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Principal Hardware Engineer - Networking

Microsoft· Hardware Engineering
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Mountain View, CA, Redmond, WA, Austin, TX, Hillsboro, OR, Raleigh, NC$142.8k - $274.8kfull-timePosted 2w ago

About the role

Microsoft SCHIE seeks a Principal Hardware Engineer - Networking to lead multi-generation network switch platforms for Azure AI infrastructure, driving architecture, validation, manufacturing, and deployment across complex hardware systems.

Responsibilities

  • Define and drive the multi-generation electrical and system architecture roadmap for custom network switch platforms supporting Azure AI infrastructure, including technology insertion, platform reuse, risk retirement, and lifecycle strategy.
  • Own platform-level requirements decomposition and architectural tradeoffs spanning network, rack, performance, reliability, availability, serviceability, security, telemetry, manufacturing, cost, and schedule.
  • Provide technical authority for switch ASIC, control-plane CPU, BMC, CPLD/FPGA, clocking, reset, power delivery, high-speed Ethernet, retimers, optical modules, cable backplanes, telemetry, and platform-management interfaces.
  • Lead architecture and design reviews across schematic, PCB stack-up, signal integrity, power integrity, layout, BOM, component derating, DFT, DFM, DFR, and system integration; establish decision criteria and drive closure of cross-disciplinary issues.
  • Establish platform bring-up, electrical validation, margining, interoperability, stress, reliability, and production-test strategies; ensure evidence-based exit criteria and scalable test coverage across development phases.
  • Lead resolution of the most complex board-, system-, rack-, manufacturing-, and field-level issues by organizing cross-team debug, forming hypotheses from data, and driving verified corrective actions and prevention mechanisms.
  • Provide technical direction to ODM/OEM and technology partners; define deliverables, design-review criteria, quality expectations, and escalation paths while influencing supplier roadmaps and execution.
  • Mentor senior engineers, raise engineering standards, and build reusable specifications, design guides, validation methods, reference architectures, and lessons learned across network-switch programs.

Qualifications

  • Master’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 7+ years technical engineering experience OR Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience OR equivalent experience.

Skills

Required:Electrical/system architectureRequirements decompositionHardware bring-up and validationMentoring and leadership
Nice to have:Supplier/developer relations
Last updated Oct 9, 2026. Interested? Apply on the company site.

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