Principal Firmware Development Engineer

Microsoft Silicon and Cloud Hardware 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, Skype, One Drive, and the Microsoft Azure platform globally with its server and data center infrastructure, security and compliance, operations, globalization, and manageability solutions.

Our focus is on smart growth, high efficiency, and delivering trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide and we are looking for a Principal Firmware Development Engineer to help achieve that mission. Are you passionate about working on cutting edge technology in a team that embodies the growth mindset? Are you hoping to join an organization which is built on a mission “To empower every person and organization on this planet to achieve more”?

The Firmware Center of Excellence is responsible for hardware/firmware for Azure Infrastructure. We are working on the next generation AI and compute silicon with a focus on innovation in firmware technology to secure Azure infrastructure for Microsoft and their customers. We are looking for a Principal Firmware Development Engineer with a background in firmware development in embedded systems.

• Develop compute-intensive and highly performant test applications running on the Microsoft Azure Infrastructure hardware systems, focusing on PCIe, Memory, back-end network & TDP workloads.

• Design and develop workload profiling and analysis tools that capture and benchmark the runtimes of various compute blocks and/or hardware accelerators.

• Develop end-to-end post-silicon tests and tools for functional and performance scenarios of the system.

• Collaborate across organizations with AI Frameworks SW, Silicon & System Validation, Architecture and Firmware.

• Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 3 years technical engineering experience OR Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 6 years technical engineering experience OR Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8 years technical engineering experience

• OR equivalent experience.

• 7 years’ experience in software development with C .

• 7 years’ experience in post-silicon SoC or system validation or diagnostic/stress test content development.

• Experience with one or more of these: DMAs, PCIe, Memory (DDR, HBM), Network Controllers, Image decoders.

• 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.

• Experience in build systems such as CMake and familiarity with CI/CD systems.
• Knowledge of power and thermal profiling, TDP/PnP, and PVT characterization.
• Knowledge of or experience with AI models/kernels such NCCL and Mistral.
• Experience with Cuda or GPU or tensor-based programming.

Firmware Engineering IC5 – The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 – $251,900 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 $165,600 – $272,300 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
Microsoft will accept applications for the role until October 24th, 2025. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.

We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the .#SCHIE

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