UX Design Summer Intern 2027

Location: Bristol, UK
Duration: 12 Weeks
Salary: £2500 per month
Start date: June 2027
Applications deadline: Midnight, 29th November 2026 
We encourage you to apply early, as we may close applications before the advertised deadline.

The Internship Programme at Graphcore 

Explore a career at Graphcore through a 12-week summer internship, gaining hands-on experience on real projects. You’ll bring fresh ideas, put your learning into practice and help shape what we’re creating. Along the way, you’ll tackle challenging problems with a team who welcome your questions and support you as you build your skills and confidence. 

What you’ll be doing 

Put your design skills to work making complex AI software easier for developers to understand and use. 

As a UX Design Intern, you’ll create sketches, wireframes and interface designs for software that helps users understand, optimise and debug workloads running on Graphcore hardware. You’ll support usability research and help turn findings into insights that inform design decisions. 

You’ll also create and refine components for Decagon, our design library, with guidance from the team. Your contributions will help make technical workflows more intuitive and give you a practical view of designing for a specialist audience. 

Your team and support 

The UX team works closely with engineers throughout software development. You’ll join sprint activities, design reviews and research, seeing how designers and engineers develop ideas together. 

Your manager, Lucy, will work with you to build your skills, make time for learning and shape your career. Her favourite part of leadership is helping talented, driven people turn ideas into action, with the support and space to do their best work. You’ll also have a buddy to help you settle in, alongside a team of experienced designers keen to share what they know and help you develop. 

Experienced designers and engineers will support you as you explore the UX lifecycle. You can ask for help as you develop your designs and use feedback to refine your work. 

Decisions are shaped by research, feedback and open discussion. As an intern, you’ll be encouraged to ask questions, speak up and try out ideas early, with support from experienced designers and engineers as you learn. 

How you’ll learn and grow 

Over the 12 weeks, you’ll explore how user-centred design principles apply to a technical product. Research and usability work will help you understand users’ needs, while sketches, wireframes and interface designs will give you ways to test and communicate your thinking. 

Working on Decagon will help you understand how reusable components support consistent experiences. You’ll develop your judgement about what makes a design useful and gain a clearer sense of the UX work you’d like to pursue. 

Your internship is a chance to explore a future at Graphcore. Depending on your performance and the roles available, there may be an opportunity to join one of our graduate programmes once you’ve graduated. 

What we're looking for 

• Currently studying towards a degree in UX, Interaction Design, Graphic Design, Computer Science or a related subject 
• Basic experience using design tools such as Figma or Adobe XD 
• A strong interest in UX/UI design and user-centred design principles, with a portfolio featuring coursework or personal projects, provided as a PDF or link 
• Clear communication, curiosity and willingness to learn from feedback 

Previous industry experience is not required. Tell us about the problem you explored, the design choices you made and what you learned through your coursework or personal projects. 

Exposure to technical products, user research or Agile working would be useful. These are additional strengths, rather than essential requirements. 

Benefits 

• Flexible working: Find a balance between your internship and life outside work 
• 5 days of annual leave: Take time to rest and recharge during your 12-week internship 
• Life in the office: Get to know your colleagues in spaces designed for collaboration, with free food, a great selection of ice cream and an on-site barista 
• Learning and development: Build your skills and explore your interests with access to O’Reilly, our online learning platform 

We welcome people from all backgrounds and experiences and are committed to building an inclusive environment where everyone can do their best work. 

We’re an equal opportunity employer and recognise that everyone brings different strengths and perspectives. If you need any adjustments during the interview process, just let us know - we’re happy to support you. 

Sponsorship 

Applicants must already have the right to work in the UK for the full duration of the programme, without requiring visa sponsorship. We are unable to sponsor work visas for our Early Careers opportunities.. 

Introduction to Graphcore 

At Graphcore, we’re building next generation AI compute: From semiconductors and software to systems at datacenter scale. We are proud to be owned by SoftBank Group and work with other companies in the SoftBank family to deliver AI compute to customers working at the AI frontier. 

An internship at Graphcore gives you the chance to explore where your interests and skills could take you. You’ll work alongside people with different backgrounds and expertise, from AI researchers to chip designers and software engineers. Together, you’ll share ideas and solve challenging problems, building experience and confidence to help you decide what comes next. 

How to apply and what to expect 

To apply, answer the application questions below and upload your CV and cover letter. We’ll let you know the outcome of your application by early December at the latest. If successful, you’ll be invited to complete a technical assessment. Candidates who reach the final stage will then be invited to attend in-person assessments in early spring. 

Curious about where your skills could take you? Apply for a summer internship at Graphcore and help us build what comes next.