Microsoft
Principal Hardware Engineer - Networking
$143K–$304K
Mountain View, CA +4 · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Oct 26, 2026
- Location
- Mountain View, CA
Redmond, WA
Austin, TX
Hillsboro, OR
Raleigh, NC - Experience
- 7+ years with a master's degree, or 8+ years with a bachelor's degree; equivalent experience accepted. Preferred: 10+ years in technical engineering and 10+ years designing and delivering board- or system-level hardware.
- Education
- Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field; OR bachelor's degree in one of those fields; or equivalent experience.
About the job
Leads the architecture, design, validation, manufacturing readiness, and deployment of multi-generation network switch platforms for Microsoft Azure AI infrastructure.
What you'll do
- Define platform architecture and requirements, balancing performance, reliability, security, cost, and schedule.
- Lead design reviews, validation strategies, and resolution of complex hardware, system, manufacturing, and field issues.
- Provide technical direction to suppliers and partner teams, and mentor engineers while developing reusable engineering standards.
What they ask for
- Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field and 7+ years of technical engineering experience; OR bachelor's degree in one of those fields and 8+ years of technical engineering experience; OR equivalent experience.
- Meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements, including the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
Nice to have
- 10+ years designing and delivering board- or system-level hardware across the hardware development lifecycle.
- Experience with merchant-silicon Ethernet switch platforms and high-speed technologies including 112G/224G PAM4, retimers, and optical modules.
Pay
USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year (base salary); USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year (base salary)
Tools
switch ASIC, control-plane CPU, BMC, CPLD/FPGA, high-speed Ethernet, retimers, SONiC, 112G/224G PAM4
AI focus
Develops network switch platforms supporting Azure AI infrastructure.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative