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Microsoft Principal Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Microsoft

Principal Product Engineer

Austin, TX · On-site

Overview Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team ... We are looking for a Principal Product Engineer to join the team. Responsibilities The position ...

Microsoft

Principal Hardware Engineer

Hillsboro, OR · On-site

$188K - $304K/yr

Overview Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team ... We are looking for a Principal Engineer to join the team. #SCHIE #azurehwjobs #HIFE ...

Microsoft

Principal Silicon Engineer

Mountain View, CA · On-site

$142K - $274K/yr

Overview Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team ... We are looking for a Principal Silicon Engineer to join the team. #SCHIE Responsibilities * Design ...

Microsoft

Principal Security Engineer

Santa Clara, CA · On-site

$188K - $304K/yr

Overview Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team ... We are looking for a Principal Security Engineer to join our team and help develop and enhance the ...

Sunbelt Solomon

Principal Engineer

Solomon, KS · On-site

The Principal Engineer role offers the opportunity to lead complex transformer design projects from ... Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and AutoCAD. * Ability to read drawings ...

iHerb

Principal Engineer - Mobile

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

iHerb

OR

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

Microsoft

Principal Security Engineer

Redmond, WA · On-site

$142K - $274K/yr

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more ... This role is for a Principal Security Engineer with a background in security protocols and secure ...

Microsoft

Principal Engineering Manager

Redmond, WA · On-site

$188K - $304K/yr

Overview As AI reshapes how software is built and defended, Microsoft Security is standing up a new ... We are looking for a Principal Engineering Manager . The ideal candidate brings deep expertise in ...

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Microsoft Principal Engineer information

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$74K

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How much do microsoft principal engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jul 23, 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:
Microsoft Principal Engineer jobs near you
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 Product Engineer

Principal Product Engineer

Microsoft

Austin, TX • On-site

Full-time

Posted 20 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 trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide and we are looking for passionate engineers to help achieve that mission.
The Compute Silicon & Manufacturing Engineering (CSME) organization within SCHIE is responsible for design, development, manufacturing and packaging of Microsoft's state-of-the-art computer chips, notably the Azure Cobalt. Our solutions provide sustainable strategic advantage to Microsoft and enable our customers to achieve more.
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 Silicon, Manufacturing, and Packaging Engineering (SMPE) 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. Our key initiatives are Azure and Azure Cobalt. 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 Product Engineer to join the team.
Responsibilities
The position will have responsibility for product/test engineering for new product development and manufacturing.
  • The position requires someone with experience in semiconductor IC development, IC manufacturing, fabrication, testing, and packaging.
  • Drive pre-Si readiness for power, performance, Thermal and Power delivery (LDOs, Integrated VRs) related tests and features for successful bring up during power on. Drive Power and Performance tuning during post-Si phase in partnership with platform teams.
  • Drive ATE test program implementation to optimize for SOC power/TDP. Work closely with platform/system engineers to drive necessary correlation work to enable such optimizations.
  • Drive product manufacturing fuse requirements and end to end data flow for fusing across various test sockets.
  • Successful candidates should have strong project leadership skills to manage external vendors, drive cross functional teams and drive sub-projects as part of larger development programs.
  • They should also have excellent knowledge of ATE test program development including test method development, test bring-up, characterization, debug, and yield analysis.
  • The candidate should also have knowledge of DFT, silicon fabrication process, product Q&R, and basic transistor theory.
  • The candidate would benefit from a background in various product market areas such as high-performance computing, AI, GPUs, CPUs.
  • Overall product engineering role taking product from definition to launch.

Qualifications
Minimum 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 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.
  • 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:
  • 10+ years of experience in Product development and manufacturing in large scale and/or high performance (i.e., AI, machine leaning, neural nets, CPU's) and/or high power SoCs/chips.
  • 10+ years of experience in Developing Integrated Circuits (pre-silicon, first silicon bring-up, new product introduction).
  • 8+ years of experience in product and test engineering, specializing in ATE test program development.
  • Strong presentation and communication skills.
  • Experience in
    • Leading cross functional teams and understanding program/project management.
    • Managing supply chain, vendors / partners, and Integrated Circuit production.
    • Experience in system/customer requirements gathering and interfacing.
    • Silicon configuration (SKU) management and internal supplier/customer interfacing
    • End-to-end product development flow and driving sample delivery milestones across the life cycle (Quality & Quantity)
  • Knowledgeable in power / performance modelling for ATE binning optimization in both pre- and post-silicon phases of the program. In-depth understanding of ATE test program power/performance binning implementation including required characterization data collection.
  • Knowledgeable in yield recovery definition (redundancy and repair for logic, array, analog) and their implementation (test programs, test content, SKU). Drive implementation partnering with cross-functional teams.
  • Electrical Engineering and/or Device physics background.
  • System and Platform validation background is a plus. Experience working across various platforms (ATE/RVP/Customer boards) for product validation and characterization.
  • Experience with failure analysis, qualification, and yield analysis
  • Strong probability and statistical background including DOE's.
  • Experience in product and test engineering and ATE test program methodologies. Advantest V93K experience is a plus.
  • Knowledgeable in DFT and DFM techniques.
  • Good understanding of bring-up/debug, characterization/manufacturing test (on ATEs).
  • Device physics background.
  • Adaptability (responds, explores, constructive attitude)
  • Growth Mindset (It starts with a belief that everyone can grow and develop)
  • Trusted Computer architecture fundamentals/background
  • Great unit/integration testing skills
  • Background in debugging and optimizing software.
  • Customer Focus (anticipates needs and proactively meets expectations)
  • Drive for results (actively pursues outcome, delivers on commitments)
  • Influence for impact (communicates, networks, persuades, influences)
  • Judgement (scope problem, builds & applies knowledge)

#SCHIE #CSME
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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