---
title: 'Hardware System Test Engineer at Fractile'
canonical: 'https://feeny.ai/job/hardware-system-test-engineer-fractile-bristol-mykpz6vrns3j'
type: 'job'
last_seen: '2026-09-11'
---

# Hardware System Test Engineer at Fractile

- **Company:** Fractile
- **Location:** Bristol, United Kingdom
- **Posted:** 2025-12-18
- **Last confirmed live:** 2026-09-11
- **Apply:** https://job-boards.eu.greenhouse.io/fractile/jobs/4740602101

## Job description

## About Fractile

Fractile was founded in 2022 on the bet that, eventually, the world’s most capable AI systems would be limited in their impact by the time taken to produce useful outputs. We bet everything on the logical conclusion: that the only way to truly unlock this latent value, to make speed viable at scale, was to radically re-invent the hardware that we run our frontier AI models on. Ever since, we have been building chips and systems that tackle this problem: how to efficiently generate output at thousands of tokens per second, while handling the complexity and capacity challenges of operating large models at very long contexts.

The workloads that push to the limits of the current frontier are already transformational; it is the technical and economic limits on inference speed that are constraining progress. The defining work of the 21st century will be marked by the engine of inference delivering immense and diffuse chains of intellectual inquiry, in drug discovery, in software engineering, in materials discovery, in any field where progress is driven by deep reasoning and intelligence to resolve complex problems.

## Key Responsibilities

- Develop and maintain system-level hardware defect detection tests for individual servers and rack-based systems.
- Implement tests to detect assembly defects, marginal components, damaged hardware, cabling or interconnect issues, cooling faults, etc.
- Develop service and field diagnostic tests used for RMA triage, repair validation, and preventative maintenance.
- Implement deterministic, fast-running tests with clear pass/fail criteria and actionable failure output suitable for manufacturing and service technicians.
- Develop PCIe defect detection tests to identify lane faults, link degradation, polarity issues, retimer problems, and intermittent connectivity failures.
- Implement stress and soak tests designed to expose latent or marginal hardware issues.
- Debug test failures and hardware issues, performing root-cause analysis and escalating design or process issues as appropriate.
- Analyze factory and field failure data to identify coverage gaps and propose test improvements.
- Support deployment, versioning, and maintenance of test software across factory and service environments.
- Collaborate with software development teams to integrate tests into production system software.
- Collaborate with hardware, manufacturing, service, and reliability teams to ensure tests align with known defect modes and operational needs.

Required Qualifications

- 3–7 years of experience in system, server, or hardware test engineering, preferably in manufacturing or service environments.
- Solid understanding of server hardware architectures, PCIe fabrics, power delivery, cooling systems, and common failure modes.
- Hands-on experience developing or executing hardware defect detection or diagnostic tests.
- Experience working in Linux-based test environments.
- Familiarity with BMC-based systems and basic use of OpenBMC or Redfish interfaces.
- Strong debug skills and the ability to distinguish test issues from real hardware faults.
- Ability to write clear test code, logs, and documentation for operational use.

## Preferred Qualifications

- Experience with AI accelerator, GPU, or high-performance compute servers.
- Exposure to PCIe Gen4/5/6 systems or other high-speed serial interconnects.
- Experience diagnosing intermittent, marginal, or temperature-dependent hardware failures.
- Experience working with liquid-cooled or thermally complex server platforms.

## How we work

- Ownership and execution: you will have full agency to drive your work forward
- Rapid iteration: we all work directly with top leadership to move from idea to hardware on ambitious timelines
- Full-stack engagement: hardware, software, silicon, and modelling teams all work closely together to create a product with generational impact
- Optimistic and pragmatic: we possess the will to win, and to do the hard work to get us there
- Team player mentality: the mission is bigger than any of us, and we have the curiosity and technical focus to see the best idea shipped, no matter who’s it is

## What We Offer

- Competitive salary: A competitive salary reflective of your experience and the specialist nature of the role.
- Equity & Ownership: meaningful equity so everyone shares in the value creation
- Benefits: Private Medical, Dental and Vision, Contributory Pension, 25 Days holiday plus bank holidays and Life/Critical Illness Insurance.
- Diverse & fun office: we believe the hardest problems get solved by the broadest range of minds. We are committed to Equal Employment Opportunity through attracting and retaining a diverse team and building an inclusive environment.

Fractile is seeking to increase the clock speed of global progress, one chip at a time. We’ve recently raised $220M from investors including Founders Fund and Accel and our most important work lies ahead. Join us!

Export controls

Our work involves technologies subject to UK, US and other international export control regulations. Certain roles may require additional eligibility checks to ensure compliance with applicable law. We'll be transparent about this throughout the hiring process.

## About Fractile

## Company Overview
- **One-liner**: Fractile builds chips, systems, and software to radically improve the speed and cost of running frontier AI inference, targeting up to 25x faster performance at 1/10th the cost.
- **Entity Type**: Private (Series B)
- **Headquarters**: London & Bristol, United Kingdom
- **Founded**: 2022
- **Founders**: Walter Goodwin (CEO)

## Core Business
- **Primary industry**: AI hardware acceleration, computer hardware manufacturing
- **Target customers**: B2B – enterprise cloud providers, AI labs, and organizations running large-scale frontier model inference
- **Mission**: "Build the engine that can power the next generation of AI" by removing every bottleneck to the fastest possible inference of the largest transformer networks.

## Products & Services
- **Fractile AI Accelerator Processor**: A new class of processor that physically interleaves memory and compute to deliver low latency and high throughput simultaneously. Designed to serve thousands of tokens per second to thousands of concurrent users at a fraction of the power and cost of existing hardware. (Hardware + full-stack software)

## Market Standing
- **Valuation/Market Cap**: Not publicly disclosed
- **Key Metric**: Total funding of **$243.8M** (per LinkedIn) or **$266.4M** (per CB Insights – conflicting reports); most recent round was a **$220M Series B** in May 2026 led by Accel, with participation from Factorial Funds and Founders Fund.
- **Notable Investors/Partners**: Accel, Factorial Funds, Founders Fund (Peter Thiel), Oxford Science Enterprises, Kindred Capital, Patrick Gelsinger (former Intel CEO), ARIA
- **Growth Signals**: Headcount grew **+171.4% YoY** to 66 employees; **+56.8% monthly LinkedIn follower growth**; **53 active job postings** (up 2550% year-over-year); expanding into a new hardware test site and growing offices in Bristol and London.

## Competitive Advantages
- **Full-stack approach**: Team spans transistor-level circuit design up to cloud inference server logic, enabling tight integration across silicon, systems, and software.
- **Novel architecture**: Interleaving memory and compute solves the memory-wall bottleneck that limits existing hardware, allowing simultaneous low latency and high throughput for frontier models.
- **Focus on inference (not training):** Addresses the exploding demand for token processing (10x/year growth) with a purpose-built solution for inference workloads.

## Strategic Focus
- Scale the engineering team across hardware and software disciplines (Rust, ML runtime, silicon design, board test, manufacturing operations).
- Expand physical infrastructure (new hardware test site in Bristol).
- Deploy the first generation of processors to enable new workloads like long-context autonomous agents and real-time AI reasoning.

## Why Work Here
- **Culture**: Deeply collaborative, no silos, no handoffs – engineers work across the full stack from transistor to cloud in a flat, mission-driven environment.
- **Locations**: Modern, open-plan offices in central Bristol and central London with excellent transport links.
- **Growth**: High-growth startup with strong funding and a clear trajectory; opportunity to work on one of the most impactful technical challenges in AI.
- **Team**: Composed of world-class technologists, many from companies like Graphcore, Imagination Technologies, and Cisco.
- **Remote/Hybrid**: Not explicitly stated, but hardware-focused roles (silicon, test, manufacturing) suggest a strong on-site presence; software roles may offer flexibility.

## Sources
1. [fractile.ai](https://www.fractile.ai/) – Company website
2. [fractile.ai/about](https://www.fractile.ai/about) – About page, team, culture
3. [fractile.ai/jobs](https://www.fractile.ai/jobs) – Open positions and work philosophy
4. [uk.linkedin.com/company/fractile](https://uk.linkedin.com/company/fractile) – LinkedIn company page (funding, headcount, growth)
5. [cbinsights.com/company/fractile](https://www.cbinsights.com/company/fractile) – CB Insights profile (funding details, patents, headquarters)

## Other roles at Fractile

- [Infrastructure Software Engineering – Platform & Build 1](https://feeny.ai/job/infrastructure-software-engineering-platform-build-1-fractile-london-8py3rwe9a22a) — London, United Kingdom
- [Lead RTL Designer (PPA Experience)](https://feeny.ai/job/lead-rtl-designer-ppa-experience-fractile-london-v7tb393epzj8) — London, United Kingdom
- [Infrastructure Engineer (Linux)](https://feeny.ai/job/infrastructure-engineer-linux-fractile-london-wf39d8qcrs18) — London, United Kingdom / Bristol, United Kingdom
- [Product & Yield Engineer (Data-focused)](https://feeny.ai/job/product-yield-engineer-data-focused-fractile-london-01d227xazs8j) — London, United Kingdom
- [Product & Yield Engineer (Data-focused)](https://feeny.ai/job/product-yield-engineer-data-focused-fractile-bristol-0f9p7n1xjmmp) — Bristol, United Kingdom
- [DRAM Product Engineer](https://feeny.ai/job/dram-product-engineer-fractile-bristol-nnksz0zaqnsd) — Bristol, United Kingdom
- [Engineering Manager - Compilers](https://feeny.ai/job/engineering-manager-compilers-fractile-london-7jmh8904r5mz) — London, United Kingdom / Bristol, United Kingdom
- [Developer Experience / DevEx](https://feeny.ai/job/developer-experience-devex-fractile-london-4r0qtvaa55gk) — London, United Kingdom
- [Member of Technical Staff - Security Engineering](https://feeny.ai/job/member-of-technical-staff-security-engineering-fractile-london-kdbxzfb0y24f) — London, United Kingdom / Bristol, United Kingdom
- [Developer Experience / DevEx](https://feeny.ai/job/developer-experience-devex-fractile-bristol-2wmefvt5bhap) — Bristol, United Kingdom