Microsoft

Principal Platform Power & Performance Engineer

Microsoft • $142K — $274K *
Redmond, WA 98052In-Person
Enterprise Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Today
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Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Master's or Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field with extensive engineering experience (7+ to 8+ years)
  • Ability to meet Microsoft security screening requirements
  • Deep understanding of modern server architecture and power management
  • Hands-on experience with platform performance analysis tools
  • Proven scripting and data-analysis skills in Python, PowerShell, or similar
  • Excellent communication skills for conveying technical findings
  • Experience in large-scale cloud infrastructure or modern CPU/GPU platforms

Responsibilities

  • Own power and performance characterization of Azure compute platforms from silicon to workload validation.
  • Analyze CPU/GPU utilization and system interaction to enhance efficiency.
  • Identify areas for improvement in performance per watt and power density.
  • Develop dynamic power/performance strategies for varying system loads.
  • Profile workloads to optimize energy consumption and system-level efficiencies.
  • Collaborate with silicon vendors, firmware teams, and datacenter engineering for continuous improvement.
  • Build methodologies linking platform behavior with workload performance and infrastructure efficiency.

Benefits

  • Access to ongoing professional development opportunities
  • Health and wellness benefits, including medical and dental coverage
  • Generous vacation and leave policies
  • Retirement savings options with company matching
  • Employee discounts and perks for various services
Full Job Description
Responsibilities

  • Own end-to-end power and performance characterization of next-generation Azure compute platforms, from silicon and server bring-up through workload-level validation.


  • Analyze the interaction between CPU/GPU utilization, memory, PCIe/I/O, firmware, OS power management, thermals, cooling, and workload behavior.


  • Identify opportunities to improve:


    • Performance per watt


    • Idle and low-utilization efficiency


    • Energy proportionality


    • Rack power efficiency and density


    • Workload throughput within platform power constraints


  • Develop and evaluate dynamic power/performance-management strategies across idle, partially utilized, and fully loaded systems.


  • Profile representative cloud and AI workloads to understand where energy is consumed and determine which system-level optimizations deliver meaningful efficiency improvements.


  • Partner closely with silicon vendors, OEM/ODM partners, firmware teams, OS engineers, Azure Compute and AI infrastructure teams, and datacenter engineering teams to drive improvements from concept through production.


  • Influence silicon features, BIOS/firmware policies, OS power management, platform controls, thermal strategies, and future hardware architecture using measured engineering data.


  • Build telemetry and analysis methodologies that connect low-level platform behavior with workload performance and infrastructure-level efficiency.


  • Diagnose complex cross-layer performance and power issues spanning hardware, firmware, kernel/OS, drivers, accelerators, and workloads.


  • Translate engineering findings into recommendations that can influence fleet efficiency, capacity utilization, power provisioning, infrastructure cost, and future platform roadmaps.


  • Provide technical leadership across multiple platform programs, define methodology and strategy, and drive ambiguous cross-organizational problems from investigation to deployment.


Qualifications

Required Qualifications:
  • Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 7+ years technical engineering experience
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience
  • OR equivalent experience.


Other Requirements:

  • Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements is required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to, the following specialized security screening:


    • Microsoft Cloud Background Check. This position is required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.


  • This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations, the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations. As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their U.S. permanent residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export-controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate's citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable.


Preferred Qualifications:

  • 15+ years of relevant experience in server systems/platforms development and validation in computer architecture, systems engineering, platform performance, or power/performance engineering.


  • Deep understanding of modern server architecture including:


    • CPU microarchitecture and power states


    • Memory subsystems


    • PCIe and high-speed I/O


    • BIOS/UEFI and firmware


    • OS/kernel power management


    • Thermal and cooling behavior


  • Hands-on experience with platform performance analysis using tools such as Linux perf, hardware performance counters, tracing/profiling tools, telemetry systems, or equivalent Windows/Linux tooling.


  • Ability to design controlled experiments, interpret noisy system-level data, establish correlations, and distinguish workload effects from platform bottlenecks.


  • Experience debugging performance or power issues that cross multiple hardware/software layers.


  • Proven scripting and data-analysis skills using Python, PowerShell, Bash, Kusto, or similar technologies.


  • Excellent communication skills and the ability to translate detailed engineering analysis into decisions for architecture, product, and leadership audiences.


Experience in one or more of the following would be particularly relevant:

  • Large-scale cloud or hyperscale infrastructure


  • AMD, Intel, Arm, NVIDIA, or other modern CPU/GPU platforms


  • GPU and AI/ML workload characterization


  • Power capping, DVFS, CPU/GPU power states, memory power management, or PCIe power management


  • Server/rack power modeling and telemetry


  • AI training or inference performance


  • Performance-per-watt benchmarking


  • Firmware or BMC-based platform controls


  • Thermal and fan optimization


  • Workload-aware or utilization-aware power management


  • Capacity, rack-density, or datacenter power optimization


Hardware Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

About Microsoft

Microsoft is an American multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a range of software products and services. Microsoft’s devices and consumer (D&C) licensing segment licenses the Windows operating system and related software, Microsoft Office for consumers, and the Windows Phone operating system. The company’s computing and gaming hardware segment provides Xbox gaming and entertainment consoles and accessories, second-party and third-party video games, and Xbox Live subscriptions; surface devices and accessories; and Microsoft PC accessories. Its phone hardware segment offers Lumia smartphones and other non-Lumia phones. Its D&C segment provides Windows Store, Xbox Live transactions, and Windows phone store; search advertising; display advertising; Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal; first-party video games; and other consumer products and services as well as operating retail stores. Microsoft’s commercial licensing segments license server products, including Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related Client Access Licenses (CALs); Windows Embedded; Windows operating system; Microsoft Office for business, including Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and related CALs; Microsoft Dynamics business solutions; and Skype. Its commercial segment offers enterprise services, including premier support services and Microsoft consulting services; commercial cloud comprising Office 365 Commercial, other Microsoft Office online offerings, Dynamics CRM Online, and Microsoft Azure; and other commercial products and online services. The company markets and distributes its products through original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and resellers, as well as online.

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Learn more about Microsoft
Size
181,000 employees
Market Cap
$1,762.4 billion
Industry
Enterprise Technology
Net Income
$51.3 billion
Founded
1975
5 Year Trend
+15.5%
Revenue
$153.2 billion
NASDAQ
MSFT
* Ladders Estimates

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