The Azure Platform Architecture team is part of a broader hardware and infrastructure organization known as the Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE). SCHIE is the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure and is responsible for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission. SCHIE delivers the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's 200+ online businesses including Teams, OneDrive, Office 365, Xbox Live, Skype, Bing, MSN and the Microsoft Azure platform globally. We architect and design the server and data center infrastructure, security and compliance, operations, globalization, and manageability solutions to support these businesses. Our focus is on smart growth, high efficiency, and delivering a trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide. We are looking for passionate, growth-minded engineers to help us achieve that mission. As Microsoft's cloud business continues to grow the ability to deploy new offerings and HW infrastructure on time, at hyperscale, with high reliability and the best performance/price level is paramount.

The Azure Platform Architecture team is looking for a Server Hardware Platform Architect to define future generations of servers and building blocks. The candidate will have demonstrated significant experience in server architecture and design including compute, storage, networking and systems management. Our team is at the forefront of technology and system design, leading the way for the next generation of platforms. Our mission is to architect the most performant, secure, reliable, and cost-effective solutions that are deployed at hyperscale to power Azure. The architect filling this role will be the subject matter expert for one or more platforms and building blocks, working across multiple domains to optimize designs for our high volume systems.

The architect will collaborate with the Planning and Sourcing teams and with Mechanical and Thermal Architects on requirements capture, technology insertion, concept proposals, cost/performance tradeoffs, prototype engineering, and architectural documentation for design/planning reviews. Once a program is approved from a conceptual level, the Platform Architect will partner with the Development team to ensure a smooth transition to full product development.

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.

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.

Responsibilities

This Compute platform architecture role will require innovation, technology & partnerships skills:

• Customer Focus – Partner across Microsoft teams, collaborating to architect solutions for customer challenges.

• Industry Influence - Drive and influence external technology providers, design partners and standards bodies towards optimal components, solutions and standards to meet the future Azure infrastructure requirements.

• Technology Leadership – Drive concepts, definition & designs for industry leading Azure server platforms and generate intellectual property to help strengthen Microsoft’s position as a leader in Cloud Computing.

• Partnerships – build relationships with our internal technology and development partners to enable leading edge innovation in our next generation products, while optimizing performance, costs and risks.

• Drive Clarity - Distill and articulate architectural tradeoffs encompassing electrical, signal integrity, mechanical, power, and thermal inputs in terms of key metrics such as TCO, performance, schedule, and risk.

• Other

• Embody our Culture (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about/corporate-values) and Values (https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/culture)  

Qualifications

Required :

• 10+ years of technical engineering experience

• OR Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 8+ years of technical engineering experience

• OR Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 5+ years of technical engineering experience

• OR Doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years of technical engineering experience.

• 6+ years experience analyzing solutions from a full TCO perspective, including but not limited to: CAPEX, OPEX, the system constraints that drive design tradeoffs, technology, quality and serviceability

• 6+ years expertise in balancing challenging electrical designs with complex mechanical and thermal tradeoffs of system design

Other :

• 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 :

• Demonstrated expertise in multi-disciplinary server platform architecture and design

• Communication skills to influence and partner across many Azure business and engineering teams

• Server PCBA design experience including schematic, layout, routing, power, and signal integrity

• Experience deploying systems at scale as part of a cloud service provider or hyper-scale company

• Knowledge of leading processor/memory technologies and industry standards, such as DC-MHS

• Demonstrated expertise with high speed signaling and interconnects including PCIe/CXL

Hardware Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $137,600 - $267,000 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 $180,400 - $294,000 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 July 11, 2024.

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) .