Microsoft
Principal Optical Network System Engineer
$143K–$304K
Mountain View, CA +2 · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Oct 29, 2026
- Location
- Mountain View, CA
Redmond, WA
Hillsboro, OR - Experience
- 7+ years with a master's degree, or 8+ years with a bachelor's degree; alternatively, equivalent experience. Also requires 8+ years in fiber optics and 8+ years in optical interconnect design, testing, validation, or troubleshooting.
- 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, integration, qualification, and deployment of optical and networking systems for large-scale AI and cloud infrastructure.
What you'll do
- Define and drive AI networking architectures and technical requirements from concept through datacenter deployment.
- Lead integration, bring-up, validation, and optimization of network hardware and optical interconnects.
- Drive technical troubleshooting, performance analysis, and qualification approaches for AI networking infrastructure.
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.
- 8+ years of experience with fiber optics, including related tools, devices, processes, design, deployment, operations, or manufacturing.
- 8+ years of experience designing, testing, validating, or troubleshooting optical interconnects, optical components, or end-to-end fiber links.
- Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements, including the Microsoft Cloud Background Check.
Nice to have
- Experience with data center networking and AI infrastructure, such as GPU fabrics, InfiniBand, Ethernet, or UALink ecosystems.
- Experience with optical interconnects, optical systems, validation, datacenter deployment, or manufacturing.
Pay
USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year (base salary); USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year (base salary)
Tools
InfiniBand, Ethernet, UALink, PAM4-based SerDes, LPO, LRO, CPO, silicon photonics
AI focus
Develops networking architectures, optical connectivity, validation, and performance solutions for AI training and inference infrastructure.
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