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Microsoft Principal Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Technical Principal Engineer

Campbell, CA · On-site

$156K - $210K/yr

Technical Principal Engineer (.NET, React/Next.js, Azure & AI) Location: Hybrid Campbell, CA Job ... Design, build, and maintain cloud-native solutions on Microsoft Azure . * Implement secure ...

Principal Engineer Location: North Cincinnati, Ohio Type: Direct Hire Compensation: $150k ... Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, AWS, and various integration partners and ...

Technical Principal Engineer

Campbell, CA · On-site

$155K - $208K/yr

Technical Principal Engineer (.NET, React/Next.js, Azure & AI) Location: Hybrid - Campbell, CA Job ... Design, build, and maintain cloud-native solutions on Microsoft Azure . * Implement secure ...

Principal Engineer Location: North Cincinnati, Ohio Type: Direct Hire Compensation: $150k ... Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, AWS, and various integration partners and ...

Principal Engineer Location: North Cincinnati, Ohio Type: Direct Hire Compensation: $150k ... Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, AWS, and various integration partners and ...

Job Summary: The Principal Engineer - Catalog operates at the intersection of deep technical ... Experience with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) * Experience with Google Business ...

Job Summary: The Principal Engineer - Catalog operates at the intersection of deep technical ... Experience with Microsoft Office Suite (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) * Experience with Google Business ...

Principal Engineer Location: North Cincinnati, Ohio Type: Direct Hire Compensation: $150k ... Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, AWS, and various integration partners and ...

Principal Engineer Location: North Cincinnati, Ohio Type: Direct Hire Compensation: $150k ... Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, AWS, and various integration partners and ...

Principal Engineer Location: North Cincinnati, Ohio Type: Direct Hire Compensation: $150k ... Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, AWS, and various integration partners and ...

Principal Engineer Location: North Cincinnati, Ohio Type: Direct Hire Compensation: $150k ... Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, AWS, and various integration partners and ...

Overview Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team ... We are looking for a Principal Circuit Design Engineer with a passion for envisioning and creating ...

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Microsoft Principal Engineer information

See salary details

$74K

$147.2K

$212.5K

How much do microsoft principal engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jul 22, 2026, the average yearly pay for microsoft principal engineer in the United States is $147,220.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $118,500.00 and $173,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Microsoft Principal Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Microsoft Principal Engineer, you need advanced expertise in software engineering, architecture design, and a deep understanding of computer science principles, often supported by a relevant degree and extensive experience. Proficiency with Microsoft technologies such as Azure, .NET, Visual Studio, and familiarity with DevOps tools and cloud platforms is essential, and certifications like Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect are highly valued. Strong leadership, communication, and strategic thinking enable you to mentor teams and drive complex projects. These skills ensure you can deliver innovative solutions at scale, lead technical direction, and contribute to Microsoft's engineering excellence.

What are Microsoft Principal Engineers?

Microsoft Principal Engineers are highly experienced technical leaders responsible for designing complex systems, providing architectural guidance, and driving innovation within the company. They often serve as technical mentors to other engineers, lead cross-functional projects, and help set technical direction for their teams or divisions. Principal Engineers have deep expertise in their fields and play a key role in shaping Microsoft's products and engineering culture. Their responsibilities also include collaborating with stakeholders across the organization and ensuring that solutions align with business goals.

What are some common challenges faced by a Microsoft Principal Engineer when leading cross-functional projects?

As a Microsoft Principal Engineer, one common challenge is aligning diverse technical and business teams toward a shared vision, especially in large-scale, cross-functional projects. You’ll often need to balance immediate project needs with long-term architectural goals, while ensuring effective communication across teams with varying priorities and expertise. Navigating organizational complexity and influencing without direct authority are key aspects of the role. Success relies on strong leadership, stakeholder management, and the ability to drive consensus among senior engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders.

What is the difference between Microsoft Principal Engineer vs Microsoft Senior Engineer?

CriteriaMicrosoft Principal EngineerMicrosoft Senior Engineer
Required CredentialsBachelor's or higher in CS or related field; extensive experienceBachelor's or higher in CS or related field; significant experience
Work EnvironmentLeadership in technical projects, cross-team collaborationIndividual contributor, focused on project execution
Employer & Industry UsageUsed across Microsoft for senior technical leadership rolesCommonly used for experienced technical contributors
Search & Comparison IntentUnderstanding senior technical roles at MicrosoftDistinguishing levels of seniority within Microsoft engineering

The Microsoft Principal Engineer is a senior technical leadership role focused on guiding large projects and influencing technical strategy, often leading multiple teams. In contrast, the Microsoft Senior Engineer is an experienced individual contributor primarily responsible for executing complex technical tasks. Both roles require strong technical credentials, but the Principal Engineer emphasizes leadership and strategic impact, while the Senior Engineer concentrates on technical expertise and project delivery.

More about Microsoft Principal Engineer jobs
What cities are hiring for Microsoft Principal Engineer jobs? Cities with the most Microsoft Principal Engineer job openings:
What job categories do people searching Microsoft Principal Engineer jobs look for? The top searched job categories for Microsoft Principal Engineer jobs are:
Infographic showing various Microsoft Principal Engineer job openings in the United States as of July 2026, with employment types broken down into 96% Full Time, 1% Part Time, and 3% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 5% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $147,220 per year, or $70.8 per hour.
Principal Physical Design Engineer

Principal Physical Design Engineer

Microsoft

Redmond, WA • On-site

Full-time

Posted 9 days ago


Microsoft rating

8.5

Company rating: 8.5 out of 10

Based on 131 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

68th of 215 rated software companies


Job description

Overview
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 passionate engineers to help achieve that mission.
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, the AISiE 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 seasoned engineers with a dedicated 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 Principal Physical Design Engineer to join the team.
#SCHIE
Responsibilities
We are looking to expand our Physical Design Engineer team in US with immediate hiring of a few senior and principal level Physical Design engineers to work on Microsoft Next-Gen AI SOC chip. If hired, you will be responsible for delivering TFM (tool, flow and methodology) of Physical Design tasks at block, sub-chip, and/or full-chip level. The roles include one or more of the following tasks - Place and Route (PnR), Static Timing Analysis (STA) and timing ECOs, Physical Verification (PV), Formal Equivalency Verification (FEV), Functional ECO, Global Clocking Construction, IR-Drop/EM (EMIR) and PD Infrastructure and IPs collaterals handling with details below:
• Lead the PnR convergence recipe development for designs at blocks/subsystem and subchip level
• Develop and implement methodologies and strategies to improve physical design efficiency and performance
• Develop and implement methodologies and strategies to sign off blocks, subsystem/Subchip in the areas of static timing analysis, physical verification, functional logics equivalence, low power verification and electromigration and IR drop
• Implementation of functional and timing ECO with least physical design impact
• Design and implement the global clocking scheme at SOC and sub chip levels
• Stay current with industry trends and emerging technologies to continuously improve physical design processes and methodologies
• Installation and quality check of internal and external IP collaterals for use by Physical Design execution team
• Conduct physical design reviews, identify and resolve design issues, and provide guidance to junior engineers.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years technical engineering experience OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience OR equivalent experience.
Other:
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.
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 US. 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:
  • Bachelor's or Master's in Electrical or Computer Engineering or related field with 10+ years of experience
  • Experience in tapeouts of complex ASICs in leading edge technology
  • 10+ years of experience in blocks level place and route and
  • Expertise in one or more of physical design EDA tools such as Synopsys Fusion Compiler, PrimeClosure, Primetime, Formality, VCLP, Star-RC, Redhawk SC, and Cadence Innovus; Siemens Calibre.
  • Strong understanding of semiconductor design principles, methodologies, and tools.
  • Proven track record of successfully leading physical design projects and delivering high-quality semiconductor products
  • Adequate scripting skillsets in TCL and Python
  • Good understanding of foundry tech files and rule decks

Silicon 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.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.

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About Microsoft

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Our infrastructure is comprised of a large global portfolio of more than 100 datacenters and 1 million servers. Our foundation is built upon and managed by a team of subject matter experts working to support services for more than 1 billion customers and 20 million businesses in over 90 countries worldwide. With environmental sustainability and optimization at the forefront of our datacenter design and operations, we continue to grow and evolve as we meet the ever-changing business demands that hold Microsoft as a world-class cloud provider.

Industry

Computer and computer peripheral equipment and software wholesalers

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

Redmond, WA, US

Year founded

1975

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