We are looking for a Principal Hardware Engineer - Networking to serve as a technical leader for complex network switch platforms for Microsoft Azure AI infrastructure. This role will define multi-generation platform strategy and drive execution from requirements and architecture through board design, system integration, validation, manufacturing, and deployment. The ideal candidate will combine deep electrical engineering expertise with architectural judgment, cross-organization influence, supplier leadership, and the ability to turn ambiguous infrastructure needs into scalable platform solutions.
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Responsibilities
Define and drive the multi-generation electrical and system architecture roadmap for custom network switch platforms supporting Azure AI infrastructure, including technology insertion, platform reuse, risk retirement, and lifecycle strategy.
Own platform-level requirements decomposition and architectural tradeoffs spanning network, rack, performance, reliability, availability, serviceability, security, telemetry, manufacturing, cost, and schedule.
Provide technical authority for switch ASIC, control-plane CPU, BMC, CPLD/FPGA, clocking, reset, power delivery, high-speed Ethernet, retimers, optical modules, cable backplanes, telemetry, and platform-management interfaces.
Lead architecture and design reviews across schematic, PCB stack-up, signal integrity, power integrity, layout, BOM, component derating, DFT, DFM, DFR, and system integration; establish decision criteria and drive closure of cross-disciplinary issues.
Establish platform bring-up, electrical validation, margining, interoperability, stress, reliability, and production-test strategies; ensure evidence-based exit criteria and scalable test coverage across development phases.
Lead resolution of the most complex board-, system-, rack-, manufacturing-, and field-level issues by organizing cross-team debug, forming hypotheses from data, and driving verified corrective actions and prevention mechanisms.
Provide technical direction to ODM/OEM and technology partners; define deliverables, design-review criteria, quality expectations, and escalation paths while influencing supplier roadmaps and execution.
Mentor senior engineers, raise engineering standards, and build reusable specifications, design guides, validation methods, reference architectures, and lessons learned across network-switch programs.
Qualifications
Rquired Qualifications
Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 7+ years technical engineering experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience OR equivalent experience.
Other Requirements
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:
Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
Preferred Qualifications
Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field and 10+ years of technical engineering experience, or equivalent experience.
10+ years of experience designing and delivering board- or system-level hardware for networking, compute, storage, accelerator, or datacenter products across the hardware development lifecycle.
Experience leading architecture, requirements, design reviews, bring-up, validation, root-cause debug, and production readiness for complex hardware platforms.
Experience developing high-speed serial and high-current power-delivery hardware and leading execution across electrical, firmware, mechanical, thermal, SI/PI, validation, manufacturing, and system-integration disciplines.
Experience providing technical leadership across internal organizations and external ODM/OEM, silicon, component, or manufacturing partners.
Proven ability to identify architectural and execution risks, frame system tradeoffs, and drive decisions across performance, reliability, cost, schedule, and long-term platform value.
Experience architecting merchant-silicon Ethernet switch platforms for AI, cloud, hyperscale, or datacenter infrastructure.
Deep experience with switch ASIC, CPU, BMC, CPLD/FPGA, clocking, reset, power-delivery, telemetry, and hardware-management architectures.
Experience with 112G/224G PAM4, high-speed connectors, cable backplanes, retimers, pluggable optical modules, and end-to-end channel-budget tradeoffs.
Experience with SONiC hardware enablement, platform APIs, firmware interfaces, and switch-platform management.
Demonstrated ability to assess SI/PI analyses, PCB and package constraints, PDN behavior, power transients, thermal interactions, and laboratory correlation data.
Experience delivering hardware through architecture, EVT, DVT, PVT, production qualification, and high-volume manufacturing.
Experience defining supplier strategy, influencing technology roadmaps, and leading ODM/OEM execution across multiple concurrent programs.
Proven technical communication, specification writing, executive-level decision framing, mentoring, and cross-organization influence.
Hardware Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year.
- Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
- https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.
