Firmware Engineer

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

2d • $102,100 - $219,200

About The Position

Microsoft Silicon and Cloud Hardware Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) develops infrastructure and foundational technologies that support Microsoft's online businesses and Azure cloud platform. The team focuses on efficient growth and trusted experiences for customers and partners worldwide.

The Azure team is seeking a Firmware Engineer to develop, debug, and validate next-generation firmware for Microsoft AI accelerators and cloud silicon platforms. The role focuses on silicon firmware libraries for compute domains and high-bandwidth memory solutions. It requires understanding of SoC architecture, low-level firmware, silicon bring-up, hardware/software co-design, and platform initialization flows. The engineer will own firmware libraries for multiple IPs or subsystems and collaborate with hardware architects, validation engineers, security teams, and platform firmware and software teams.

Requirements

• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related field and at least 1 year of technical engineering experience; or bachelor's degree in one of these fields and at least 2 years of technical engineering experience; or equivalent experience.
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.

Nice To Haves

• Bachelor's or master's degree in Computer Science, Electronics Engineering, Electrical Engineering, or a related technical field.
• 3–5 years of hands-on expertise in firmware development, embedded systems, or SoC development.
• Strong understanding of memory and I/O subsystems in server-class SoC architectures.
• Proven ability to develop silicon or firmware IP and platform firmware solutions.
• Experience owning the end-to-end firmware development lifecycle, from design and implementation through validation and production delivery.
• Proficiency in C/C++ and Python for developing robust, efficient, and scalable firmware.
• Solid foundation in bootloader design, platform initialization sequences, and silicon abstraction layers.
• Technical knowledge of network controllers and high-performance computing subsystems.
• Hands-on silicon bring-up, debugging, and root-cause analysis experience using JTAG, Lauterbach TRACE32, and other industry-standard debugging tools.
• Familiarity with pre-silicon validation platforms, including ZeBu, FPGA, and VHS.
• Knowledge of Azure hardware platforms and their underlying architectures.
• Understanding of AI accelerator silicon and associated firmware requirements.
• Background in confidential computing, security firmware, and hardware-based security technologies.
• Proficiency with hardware emulation platforms such as ZeBu, HAPS, Palladium, and Veloce.
• Ability to optimize firmware performance, implement telemetry solutions, and troubleshoot complex system-level issues.
• Working knowledge of Reliability, Availability, and Serviceability (RAS) architecture and design principles.

Responsibilities

• Design and develop silicon firmware libraries for HBM, compute, and SoC infrastructure subsystems.
• Work with silicon architects during specification and design phases.
• Develop scalable and maintainable firmware frameworks and APIs.
• Own firmware-first silicon bring-up activities for IP libraries.
• Debug and perform root-cause analysis for firmware, hardware, performance, and validation issues.
• Define firmware verification requirements and test plans.
• Validate silicon firmware libraries on pre-silicon simulation and emulation platforms.

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level