Senior Physical Design Engineer

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

About The Position

Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure and responsible for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission. SCHIE delivers the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's over 200 online businesses including Bing, MSN, Office 365, Xbox Live, Teams, OneDrive, and the Microsoft Azure platform globally with our server and data center infrastructure, security and compliance, operations, globalization, and manageability solutions. Our focus is on smart growth, high efficiency, and delivering a trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide and we are looking for a Senior Physical Design Engineer to help achieve that mission. The Compute Silicon & Manufacturing Engineering (CSME) organization within SCHIE is responsible for design, development, manufacturing and packaging of Microsoft's state-of-the-art computer chips, notably the Azure Cobalt. Our solutions provide sustainable strategic advantage to Microsoft and enable our customers to achieve more. As Microsoft's cloud business continues to grow the ability to deploy new offerings and hardware infrastructure on time, in high volume with high quality and lowest cost is of paramount importance. To achieve this goal, Microsoft’s Compute Silicon & Manufacturing Engineering team is instrumental in defining and delivering operational measures of success for hardware manufacturing, improving the planning process, quality, delivery, scale and sustainability related to Microsoft cloud hardware. We are looking for a Senior Physical Design Engineer with a passion for customer focused solutions, insight and industry knowledge to envision and implement future technical solutions that will manage and optimize the Cloud infrastructure. We are looking for a Senior Physical Design Engineer to join the team.

Requirements

Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 1+ year(s) technical engineering experience OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience OR equivalent experience.
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings: Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Nice To Haves

BS/MS in Electrical or Computer Engineering or any related degree.
8+ years of experience in semiconductor design.
Effective communication, collaboration and teamwork skills and ability to contribute to diverse and inclusive teams.
Experience in Physical Design domain implementing designs through synthesis, floorplanning, place and route, extraction, timing, and physical verification.
Experience in hierarchical design work, Design Planning and integration with multiple production tape-outs using advanced foundry process nodes.
Demonstrate technical expertise in all aspects of Physical Design Verification including but not limited to DRC, LVS, Antenna analysis, PERC, ERC and ESD analysis.
Own complete physical verification and sign off of Critical blocks/Partitions/Sub-systems/Sub-chips instantiating/integrating multiple other Physical partitions. Be fully hands-on in your individual ownerships as individual contributor and collaborate cross-team as required.
Proficient in integration activities and methodology with hands-on experience.
Working understanding of PERC and ESD analysis, RDL implementation and bump planning.
Knowledge of RTL to GDS implementation in Physical Design domain.
Hands-on experience with performing LVS, DRC, ERC, Antenna, density, and reliability rule checks across block, subsystem, and top level.
Partner closely with PD flow/CAD team and PD methodology team to flag & fix PD TFM issues upfront and ensure those are fixed in the next PD TFM release from CAD or are updated in the design project layer (as appropriate).
Skilled in industry-standard EDA tools for physical verification (Calibre or ICV) and working knowledge of tools like Fusion or Innovus for place and route implementation.
Mentor junior engineers on technical aspects.
Advanced proficiency in Engineering Change Order (ECO) implementation for layout convergence, with solid knowledge of physical design ECO closure methodologies.
Demonstrated ownership of deliverables and strong cross-functional teamwork.
Experience in mentoring, influencing teams, and driving alignment through clear and effective communication.
Good analytical and problem-solving skills, complemented by advanced scripting capabilities in Perl, TCL, and Python.

Responsibilities

Drive full‑chip physical verification integration, including roll‑ups, hierarchical checks, and signoff collateral generation.
Perform LVS, DRC, ERC, Antenna, density, and reliability rule checks across block, subsystem, and top level.
Coordinate with CAD, RTL/Design teams/DFT, Architecture team, Foundry interface team, Technology team & other internal/external partners as essential.
Help influence design tools, flows, and methodologies in construction and signoff through a data-driven approach.
Contribute to floor-planning, power grid and design planning activities for correct by construction integration.
Drive physical verification signoff for tape out across multiple advanced technology nodes.
Foster collaboration across teams to deliver the best possible solutions, aligned with a One Microsoft mindset.
Demonstrate technical expertise across various domains of Physical Design Verification.
Clear communications on project status & planning.
Demonstrate Microsoft core values: Customer Focus, Adaptability, Collaboration, Growth Mindset, Drive for Results, Influence for Impact, Judgement, and Diversity & Inclusion.