Storage System Technical Lead

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

1d • $142,800 - $304,200

About The Position

The Cloud Hardware and System Engineering (CHSE) team is seeking a Principal Hardware Engineer to serve as Storage System Technical Lead (STL) for development of next-generation Azure storage hardware platforms. The STL provides end-to-end technical leadership, bridging architecture and execution and maintaining technical continuity through development and validation. The role brings hardware, firmware, software, validation, manufacturing, and operational workstreams together into a complete system solution, and owns technical execution, cross-functional integration, design quality, technical readiness, and program-level technical decisions within the approved baseline. The STL also assesses technical impacts of program decisions while preserving the responsibilities of functional engineering and program-management teams.

The role provides system-level technical leadership for Azure storage hardware, aligning architecture, platform design, firmware, validation, manufacturing, and operations around an executable end-to-end strategy. The CHSE team develops systems engineering for cloud hardware platforms from concept through qualification, deployment, and fleet operations. CHSE is part of Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE), which designs and delivers the silicon, hardware systems, firmware, software, and foundational technologies powering Microsoft Azure.

The role requires a relevant engineering degree and substantial technical engineering experience or equivalent experience. The successful candidate will lead cross-functional technical decisions, guide system validation and integration, and resolve complex issues across the storage platform lifecycle. The position requires passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.

Requirements

• Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field and 7+ years of technical engineering experience; or bachelor's degree in one of these fields or a related field and 8+ 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

• Extensive experience designing or developing storage hardware platforms, including storage head nodes, JBOD, JBOF, or comparable high-capacity storage systems, and integrating hardware, firmware, and operating systems.
• Experience leading cross-functional technical decisions, storage-system validation strategies, and resolution of complex system-level issues.
• Broad technical understanding of electrical design, signal integrity, mechanical design, thermal engineering, power delivery, processors, memory, storage, networking, system management, security, and industry standards.
• Experience developing high-capacity or high-availability storage systems and familiarity with storage controllers, PCIe, NVMe, SSDs, HDDs, SAS, Ethernet, and related system interfaces.
• Experience evaluating, integrating, or debugging high-speed interfaces such as PCIe, DDR, Ethernet, SAS, or comparable technologies at the system level.
• Knowledge of system firmware, including BIOS, BMCs, system management protocols, telemetry, update, recovery, and security considerations.
• Knowledge of Windows, Linux, or other operating-system interactions with server and storage hardware.
• Experience integrating silicon, SoCs, FPGAs, controllers, or other complex components into high-volume systems.
• Experience working with ODMs, silicon suppliers, component suppliers, manufacturing partners, and geographically distributed engineering teams.
• Experience taking complex hardware platforms through architecture, design, bring-up, validation, manufacturing, deployment, and sustained operation.
• Experience debugging complex system-level issues and driving root cause, corrective action, validation, and cross-platform fix propagation.
• Understanding of datacenter deployment, serviceability, fleet operations, reliability, and infrastructure operation at scale.
• Demonstrated ability to influence technical decisions across organizational boundaries without relying on direct management authority.
• Proven written, verbal, and executive communication skills, including the ability to explain complex technical tradeoffs, risks, decisions, and help-needed items clearly.

Responsibilities

• Provide end-to-end system technical leadership for Azure storage platforms during hardware development and validation, translating approved requirements and architecture into an executable cross-functional technical strategy.
• Drive timely program-level technical decisions across hardware, firmware, software, validation, manufacturing, datacenter integration, and operations, balancing performance, capacity, reliability, availability, serviceability, security, power, cost, schedule, and implementation risk.
• Establish quality standards for system specifications, subsystem interfaces, design documentation, design reviews, validation strategies, test plans, and launch criteria; maintain traceability from requirements through validation and deployment evidence.
• Identify integration gaps and assess new, unique, difficult, or differentiated technologies and features across subsystems, suppliers, and lifecycle phases; define dependencies, owners, risks, mitigations, validation needs, and closure criteria.
• Lead or sponsor system design reviews with Microsoft engineering teams, silicon and component partners, and original design manufacturers; confirm qualification, interoperability, and manufacturing test coverage addresses system requirements and risks.
• Lead cross-functional resolution of complex issues arising during design, bring-up, validation, manufacturing, deployment, or fleet operation, driving root cause, corrective action, verified closure, and propagation of fixes and lessons learned.
• Partner with the Technical Program Manager and Product Owner to assess technical impacts of proposed changes, drive milestone readiness, provide technical approvals defined by program governance, and communicate status, risks, decisions, and help-needed items to leadership.
• Collaborate across architecture, silicon, electrical, mechanical, thermal, power, firmware, operating systems, validation, systems engineering, manufacturing, supply chain, datacenter engineering, operations, suppliers, ODMs, and customer-facing teams to align subsystem decisions, resolve cross-domain dependencies, and deliver an integrated storage platform.

Benefits

• Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation; additional benefits and pay information is available through the Microsoft careers site.

What This Job Offers

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