Hardware Intern

Location: Bristol, UK
Duration: 12 weeks
Salary: £2500 per month
Start date: June 2027
Applications deadline: Midnight, 29^th November
We encourage you to apply early, as we may close applications before the advertised deadline.

The Internship Programme at Graphcore

Explore a career at Graphcore through a 12-week summer internship, gaining hands-on experience on real projects. You’ll bring fresh ideas, put your learning into practice and help shape what we’re creating. Along the way, you’ll tackle challenging problems with a team who welcome your questions and support you as you build your skills and confidence.

What you’ll be doing

Put your engineering foundations to work exploring the electronic hardware behind Graphcore’s AI compute platforms.

Your internship could focus on Hardware Design, Signal Integrity or elements of both, depending on your interests, the available projects and how your strengths develop. You’ll contribute to a clearly scoped design, analysis, validation or debugging task, with guidance as you work towards a conclusion supported by evidence.

In Hardware Design, your tasks could include schematic and circuit design, component evaluation, PCB development, board bring-up or laboratory testing. You could help check power rails and clocks, exercise interfaces, investigate faults or develop test and debug access.

In Signal Integrity, you could explore high-speed links such as PCIe and Ethernet, DDR and other memory interfaces, or clocks and timing-critical signals. Tasks could include reviewing PCB layouts and routing, simulating interconnect behaviour or comparing laboratory measurements with analysis to understand design trade-offs.

Your team and support

Hardware Design and Signal Integrity engineers work closely with PCB layout, silicon, validation, firmware, mechanical and thermal engineering, manufacturing and system teams. You’ll see how different engineering perspectives come together to make complex boards work.

Staff Hardware Engineers and Team Leads will support you with clearly scoped work and regular technical guidance. You can ask for help as you explore unfamiliar concepts, discuss your findings and use feedback to improve your approach.

Decisions are shaped by simulation, measurement and engineering judgement. As an intern, you’ll be encouraged to ask questions, speak up and try out ideas early, with support from experienced engineers as you learn.

How you’ll learn and grow

Over the 12 weeks, you’ll connect your studies with how boards are designed, analysed, brought up and validated. Your project will help you develop a methodical approach to defining a problem, testing your thinking and explaining what the evidence shows.

You’ll gain exposure to professional tools such as Mentor Expedition, Ansys HFSS and Keysight ADS, as relevant to your work. Comparing simulations, design choices and laboratory results will help you understand how real hardware behaves and which areas of hardware engineering you’d like to explore further.

Your internship is a chance to explore a future at Graphcore. Depending on your performance and the roles available, there may be an opportunity to join one of our graduate programmes once you’ve graduated.

What we're looking for

• Currently studying towards a degree in Electronic Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Computer Engineering, Physics or a closely related technical discipline
• Strong electrical and electronic engineering foundations, with an interest in hardware design or signal integrity and how real electronic systems work
• A logical, first-principles approach to unfamiliar problems, with practical engineering experience from university projects, laboratory work, personal projects or activities such as Formula Student, robotics or engineering societies
• The ability to work with measurements or technical data and explain your conclusions clearly, with curiosity, willingness to take ownership and openness to feedback and collaboration

Your interests might include schematic design, PCBs, component selection, bring-up, validation, test or fault finding; or transmission lines, impedance, reflections, crosstalk, simulation and electronic measurement.

Previous industry experience and professional experience with the tools listed above are not required. Tell us what you built or investigated, how you approached it and what you learned.

Benefits

• Flexible working: Find a balance between your internship and life outside work
• 5 days of annual leave: Take time to rest and recharge during your 12-week internship
• Life in the office: Get to know your colleagues in spaces designed for collaboration, with free food, a great selection of ice cream and an on-site barista
• Learning and development: Build your skills and explore your interests with access to O’Reilly, our online learning platform

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.

An internship at Graphcore gives you the chance to explore where your interests and skills could take you. You’ll work alongside people with different backgrounds and expertise, from AI researchers to chip designers and software engineers. Together, you’ll share ideas and solve challenging problems, building experience and confidence to help you decide what comes next.

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. 

Curious about where your skills could take you? Apply for a summer internship at Graphcore and help us build what comes next.