Senior Software Engineer

Share job

Do you want to be at the forefront of innovating the latest hardware and systems designs to propel Microsoft’s cloud growth? Are you seeking a unique career opportunity that combines technical capabilities, cross team collaboration, with business insight and strategy?

Join our Leading-Edge Architecture Pathfinding (LEAP) team within the Strategic Planning and Architecture (SPARC) organization in Azure Hardware Systems & Infrastructure (AHSI). AHSI is the team behind Microsoft’s expanding cloud business, responsible for delivering the hardware systems and infrastructure for cloud computing across Microsoft Azure, Bing, MSN, Office 365, OneDrive, Skype, Teams and Xbox Live.

The SPARC organization is responsible for strategy, planning and architecture pathfinding, and manages Azure’s hardware roadmap from architecture concept through production for Microsoft’s current and future on-line services. The LEAP team within SPARC is at the forefront of systems architecture and technology pathfinding spanning compute, memory, storage, network and system interconnects. Drawing on deep insights of workloads, emerging technology trends, and focused industry engagements, LEAP team’s charter is to define and evaluate novel systems architecture innovations through hardware/software co-design and advance them through technical readiness for productization.

The LEAP team is seeking a Senior Software Engineer with a focus on supporting hardware/software co-design and evaluation of novel systems architecture concepts to improve datacenter performance, efficiency, and reliability. The role requires hands-on development experience in OS kernel sub-systems, memory management, CPU and I/O virtualization, and proficiency with hypervisor and virtualization software stacks.

Success in this role requires:

• Listening to those who operate Azure and their customers to identify current and emerging problems
• Identifying promising technologies to address problems that are relevant for Azure business, engage with ecosystem partners, and derisking productization via capable proof-of-concepts
• Working across organizational boundaries with roadmap planners, product architects, and hardware and software engineering teams to land promising solutions in Azure data centers.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

Required:

• 7+ years of technical engineering experience
  • OR Bachelor’s degree in Electrical engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 10+ years of technical engineering experience
  • OR Master’s degree in Electrical engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years of technical engineering experience
  • OR Doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 3+ years of technical engineering experience.
• 5+ years of experience in Windows systems software (OS kernel, memory management, I/O stacks, Virtualization) with demonstrated track record of success on software enabling.
• 5+ years of experience leading significant hardware/software co-design projects involving CPU and/or systems architecture and influencing technical direction.
• Intellectual curiosity and passion about learning and deploying new technologies.

Preferred:

• Knowledge of Windows Operating System internals
• Deep expertise in CPU, memory and I/O virtualization hardware and software architecture
• Skilled in partnering and influencing architects, hardware engineers, and software leads
• Problem-solving skills, analytical capabilities, and attention to detail
• Ability to manage through ambiguity, teamwork, and sense of presumed responsibility
• Verbal and written communication skills and ability to engage technical & non-technical peers
• Experience contributing to complex projects with respect and integrity, including those with multiple workstreams spanning different business and technical disciplines.

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.

Responsibilities for this role span
(1) Supporting pathfinding to identify and quantify optimization opportunities;
(2) Guiding architecture through capable PoC definitions and end-to-end prototyping;
(3) Collaborating with hardware designers on silicon implementations;
(4) Leading detailed performance evaluation of usage scenarios; and (5) Supporting hardware validation and software enabling teams towards productization.

• Develop and lead end-to-end detailed performance analysis methodologies and tools to evaluate systems architecture innovations and guide hardware architecture directions.
• Guide architecture pathfinding through capable PoC definitions and end-to-end prototyping
• Influence and shape hardware architecture, targeting three-to-six-year timeframe, with data-driven analysis, insights and recommendations.
• Collaborate with hardware designers to converge on capable silicon implementations
• Partner with product teams on silicon validation and software enabling towards productization