Principal Silicon Design Engineer

Job Title

Principal Silicon Design Engineer

Role Summary

Join the Microsoft Artificial Intelligence System on Chip (AISoC) silicon team to design high-performance SoCs and IP for cloud and AI infrastructure. The role focuses on IP microarchitecture, RTL implementation, and SoC integration to meet power, performance, and bandwidth requirements.

You will collaborate with architecture, verification, physical design, and system teams to ensure designs meet specification and are ready for synthesis and silicon bring-up.

Experience Level

Senior — this role expects an experienced engineer (guidance from posting: 12+ years in digital design, with substantial ASIC/SoC delivery experience).

Responsibilities

Primary responsibilities include hands-on design, integration, and verification support across IP and SoC development.

• Define and implement IP microarchitecture and RTL (Verilog/SystemVerilog).
• Integrate IP into SoC-level designs, including clocking, resets, and interface connectivity.
• Drive synthesis flows, timing constraint development, and PPA trade-off analysis.
• Perform static checks and closure activities (Lint, CDC/clock/reset domain crossings).
• Support post-silicon debug and silicon bring-up activities.
• Collaborate with architecture, verification, and physical design teams to ensure design correctness and deliverables.

Requirements

Must-have technical experience and program-level responsibilities.

• 12+ years in digital design, including microarchitecture specification and RTL implementation in Verilog/SystemVerilog.
• Proven delivery: 6+ years delivering IP or ASIC/SoC projects to production.
• Experience with synthesis, timing constraints, PPA (power, performance, area) trade-offs, and post-silicon debug (4+ years preferred).
• Experience designing fabrics/NoC, networking ASICs, or complex control logic (4+ years preferred).
• Strong skills in CDC closure and static analysis (Lint, clock/reset verification).
• Ability to work across teams and drive integration to meet schedule and quality targets.
• Security/export controls: must pass Microsoft Cloud Background Check and provide documentation for export-controlled information access (passport or equivalent residency documentation).

Nice-to-have:

• Hands-on SoC integration experience.
• Complex algorithmic design experience for AI workloads.
• Script development for automation of flows.

Education Requirements

Not specified.

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.