All Case Studies
DeepTech Partner
Accelerating machine learning in the cloud
0
hires in 16+ months
0
ultra-niche hires
£
0
M
saved vs agencies
locations:
- UK
- Poland
- Singapore
- India
- Austin
Overview
A chip that changed AI forever
Graphcore is one of the world’s leading innovators in Artificial Intelligence computing. It is developing hardware, software, and systems infrastructure that will unlock the next generation of AI breakthroughs and power the widespread adoption of AI solutions across every industry.
As part of the SoftBank Group, Graphcore is a member of an elite family of companies responsible for some of the world’s most transformative technologies. Together, they share a bold vision: to enable Artificial Super Intelligence and ensure its benefits are accessible to everyone.
Graphcore’s teams are drawn from diverse backgrounds and bring a broad range of skills and perspectives. A melting pot of AI research specialists, silicon designers, software engineers, and systems architects, Graphcore enjoys a culture of continuous learning and constant innovation.
A bold partnership
In December 2024, Bond embedded three Talent Partners within Graphcore’s teams to drive delivery. With a small in-house team, we became an extension of their business, seamlessly managing hiring needs while immersing ourselves in their engineering culture and goals.
We focused on high-priority technical roles across software, silicon, manufacturing operations, and hardware engineering. Areas where competition is fierce and specialist talent is scarce.
The Impact:
- Deployed and scaled a talent team that grew to 16
- £3M saved in 16+ months
- 200 hires
- 20 ultra-niche hires, including a standout specialist Engineer search. This role demanded a rare combination of software engineering, hardware experience, and multi-disciplinary skills, one of the most competitive talent pools in the industry.
- 4 critical hires into the Hardware Engineering team, which had previously struggled to attract candidates.
Graphcore invited Bond to external training sessions with consultants, onboarding, and induction brainstorms, reflecting how embedded and valued the team became.
Solving an impossible hire
Graphcore needed a specalist Engineer with rare, complex skills and experience. Only 7 people in the UK were qualified, and every one of them was already in a role. After two months with no suitable applicants, Bond expanded the search to the EU, identifying 28 candidates and contacting 20. Holding final interviews and securing the perfect hire. Proving that expanding globally unlocked an otherwise impossible hire.
Looking Ahead
While delivery has been the focus so far, we’re now partnering with Graphcore to drive long-term talent transformation. Our upcoming five-stage Talent Theory project will deep dive into their interview processes to build a future-proof strategy that attracts, engages, and secures the world’s best AI talent.
Testimonial
“Bond’s ability to source high-calibre candidates quickly helped us fill all our open positions. In the past, we typically saw one accepted offer for every five in-person interviews. Thanks to Bond’s efforts, that ratio improved significantly, with three offers accepted for every four interviews. This improvement has not only accelerated our hiring but also resulted in significant time and cost savings, reducing the lost engineering hours spent on interviews.
Bond’s contributions have been invaluable, and I wanted to acknowledge the positive difference they have made. There’s no questioning that Bond’s TP’s are the best I have worked with.”
software operations director
