Principal Silicon Operations Engineering Lead

Job Title

Principal Silicon Operations Engineering Lead

Role Summary

Lead Microsoft's commercial strategy, negotiations, and lifecycle governance for Electronic Design Automation (EDA), design IP, and silicon engineering technology across the Silicon Cloud Hardware Infrastructure Engineering organization. You will own enterprise negotiations and supplier governance, optimize licensing and consumption, and partner with CAD, design, finance, procurement, and legal to align tooling strategy with Microsoft's multi-year silicon roadmap.

Experience Level

Senior. See Education Requirements for the role's degree and experience combinations.

Responsibilities

Accountable for the commercial and operational lifecycle of Microsoft's EDA and silicon engineering tooling portfolio, supplier performance, and analytics that enable engineering productivity at scale.

• Lead enterprise negotiations and renewals with EDA, IP, and silicon tooling suppliers and own deal strategy and term structure.
• Define multi-year commercial strategy for the EDA supplier portfolio, including renewal sequencing, bundling, and sourcing alternatives.
• Build negotiation business cases with TCO analysis, benchmarking, and executive recommendations.
• Partner with Procurement and Legal to structure enterprise agreements, licensing constructs, and post-signature governance (amendments, true-ups, audits).
• Plan and govern portfolio finances: forecasting, budgeting, license optimization, and chargeback/demand-management models.
• Operate supplier governance: KPIs, SLAs, quarterly business reviews, roadmap reviews, and escalations.
• Partner with CAD and silicon engineering teams to translate technical requirements into sourcing strategy and maintain the multi-year tooling roadmap.
• Develop analytics and executive dashboards for spend, utilization, and supplier performance; apply AI/automation to contract intelligence and forecasting.
• Engage executives and cross-functional stakeholders to drive decisions and raise commercial and negotiation capabilities across the organization.

Requirements

Degrees and formal education combinations are summarized under Education Requirements. Below are the non-education requirements and preferred experience areas.

• Must-have: Proven experience leading enterprise-scale negotiations, contract structuring, or licensing agreements for technology suppliers.
• Must-have: Experience with EDA, design IP, or semiconductor design tool agreements, or strong familiarity with semiconductor/silicon engineering lifecycles and CAD flows.
• Must-have: Experience driving license optimization, consumption analytics, entitlement management, or enterprise-scale license pooling strategies.
• Must-have: Strong cross-functional collaboration with Engineering, Finance, Procurement, and Legal; ability to influence without direct authority.
• Must-have: Ability to meet export-control and security screening requirements applicable to the role.
• Preferred: Experience building analytics/executive reporting (for example, Power BI) and applying AI/automation to contracting or sourcing workflows.
• Preferred: Management consulting or professional services experience with RFPs, SOWs, pricing models, and managed services governance.

Education Requirements

Required/minimum combinations (any one): Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field with 3+ years technical engineering experience; OR Master's degree in the fields above with 6+ years technical engineering experience; OR Bachelor's degree in the fields above with 8+ years technical engineering experience; OR equivalent experience. Preferred combinations list higher experience thresholds (e.g., PhD +5 years, MS +8 years, BS +12 years) and also accept equivalent 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.