Principal Silicon Engineer
Confirmed on the employer's own hiring board on Oct 5, 2026. First seen by Alion on Sep 24, 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 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 Interface IP Team 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 Principal Silicon Engineer to join the team.
Responsibilities
- Own and drive microarchitecture and RTL design for complex silicon blocks and subsystems, translating architecture and system requirements into clean, efficient, and high-quality hardware implementations
- Lead the capture and validation of design intent for digital and mixed-signal blocks, ensuring accurate constraints and seamless integration across front-end and physical design flows.
- Provide static timing leadership for mixed-signal interfaces, driving timing closure, exception quality, and correlation across MMMC corners.
- Partner closely with RTL, PD, mixed-signal, DFT, and CAD teams to resolve cross-domain issues and maintain alignment on timing, power, and functional requirements.
- Contribute to design automation including leveraging AI, constraint-checking, and flow improvements that enhance execution efficiency and PPA.
- Operate with limited direction, demonstrating strong ownership, attention to detail, and the ability to communicate clear, data-driven status, risks, and mitigation plans to program leadership.
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.
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.
1+ year(s) experience working on or leading projects from beginning-to-end.
- 8+ years of experience in RTL design and design checks (CDC/RDC/VCLP/LINT)
- 8+ years of experience in Synthesis, Timing constraints and Power Performance Area (PPA) trade-offs
- Proficiency in RTL to Physical Design collateral development including timing and synthesis constraints
- Knowledge of full RTL2GDS flow
- Hands-on experience with industry tools for synthesis, STA, and PD flows (e.g., PrimeTime, Genus/DC, Innovus/ICC2)
- Proficiency in recent synthesis tool capabilities and methods for QoR improvement
- Proficiency in static timing analysis
- Familiarity with RTL and gate-level power analysis/optimization, UPF, and power-intent verification
- Proficiency in translating physical design results into feedback for flow or RTL improvement
- Proficiency in Tcl, Python
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.