Company details

HEADCOUNT

100-499

ORG TYPE

Startup

SECTOR

Technology & Digital

WEBSITE

https://www.graphcore.ai

About the company

Graphcore is an AI compute company known for building the IPU and the surrounding software stack used to run machine learning workloads. The company has operated as a UK-founded hardware and software employer with engineering roles spanning silicon, systems software, and ML frameworks. In July 2024, Graphcore was acquired by SoftBank, after a period of financial pressure and headcount reduction reported in regulatory filings.

Locations and presence

Graphcore has long anchored early-career hiring around Bristol and Cambridge, with additional roles also appearing in London and international engineering locations such as Gdańsk and Hsinchu. More recently, Graphcore has publicly discussed expansion in India through an engineering campus in Bengaluru.

Palpable Score

61.8

/ 100

Graphcore offers credible early-career entry points through a dedicated early careers track plus recurring graduate and internship roles, especially in engineering. The score is pulled down by limited public evidence on consistent junior progression outcomes and by the career stability questions that come with a post-acquisition reset.

Pillar 1: Early-career access

Score

16.8

/ 20

The company runs an explicit Early Careers program and states Graphcore has welcomed graduates and interns since 2019, anchored in Bristol and Cambridge.

Graphcore posts clearly labeled graduate roles like “2026 Graduate Software Engineer” tracks (including Triton and DevOps) and also lists research internships via its applicant tracking system.

The company has fewer publicly visible non-engineering early-career routes than engineering, so access looks strong but concentrated in specific job families.

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Pillar 2: Hiring fairness and transparency

Score

12.6

/ 20

The company has a recognizable interview structure in candidate reports, including phone screens and coding exercises, which is a workable baseline for early-career candidates.
Graphcore has public candidate feedback describing long and “thorough” processes for graduate roles, which can be positive when well-managed but can also increase candidate burden.
The company shows some transparency signals such as written commitments on graduate listings that feedback is available after interview, but public feedback also suggests the experience varies by team and role.

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Pillar 3: Learning and support

Score

13.4

/ 20

The company positions early-career hiring as a supported pathway and spotlights graduates and interns talking about starting at Graphcore, which helps candidates understand the learning environment.
Graphcore repeatedly recruits interns into teams close to core technical work (silicon and frameworks), which usually creates hands-on learning opportunities rather than shadow-only placements.
The company does not consistently publish role-by-role onboarding plans or mentoring structures inside graduate job descriptions, which limits how confidently support can be assessed across teams.

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Pillar 4: Pay fairness and stability

Score

15.2

/ 20

The company lists a benefits package for UK graduate roles that includes private medical cover, matched pension, income protection, and enhanced parental leave, which supports early-career stability.
Graphcore has third-party compensation reporting (Levels.fyi and Glassdoor salary pages) that indicates paid technical roles with market-typical ranges in the UK.
The company’s job ads often use “competitive” pay language rather than publishing salary bands, so pay transparency is still limited even with strong benefits.

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Pillar 5: Early-career outcomes

Score

3.8

/ 20

The company has publicly reported disruption signals, including a headcount reduction and closures in some countries prior to the SoftBank acquisition, which raises real risk for early-career continuity.
Graphcore shows repeat graduate and intern hiring over multiple years, but the company does not publish intern conversion rates, promotion timelines, or cohort outcomes that would validate progression.
The company has some external employee sentiment and interview-experience signals, but there is no verifiable, consistent 12–24 month retention and advancement data available for early-career hires.

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Useful links & resources

Early Careers at Graphcore Graphcore jobs on Greenhouse Life at Graphcore (benefits and work approach)