requirements specified.
• The role involves managing significant program risk and requires strong organizational and prioritization skills.
• Success in this position depends on the ability to drive verification closure across multiple concurrent silicon projects.
• The candidate must be comfortable working within a fast-paced, dynamic environment that values innovation and technical excellence.
• Verification metrics and data-driven decision making are central to the responsibilities of this role.
• The position offers the opportunity to influence the direction of cutting-edge AI accelerator silicon at a critical stage of its development.