Principal CAD Software Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Nov 10, 2026. First seen by Alion on Nov 4, 2026. Microsoft scores B on the Alion truth index.
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 engineers to help achieve that mission.
The Microsoft Silicon Engineering and Solutions Team is seeking a passionate and driven software engineer to be a technical leader for our central software team. This team drives state-of-the-art converged solutions, software tools, DevOps workflows and automation to support silicon design areas such as RTL & VIP Design, Design Verification, Validation, DFT, Emulation, PD Handoff and IP integration.
Responsibilities
In the Principal CAD DevOps Software role, you will:
- Be a leader in a central CAD Software team that develops a common tool stack to internal SoC and IP designs.
- Lead technical strategy and execution for CAD DevOps workflows, including CI/CD, cloud-based EDA environments, and automation frameworks.
- Lead team to follow industry-standard software practices withing the CAD Software ream.
- Work in close collaboration with the CAD Hardware and Compute infrastructure teams.
- Design software solutions and documentation that scale to a large user base.
- Work with stakeholders across the Microsoft Silicon groups to collect software requirements.
- Develop, enhance, and integrate CAD Flows and automation for organization-wide use.
- Use AI-assisted tools to explore approaches, draft code and tests, investigate defects, and improve documentation
- Review and validate AI-generated work for correctness, security, maintainability, and alignment with project requirements
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- 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.
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.
- 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.
Preferred Qualifications:
Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience OR equivalent experience.
2+ year(s) experience working on or leading projects from beginning-to-end.
- 7+ years of software development experience.
- Knowledge of common programming paradigms, including object-oriented and functional programming.
- Proven leadership skills with a track record of influencing stakeholders.
- Proficiency in industry-standard programming and scripting languages such as Python, Tcl, Perl, and C/C++, with Python preferred.
- Demonstrated ability to independently own, maintain, and drive complex software projects.
- Knowledge of software development practices and software design patterns.
- Experience owning and driving the end-to-end software development lifecycle for multiple complex projects.
- Well-rounded understanding of silicon design tools, flows, and methodologies.
- Expertise in Azure environments, Azure security, and DevOps concepts.
- Experience with continuous integration systems and practices.
- Understanding of computer architecture and CPU/SoC design principles.
- Experience with design and verification execution, flows, and supporting infrastructure.
- Practical experience using AI coding assistants or language models in a development workflow
- Ability to write clear instructions for AI tools, assess their limitations, and independently verify their results
Silicon 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.