Senior SoC HW (Functional) Validation Engineer

Job Title

Senior SoC HW (Functional) Validation Engineer

Role Summary

Individual contributor on the post-silicon validation team within Microsoft Compute Silicon & Manufacturing Engineering (CSME). The role focuses on functional and/or power/performance validation of custom SoCs used in Microsoft cloud infrastructure.

Main mission: define and execute post-silicon validation strategy, implement debug tools and environments, triage silicon failures, and drive improvements to design and validation methodology.

Experience Level

Senior-level. Typical experience expectations correspond to approximately 5+ years of technical engineering experience (varies by degree or equivalent experience as specified by the employer).

Responsibilities

Key responsibilities include ownership of post-silicon validation, technical leadership, and collaboration across hardware and software teams.

• Own post-silicon functional validation for areas such as core, cache coherency/mesh/fabric, accelerators, memory controller, or IO.
• Define and implement silicon debug tools, test environments, and validation methodologies (including debug board and HW/SW requirements).
• Develop validation strategy, write test plans, create test content, scripts, and automation tooling.
• Execute post-silicon test content, triage and debug failures, and produce reliable validation results on schedule.
• Provide technical guidance, mentorship, and coaching to other engineers; influence architects, designers, verification, and tool/IP providers.
• Contribute to pre-silicon verification planning and tests relevant to your area.
• Engage with partners to improve design and validation practices to find and prevent bugs earlier.

Requirements

Must-have technical skills and screening requirements; preferred capabilities are listed separately.

• Proven expertise in SoC validation, verification, or logic development for CPU/SoC/IP teams.
• Applied understanding of computer architecture and CPU/SoC validation principles across subsystem, system, and platform levels.
• Experience writing scripts and software in industry-standard languages such as Python or C/C++.
• Ability to develop validation content for bare-metal and OS environments and automation/tools for debug (crash/register dumps).
• Hands-on silicon debug experience using on-chip debug features (trace, JTAG) and lab equipment (protocol analyzers, logic analyzers, oscilloscopes).
• Experience running silicon content on pre-silicon platforms such as emulation or FPGA.
• Strong communication, collaboration, and leadership skills; ability to work in diverse teams.
• Willingness and ability to pass required security and export-control screenings (Microsoft Cloud Background Check and export-controlled information access requirements).

Preferred:

• Demonstrated validation expertise in functional, power/performance, automation, or tools/scripts development for SoC components (core, coherency, PCIe/IO, memory, power).
• Proven success in cross-discipline hardware/software debug efforts and building sophisticated debug tools.

Education Requirements

Degrees accepted: Doctorate, Master's, or Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or a related technical field; equivalent practical experience is explicitly accepted as an alternative. (Source lists multiple degree-and-years combinations and also states "or 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.