OverviewThe Cloud Hardware and System Engineering (CHSE team) are looking for a Principal Hardware Engineer to serve as the Storage System Technical Lead (STL), providing end-to-end technical leadership for development next-generation Azure storage hardware platforms. The STL bridges architecture and execution, maintains technical continuity across the program development and validation lifecycle phases, and ensures that hardware, firmware, software, validation, manufacturing, and operational workstreams converge into a complete, high-quality system solution. The STL owns end-to-end technical execution, cross-functional integration, design quality, technical readiness, and program-level technical decisions within the approved baseline. The STL also provides technical input and impact assessment for program decisions while preserving the ownership of functional engineering and program-management teams.
As Azure grows to support increasingly data-intensive cloud and AI workloads, storage infrastructure must deliver greater capacity, performance, availability, serviceability, security, and cost efficiency at global scale. The CHSE team defines and delivers the systems engineering required to bring new cloud hardware platforms from concept through qualification, deployment, and fleet operations. This role will provide system-level technical leadership for Azure storage hardware, aligning architecture, platform design, firmware, validation, manufacturing, and operations around an executable end-to-end strategy.
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 the quality bar for system specifications, subsystem interfaces, design documentation, design reviews, validation strategies, test plans, and launch criteria, and 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 (ODMs), and confirm that qualification, interoperability, and manufacturing test coverage address system requirements and risks.
- Lead cross-functional resolution of complex issues found 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 the technical impact of proposed changes, drive milestone readiness, provide technical approvals defined by program governance, and communicate concise 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.
QualificationsRequired 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 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.
Preferred Qualifications: - Extensive experience designing or developing storage hardware platforms, including storage head nodes, just a bunch of disks (JBOD), just a bunch of flash (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 across 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, solid-state drives (SSDs), hard-disk drives (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, baseboard management controllers (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, systems on chip (SoCs), field-programmable gate arrays (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.
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.
