People Lead – US

Graphcore is a UK-headquartered semiconductor and AI compute company, now part of SoftBank’s global AI ecosystem. Our headquarters are in Bristol, with offices in London, Cambridge, Poland, Germany, and Taiwan. In 2026, we opened new key locations in India and US with the aim to build out key engineering and operational hubs to support our next phase of growth. 
 
Our mission is to build the future of AI compute – and that depends not only on exceptional engineering but also on an outstanding People function. As we scale globally, the People team is focused on building strong operational foundations and a great employee experience everywhere we operate. 
 
You will be part of the Global People Team, working closely with People Partners and collaborating with People Operations, Talent Acquisition, Finance, Legal, and Workplace teams. 

Job Summary 

The Regional People Partner Lead – US will act as the senior People partner for the US region, supporting leaders and managers while establishing and scaling the people model locally. the regional People model. 
 
The role combines strategic business partnering, employee relations leadership and operational ownership, acting is is a balanced business partnering role, combining leadership support, organisational effectiveness, and regional ownership. 
 
The role will act as the key interface between the US organisation and the global People team, ensuring local needs are translated into scalable solutions. 
 
You will support The role will senior leadership across provide primary People support to the Systems Engineering and the broader US population organisation, including senior leadership based .primarily in Austin and Milpitas, while working across a and support a distributed workforce across US states.across multiple US locations. 
 
This is a role for someone who can balance strategic thinking with hands-on execution, operating effectively in a scaling, fast paced environment.   

As we build at the cutting edge of AI compute, this role requires pace, pragmatism, and a strong bias to action. 

You will be a act as a visible and trusted People presence across the US region. 

Responsibilities and Duties 

Business Partnering 

• Partner closely with leaders, including senior Systems Engineering leadership, acting as a trusted advisor 
• Coach and develop managers to build strong leadership capability 
• Support org design, workforce planning and change initiaitives. 
• Provide coaching and guidance to managers 
• Build manager capability 
• Build strong relationships across the business to understand the needs and improve the employee experience.  
• Support organisational change 

 
 
Regional Ownership and Build 

• Act as the primary People contact for the US region 
• Act as the on-the-ground People partner across multiple locations 
• Establish and evolve the US regionaoperating l model as the location scales. 
• Hire a Support hiring of People Operations Advisor – to ensure execution of  day to day people operations and Graphcore People Policies.onboarding, offboarding.
• Support transition from secondees and contractors 

 
 
Employee Relations and Compliance 

• Lead and resolve 
• Support and manage employee relations cases including performance, grievances and conflict resolution. 
• Advise leaders on risk, complaince and best practice. 
• Act as regional expert on US and California employment law [FMLA, ADA, CRFA] 
• Coach managers through difficult conversations 
• Ensure compliance with US employment law 
• Partner with Legal and external providers (i.e Sequoia One (PEO) 

 
 
Operations and Vendor Alignment 

• Work with People Operations to deliver lifecycle processes 
• Partner with PEO Sequoia One for benefits and compliance 
• Ensure effective use of PEO model and alignment alignment with global processes 
• Collaborate with Finance, Legal, Workplace and Talent Acquisition 
• Ensure compliance across multi-state operations 

 
 
Insight, Scale  and Continuous Improvement 

• Identify trends and translate into actionable improvements.
• Feed insights into global strategy 
• Support continuous improvement – simplications and scalability of process 

Candidate Profile 

Essential 

•  (8-12 + years) Strong People Partner and Leadership experience in the US 
•  Experience in a multi-state, scaling environments 
•  Strong knowledge of US and California employment law
•  Strong knowledge of California employment law
•  Ability to influence senior stakeholders
•  Ability to travel to other US sites and occasional international travel to HQ corporate office 

Desirable 

• Experience in software, technology or AI
• Experience supporting engineering teams 
• Experience in multi-site environments 
• Experience with PEO models 
• Experience working for an international Organisation  

Mindset and Approach 

• Acts as a Trusted partner to leaders and employees
• Comfortable in ambiguity and scaling fast-paced environments 
• Builds accountability and ownership 
• Demonstrates urgency and a “say yes” mindset 
• Thrives at the cutting edge of technology
• Pragmatic with bias to action
• Balances pragmatism with compliance 
• Focused on enabling high performance employee experience