Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft

Department: Software Engineering

Compensation

$142,800 – $274,800/yr

Setup: On-site
Location: Mountain View, California · Redmond, Washington · +3
Type: Full-time
Level: staff+
Posted: Sep 14, 2026

Description

Microsoft is hiring a Principal Software Engineer to lead firmware architecture, development, debugging, validation, and deployment for AI accelerator and cloud silicon platforms. The role focuses on silicon firmware libraries for Compute Domains and the Accelerator Network Controller, requiring hands-on technical leadership across firmware, hardware, validation, software, security, and platform teams. Candidates must have a bachelor's degree in computer science or a related technical field and at least six years of technical engineering experience; the role offers a U.S. base pay range of USD 142,800 to USD 274,800 per year, with higher ranges for the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metropolitan areas.

Required Skills

C/C++
Python
SoC architecture
Silicon bring-up
Hardware/software co-design
Firmware verification
JTAG
Lauterbach TRACE32
Emulation
FPGA
Azure hardware
Confidential computing

Additional Information

Minimum Education: Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field
Required Previous Experiences: At least 6 years of technical engineering experience with coding in C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python, or equivalent experience
Preferred Qualifications: 12–15+ years of experience in firmware, embedded systems, or SoC development
Experience as a technical lead for complex silicon or firmware programs
Ownership of architecture, development, and delivery of production-quality firmware
Strong programming skills in C/C++ and Python
Experience with CPU and accelerator architecture, ARM/RISC architectures, and on-chip interconnects
Experience designing bootloaders, platform initialization sequences, and silicon abstraction layers
Experience with network controllers and high-performance compute subsystems
Silicon bringup, debugging, and experience with JTAG, Lauterbach TRACE32, and other debug tools
Experience with emulation and FPGA platforms
Experience with Azure hardware platforms
Experience with AI accelerator silicon
Experience with confidential computing and security firmware
Experience with emulation platforms including Zebu, HAPS, Palladium, and Veloce
Experience with firmware performance optimization and telemetry
Experience with RAS, reliability, and serviceability architecture

About Microsoft

Microsoft

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