Principal Firmware Validation Engineer

About the role

Microsoft Silicon and Cloud Hardware Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure, responsible for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission. We deliver the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's over 200 online businesses including Bing, MSN, Office 365, Xbox Live, Skype, OneDrive, and the Microsoft Azure platform globally. Our focus is on smart growth, high efficiency, and delivering a trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide.

We are looking for a passionate Principal Firmware Validation Engineer with a background in firmware validation, development, and/or integration for server/embedded systems.

Responsibilities

• Own coordination, validation (including validation environment), integration, and debugging of system software/firmware comprising different domains within AI server architecture (such as SoC FWs, Drivers, BIOS, BMC, Rack Manager, etc.).
• Deeply collaborate with architects, firmware development, program management, and component dev teams for day-to-day operations as well as long-term roadmap improvements by feeding back key learnings.
• Validate that integrated firmware/system software aligns with architectural goals of the product by maintaining a system-level “big picture” view.
• Coach team members and help them grow.
• Create validation plans, develop validation content, automate executions, and debug/triage observed or reported failures.
• Develop debugging and troubleshooting skills to become the point-of-contact for platform-level issues; ensure systematic closure of issues for subsequent releases.
• Explore and deploy innovative methods to improve test coverage, release/test automation, and efficiency of firmware releases.
• Create automated dashboards to reflect the “health” and “quality” of the system at all times for decision-making.

Requirements

• Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years of technical engineering experience
• OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 6+ years of technical engineering experience
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years of technical engineering experience
• OR equivalent experience.
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including but not limited to specialized security screenings such as the Microsoft Cloud Background Check (required upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter).

Preferred Qualifications

• 12+ years of professional experience in validation, design/development, integration, or system-level debugging in embedded systems.
• Experience programming in Python, C, or C++ and scripting languages (e.g., Python) for automation framework setup and deployment.
• Experience creating validation plans, developing test content, and automating execution, especially in the server domain.
• Demonstrated experience in system-level firmware integration, validation (including validation infrastructure setup), and debugging of system software.
• Experience creating or working with automated testing pipelines (CI/CD).
• Firmware development and testing on multiple hardware test environments (Boards, FPGA, Emulation, Simulation, etc.).
• System-level debugging (including customer issues) with experience managing and triaging production-level issues.
• Knowledge of hardware debuggers like JTAG, Oscilloscope, and Logic Analyzer.

Pay

Firmware Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year. A different range applies to specific work locations, including the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, where the base pay range is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.