We are looking for a Principal Physical Design Engineer to join the team. Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure and responsible for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission. SCHIE delivers the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's over 200 online businesses including Bing, MSN, Office 365, Xbox Live, Teams, OneDrive, and the Microsoft Azure platform globally with our server and data center infrastructure, security and compliance, operations, globalization, and manageability solutions. Our focus is on smart growth, high efficiency, and delivering a trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide and we are looking for passionate engineers to help achieve that mission.
As Microsoft's cloud business continues to grow the ability to deploy new offerings and hardware infrastructure on time, in high volume with high quality and lowest cost is of paramount importance. To achieve this goal, the SCHIE team is instrumental in defining and delivering operational measures of success for hardware manufacturing, improving the planning process, quality, delivery, scale and sustainability related to Microsoft cloud hardware. We are looking for seasoned engineers with a dedicated passion for customer focused solutions, insight and industry knowledge to envision and implement future technical solutions that will manage and optimize the Cloud infrastructure.
Responsibilities
We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Physical Design Engineer to join our dynamic team. As a key member of our semiconductor design team, you will be responsible for physical design implementation and physical integration efforts to ensure the successful development of cutting-edge semiconductor products.
- As a Principal Physical Design Engineer, you will be responsible for Physical Design tasks at block, subsystem, sub-chip, and/or full-chip level. The tasks will include Floorplanning, Synthesis, Placement, CTS and custom clocking, Routing, Static Timing, Physical Verification, Formal Equivalency, Power Efficiency, IR-Drop, and EM. You may also be involved in Physical Design flow development/automation and evaluation of and recommendations for technology, IP, and vendor selection.
- Expected to drive PD team at block/Sub System / Sub Chip / SOC level to set and deliver quality results as per planned milestone goals.
- You are expected to be able to work with limited direction, have keen attention to detail, and be able to provide crisp status of progress, issues, and risks on the program to the management team. Occasional travel may be required.
Qualifications
- Bachelor's or master’s in electrical or computer engineering or related field with 12+ years of experience
- Experience in physical design implementation, signoff at block / sub system / sub-chip / SoC level.
- Experience in tapeouts of complex ASICs in leading edge technology
- Experience in leading team to deliver planned PD goals.
This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations, the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations. As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their US. residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export-controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable.
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.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related field with 12+ years of experience
- Experience in physical design implementation and signoff at block/subsystem/sub-chip/SoC level
- Experience with tapeouts of complex ASICs in leading-edge technology
- Experience leading teams to deliver planned physical design goals
- Expertise in floorplanning, synthesis, placement, CTS/custom clocking, routing, static timing analysis, and physical verification
- Experience with formal equivalence checking, power efficiency analysis, IR-drop, and electromigration (EM) mitigation
- Ability to develop/automate physical design flows and evaluate technology, IP, and vendors
- Ability to provide proof of citizenship, US residency, or other protected status for export-controlled information access
Microsoft Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Microsoft and has not been reviewed or approved by Microsoft.
-
Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is presented as broadly competitive overall, with clear role/level/location variation and an emphasis on using posted ranges and band information for apples-to-apples comparisons.
-
Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are described as a standout, highlighted by a strong 401(k) match structure and immediate vesting, plus additional plan features for tax-advantaged saving.
-
Parental & Family Support — Family-oriented benefits are portrayed as a meaningful strength, with substantial paid parental leave and added supports like back-up care and adoption/surrogacy assistance.
Microsoft Insights
What We Do
At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is grounded in both the world in which we live and the future we strive to create. Today, we live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and the transformation we are driving across our businesses is designed to enable Microsoft and our customers to thrive in this world.







