Principal Firmware Security Engineer

Job description

Do you want to be at the forefront of innovating the latest hardware 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?

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 achieve 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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Join the Systems Planning and Architecture (SPARC) team within Microsoft’s Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure (AHSI) organization, the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure and for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission.

Microsoft delivers more than 200 online services to more than one billion individuals worldwide and AHSI is the team behind our expanding cloud infrastructure.

We deliver the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's cloud businesses including Microsoft Azure, Bing, MSN, Office 365, OneDrive, Skype, Teams and Xbox Live.

The SPARC organization manages Azure’s hardware roadmap from architecture concept through production for all of Microsoft’s current and future on-line services.

This role is for a highly motivated Firmware Engineer with a background in driver design and development.

You will be involved with all phases of product development, from secure silicon design through manufacturing and supply chain, and into high scale deployment.

At the design phase, you will work with security threat model team and be responsible for the silicon security architecture and design of low-level hardware accelerators.

**We are looking for a Principal Firmware Security Engineer to join our team!**

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.

**Responsibilities**

We are seeking a highly motivated and experienced Principal Software Engineer with deep expertise in hardware development and large language model (LLM) design and integration.

In this role, you will contribute to every phase of product development—from silicon design to firmware architecture and security engineering.

**Key Responsibilities**

+ Lead firmware security architecture during the design phase.
+ Apply LLMs for design assurance, including:

+ Threat modeling
+ Vulnerability discovery

+ Design accelerator chips and collaborate on silicon architecture, covering:

+ Security protocols
+ Boot initialization and power-on sequences
+ Vulnerability detection and servicing strategies
+ Cloud infrastructure feature development

+ Embody our culture (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/culture) and values.

(https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about/corporate-values)

**Qualifications**

**M** **inimum Qualifications:**

+ Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science,
+ or related field AND 3+ years technical engineering experience
+ OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience
+ OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience
+ OR equivalent experience.
+ Experience in defensive development and code security analysis.
+ 6+ years of professional experience in software development
+ Proven and demonstrable skill in C/C++ or Rust.
+ Experience with developing PCIe, USB, DMA, IOMMU etc.

**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.

**Preferred Qualifications:**

+ Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience with coding
+ OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science,
+ or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding
+ OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science,
+ or related field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding
+ OR equivalent experience.
+ Experience with GIT

+ Proven and demonstrable skill in Rust
+ Familiarity with standard Cryptographic algorithms
+ Experienced working with LLM for vulnerability scanning and detection.
+ Experience in working in pre silicon environments.
+ Ability to debug and resolve issues spanning multiple subsystems.
+ Great problem solving, debugging, and troubleshooting skills,
+ Advanced design and development skills.
+ Firmware development
+ Hardware security
+ Generative AI and LLM technologies
+ Vulnerability detection tools (e.g., CodeQL, static code analysis)

Firmware Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $251,900 per year.

There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $165,600 - $272,300 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.

Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until October 31, 2025.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer.

All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.

We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements.

If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form (https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/accommodationrequest) .

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

#SCHIE #azureHWjobs

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer.

Consistent with applicable law, all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances.

If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .

Required Skill Profession

Other General