Principal AI Silicon Architect

Job Title

Principal AI Silicon Architect

Role Summary

Join Microsoft's Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) AI Silicon Architecture team to define and deliver system- and silicon-level power architecture for high-power AI accelerator SoCs. The role focuses on power, thermal, and platform management across SoC, package, board, and system to optimize performance-per-watt and enable large-scale cloud deployment.

Experience Level

Senior - Principal level. Typical experience guidance from the posting: PhD +7 years, MS +10 years, BS +12 years, or equivalent experience.

Responsibilities

Accountabilities include architecture definition, cross-functional collaboration, and technical leadership from concept through deployment.

• Own end-to-end power architecture for high-power AI accelerator SoCs, including tradeoff analysis across SoC, package, board, and system.
• Define SoC and package-level power-management architecture: domains, DVFS, clock/power gating, low-power states, and workload-aware power management.
• Architect solutions for high-power operating conditions: manage workload power excursions, peak and sustained power, transients, and power/thermal constraints.
• Partner with performance and workload teams to translate workload characteristics into power-delivery and efficiency optimizations.
• Translate product requirements into system- and silicon-level power budgets, design targets, and architectural requirements.
• Define SoC-to-system interfaces and control mechanisms for power, thermal, and platform management.
• Collaborate with SoC architecture, physical design, package, board/system, power delivery, thermal, firmware, platform, manufacturing, and validation teams throughout the development lifecycle.
• Provide technical leadership during architecture specification, design reviews, silicon bring-up, characterization, and optimization.

Requirements

Must-have compliance and baseline requirements plus desirable experience areas listed separately.

• Ability to meet Microsoft Cloud Background Check and other required security screenings.
• Must satisfy export-control eligibility checks; employment requires proof of citizenship or lawful residency for access to export-controlled information.

Nice-to-have / preferred experience:

• Significant industry experience in SoC power architecture, power delivery, power management, or power integrity for high-performance/high-power SoCs.
• Experience architecting and optimizing power delivery across silicon, package, board, and power supply.
• Deep knowledge of power integrity, voltage droop, transient response, current delivery, and interaction between workload behavior and PDN design.
• Experience with package-level and SoC-level power architecture for large, high-performance silicon and with multi-die or chiplet architectures.
• Understanding of DVFS, clock/power gating, power states, workload-aware power management, and energy-efficiency optimization.
• Experience with AI accelerators, GPUs, HPC processors, server CPUs, or other datacenter-class high-power silicon.
• Proven ability to influence architecture across organizational boundaries and communicate complex tradeoffs to both implementation teams and senior technical leadership.

Education Requirements

Doctorate (PhD) in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field + 7+ years technical engineering experience; OR Master’s degree in those fields + 10+ years; OR Bachelor’s degree in those fields + 12+ years; OR equivalent practical experience.

About the Company

Company: Microsoft

Headquarters: Redmond, Washington, United States

Microsoft is a global technology company that develops and sells software, services, devices, and solutions. Known for its Windows operating system, Office suite, and Azure cloud platform, Microsoft aims to empower individuals and organizations around the world to achieve more. The company fosters a culture of innovation and inclusion, focusing on delivering trusted experiences to customers and partners globally.