Senior Debug Validation Engineer

Graphcore•Austin, TX

11h

About The Position

Graphcore is a leading innovator in Artificial Intelligence compute, developing hardware, software, and systems infrastructure to drive AI breakthroughs and widespread adoption. As part of the SoftBank Group, Graphcore aims to enable Artificial Super Intelligence and make its benefits accessible to everyone. The company fosters a culture of continuous learning and innovation, with diverse teams of AI research specialists, silicon designers, software engineers, and systems architects. Reporting to senior leadership within Architecture and Validation, the Debug Validation Engineer will lead post-silicon debug and validation activities for next-generation AI compute silicon and systems. This role involves leading teams in identifying, reproducing, analyzing, and resolving complex silicon, firmware, and system-level issues during bring-up, characterization, and product readiness. The position requires deep technical debugging expertise and strong cross-functional collaboration with architecture, RTL, firmware, software, systems, and platform teams to enhance debug methodologies, accelerate issue resolution, and strengthen validation coverage.

Requirements

Strong experience in bare metal environments
Good knowledge of SoC and platform architectures
Expertise in debug infrastructure and post-silicon debug methodologies
Strong programming skills in Python, C, or debug scripting languages such as CMM
Highly motivated self-starter with a collaborative and team-oriented approach
Ability to work across teams and programming languages to identify root causes of deep and complex issues
Experience of the post-silicon validation process applied in digital ASIC environments
Strong Linux and Python experience
Exceptional communication skills and the ability to collaborate effectively to solve complex problems
Excellent problem-solving, analytical, and diagnostic skills
Deep knowledge of scan, DFT, JTAG, and trace infrastructure
Strong debug skills including fault tree analysis, failure isolation, fishbone methodologies, and system-level debug techniques
Ability to work independently on technically complex debug and validation activities across hardware, firmware, and software domains

Nice To Haves

Understanding of DFT flows from insertion through post-silicon validation
Experience developing tooling for parsing and analysing debug data, including scan dump parsing
Driver-level experience with one or more of the following technologies: PCIe, Ethernet
Memory technologies including LPDDR, DDR, and HBM
Peripheral interfaces such as I2C, I3C, and SPI
Experience using CoreSight and similar debug infrastructure including CTI, ETx, DStream, JLink, Lauterbach, ATB, and STM
Good knowledge of mixed-signal building blocks such as PLLs, high-speed PHYs, and IC control/communication protocols
Experience with Arm CPU architectures, system IP, and associated debug tooling
Experience with AMBA protocols
Understanding of ML applications and associated workloads
Experience in characterization, failure analysis, test development, statistical analysis, and customer support

Responsibilities

Lead post-silicon debug and validation activities for AI compute silicon and platform technologies
Contribute to debug and validation activities across multiple projects and milestones
Drive prioritization, planning, and execution of debug and validation activities across multiple projects and milestones
Investigate and resolve complex silicon, firmware, software, and system-level issues during bring-up and validation
Develop structured debug methodologies and failure analysis processes to improve issue resolution efficiency
Collaborate closely with architecture, RTL, firmware, software, and systems engineering teams to identify root causes and implement corrective actions
Drive debug of CPU, memory, interconnect, and high-speed I/O subsystems under functional, stress, and workload conditions
Develop and enhance automated debug, regression, and validation infrastructure using Python and related technologies
Analyze logs, traces, telemetry, and hardware data to isolate and characterize system failures and performance issues
Support development of validation tests, debug tooling, and custom diagnostics to improve coverage and observability
Define validation metrics, debug workflows, and reporting standards to ensure consistent and repeatable analysis
Drive continuous improvement of debug processes, validation methodologies, and engineering workflows
Communicate technical risks, status, and recommendations clearly to engineering leadership and cross-functional stakeholders
Support silicon readiness reviews and contribute to product quality and release decisions
Contribute to continuous improvement of debug methodologies, validation infrastructure, and engineering workflows