Join the team developing next-generation, high-bandwidth network switch platforms for Microsoft Azure AI infrastructure. You will contribute across the full product lifecycle, from architecture and board design through system validation, manufacturing, and deployment.
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 Cloud Hardware Systems Engineering (CHSE) 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 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.
We are looking for a Senior Electrical Engineer to own and lead the development of complex network switch platforms for Microsoft Azure AI infrastructure.
Responsibilities
- Own electrical development of custom network switch platforms from architecture and requirements definition through schematic design, layout, bring-up, qualification, manufacturing readiness, and production release.
- Translate network, system, rack, reliability, serviceability, security, and manufacturing requirements into detailed electrical architecture and platform design specifications.
- Develop and review circuitry of switch ASIC, control-plane CPU, BMC, clocking, reset, power-delivery, high-speed Ethernet, retimer, optical-module, cable-backplane, telemetry, and platform-management.
- Drive schematic, PCB stack-up, signal-integrity, power-integrity, layout, BOM, component-derating, design-for-test, design-for-manufacturing, and design-for-reliability reviews with cross-functional collaboration to deliver complete switch-tray solutions.
- Define board- and system-level bring-up, electrical validation, margining, interoperability, stress, and production-test requirements, and drive execution and closure across development phases.
- Lead complex hardware debug and root-cause investigations using oscilloscopes, VNAs, protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, telemetry, and system logs.
- Drive electrical integration of the switch tray within rack-scale AI systems, including cable-backplane connectivity, front-panel optics, power, cooling, serviceability, telemetry, and management interfaces.
- Provide technical direction to ODM/OEM partners, establish deliverables and review criteria, track design maturity, identify execution risks, and drive closure of design, validation, manufacturing, and quality issues.
- Capture design decisions, lessons learned, specifications, validation results, and engineering best practices for reuse across future network-switch platforms.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years technical engineering experience
- OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 5+ 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 relevant technical engineering experience, or equivalent experience.
- 5+ years of experience designing and developing board- or system-level hardware for networking, compute, storage, accelerator, or datacenter products.
- 5+ years of experience with hardware bring-up, electrical validation, and root-cause debugging.
- Experience developing high-speed serial and high-current power-delivery hardware and working across hardware, firmware, mechanical, thermal, validation, or manufacturing disciplines.
- Experience working across hardware, firmware, mechanical, thermal, validation, manufacturing, or other engineering disciplines and organizations to deliver complex hardware platforms.
- Demonstrated ability to collaborate effectively with cross-functional engineering teams and external development partners.
- Proven background developing Ethernet switches based on merchant switch ASICs.
- Strong knowledge of switch ASIC, CPU, BMC, CPLD/FPGA, clocking, reset, and power-delivery architectures.
- Hands-on expertise with Ethernet SerDes, PAM4 signaling, retimers, high-speed connectors, cable backplanes, and pluggable optical modules.
- Familiarity with SONiC hardware enablement and switch-platform management interfaces.
- Demonstrated ability to conduct SI/PI design reviews and assess simulation reports.
- Track record of delivering hardware through engineering validation, design validation, production validation, and high-volume manufacturing.
- Proven ability to lead ODM/OEM electrical-design execution.
- Familiarity with thermal, mechanical, reliability, security, serviceability, and rack-integration requirements.
- Strong technical communication, specification-writing, and cross-functional leadership skills.
#SCHIE
Hardware Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 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.
Skills Required
- Master’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field plus 3 or more years of technical engineering experience; alternatively, a bachelor’s degree plus 5 or more years of technical engineering experience; or equivalent experience.
- Ability to pass Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.
- Bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field with relevant technical engineering experience, or equivalent experience.
- 5 or more years designing and developing board- or system-level hardware for networking, compute, storage, accelerator, or datacenter products.
- 5 or more years of hardware bring-up, electrical validation, and root-cause debugging experience.
- Experience developing high-speed serial and high-current power-delivery hardware.
- Experience working across hardware, firmware, mechanical, thermal, validation, and manufacturing disciplines.
- Experience developing Ethernet switches based on merchant switch ASICs.
- Strong knowledge of switch ASIC, CPU, BMC, CPLD/FPGA, clocking, reset, and power-delivery architectures.
- Hands-on expertise with Ethernet SerDes, PAM4 signaling, retimers, high-speed connectors, cable backplanes, and pluggable optical modules.
- Familiarity with SONiC hardware enablement and switch-platform management interfaces.
- Ability to conduct signal-integrity and power-integrity design reviews and assess simulation reports.
- Experience delivering hardware through engineering validation, design validation, production validation, and high-volume manufacturing.
- Ability to lead ODM/OEM electrical-design execution.
- Familiarity with thermal, mechanical, reliability, security, serviceability, and rack-integration requirements.
- Strong technical communication, specification-writing, and cross-functional leadership skills.
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.
