Sourcing Manager - Memory and Storage

About us

Graphcore is one of the world’s leading innovators in Artificial Intelligence compute.

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.

Job Summary

We are seeking a Sourcing Manager – Memory and Storage to lead strategic sourcing activities across Graphcore’s memory and storage technology portfolio supporting AI infrastructure platforms. This role will be responsible for developing sourcing strategies, managing supplier relationships, leading commercial negotiations, and ensuring long-term supply continuity across key memory and storage technologies.

Working closely with Engineering, Product Management, Operations, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain teams, the successful candidate will influence technology roadmaps, supplier strategies, capacity planning, and cost optimisation initiatives while balancing quality, performance, scalability, and supply resilience requirements. The role requires a combination of strong commercial expertise, technical understanding of infrastructure technologies, and the ability to build effective partnerships across internal and external stakeholders.

The Team

The Global Sourcing Management (GSM) team defines and executes supplier strategies across Graphcore’s hardware and infrastructure ecosystem.

The team partners closely with Engineering, Product Management, Operations, Manufacturing, and Supply Chain functions to establish strategic supplier relationships that enable technology development, infrastructure deployment, operational excellence, and business growth. The team is responsible for identifying sourcing opportunities, managing supply chain risks, securing capacity, and ensuring Graphcore has access to the technologies and suppliers required to support current and future AI infrastructure platforms.

Responsibilities and Duties

• Own sourcing strategy development and execution for memory and storage technologies supporting Graphcore’s AI infrastructure platforms.
• Develop and maintain strategic relationships with memory and storage suppliers, driving performance across cost, quality, technology, capacity, and delivery metrics.
• Partner with Engineering and Product Management teams to influence technology roadmaps, supplier selection decisions, and infrastructure platform strategies.
• Lead supplier engagement activities including RFIs, RFQs, commercial evaluations, business awards, and contract negotiations.
• Negotiate pricing agreements, supply agreements, capacity commitments, and long-term commercial frameworks that support business objectives.
• Develop and maintain cost models, market intelligence, and total cost of ownership analyses to support sourcing decisions and negotiation strategies.
• Monitor technology developments and industry trends across memory, storage, AI infrastructure, and data centre ecosystems to inform sourcing strategy.
• Drive supplier performance management through regular business reviews, scorecards, corrective action plans, and continuous improvement initiatives.
• Identify and mitigate supply chain risks through supplier diversification, capacity planning, contingency strategies, and business continuity planning.
• Partner with Operations, Manufacturing, Quality, Finance, and Legal teams to ensure successful product launches, production ramps, and ongoing supply support.
• Support new product introduction activities by aligning supplier readiness, manufacturing capability, and supply availability with programme requirements.
• Provide regular reporting and recommendations to leadership regarding supplier performance, market conditions, commercial opportunities, and supply chain risks.

Candidate Profile

Essential

• Bachelor’s degree or equivalent experience in Engineering, Supply Chain, Operations, Business, or a related discipline.
• Experience in strategic sourcing, supplier management, procurement, or supply chain roles within technology, electronics, infrastructure, semiconductor, or hardware-focused environments.
• Strong understanding of memory and storage technologies, including DRAM, SSD, HDD, and related infrastructure components.
• Experience developing and executing sourcing strategies for complex technology products and supply chains.
• Demonstrated success negotiating commercial agreements, supplier contracts, and long-term strategic partnerships.
• Strong commercial and analytical skills, including cost modelling, pricing analysis, and total cost of ownership methodologies.
• Experience managing supplier performance and driving measurable improvements across cost, quality, delivery, and supply continuity.
• Ability to collaborate effectively with engineering and technical teams to evaluate technologies, suppliers, and sourcing options.
• Strong project management, stakeholder management, and cross-functional leadership skills.
• Excellent verbal and written communication skills with the ability to influence internal and external stakeholders at multiple levels.
• Ability to manage multiple priorities in a dynamic and fast-paced environment.

Desirable

• Experience sourcing memory, storage, server, networking, compute, or AI infrastructure technologies.
• Knowledge of data centre, cloud infrastructure, high-performance computing, or AI platform architectures.
• Experience supporting new product introduction, production ramp, lifecycle management, and end-of-life transitions for infrastructure hardware.
• Familiarity with global supplier ecosystems across North America, Europe, and Asia.
• Experience developing supplier risk management, resiliency, and business continuity programmes.
• Knowledge of manufacturing processes, supply chain planning, and supplier industrialisation practices.
• Experience using data analytics or AI-enabled tools to improve sourcing processes, decision-making, or operational efficiency.
• Program or project management experience within technology supply chains.

In addition to a competitive salary, Graphcore offers flexible working and a comprehensive benefits package designed to support your health, wellbeing and financial future. Our benefits include medical, dental and vision coverage, Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs), Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), disability and life insurance, a 401(k) retirement plan, commuter benefits, wellness services and an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP). We welcome people of different backgrounds and experiences; we're committed to building an inclusive work environment that makes Graphcore a great home for everyone. We offer an equal opportunity process and understand that there are visible and invisible differences in all of us. We can provide a flexible approach to interview and encourage you to chat to us if you require any reasonable adjustments.