Principal Firmware Architect

Microsoft

Confirmed live yesterday High trust
Hybrid

Quick summary

Work type
Hybrid
Location
—
Salary
$142,800–$274,800 / yr
Posted
12 days ago
Freshness
Confirmed live yesterday
Closes
Mar 27, 2027

Market check

Salary context

Competitive pay

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $218k
This role $209k
$127k $291k
below market most similar roles pay here above market

This role pays more than 50% of similar roles. Most pay $185,437–$251,187 — the blue band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $209k versus about $218k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 similar postings.

Employer

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology leader producing software, hardware, and cloud services including Windows, Office 365, Azure cloud platform, Xbox gaming, and Surface devices. Industry: Software & Cloud Computing

Microsoft currently has 634 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $119,800–$234,700 across 612 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Firmware Architect

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The Principal Firmware Architect joins the first party silicon firmware team to develop firmware for Microsoft Azure custom silicon, specifically Cobalt and MAIA. This role involves defining firmware architecture, requirements, and subsystem interfaces that align with Azure features and platform roadmap priorities. You will partner with silicon and board design teams to drive technical decisions across hardware boundaries, ensuring feasible and testable designs. Key responsibilities include developing security requirements, threat models, and managing boot, initialization, telemetry, and recovery flows. Candidates should possess expertise in C, C++, Rust, and Python, with experience in RTOS-based development and hardware protocols like PCIe, I3C, I2C, SPI, and USB. The role solves complex integration issues in pre-silicon environments to ensure reliable, high-performance cloud services.

Skills

Firmware Architecture C C++ Rust Python RTOS PCIe I3C I2C SPI USB Embedded Systems Hardware/Software Co-design Boot Firmware Platform Initialization Pre-silicon Root Cause Analysis Telemetry

What you'll do

  • Define firmware architecture and requirements that align with Azure features and platform roadmap priorities.
  • Provide architectural guidance to silicon design, board design, and platform integration teams.
  • Define and maintain firmware subsystem interfaces, dependencies, and design principles for first-party silicon.
  • Develop security requirements and threat models for firmware features and cross-domain interfaces.
  • Drive technical decisions for firmware capabilities across boot, initialization, manageability, and recovery flows.
  • Influence design tradeoffs early in the product cycle to reduce integration risk and improve maintainability.
  • Define expected firmware behavior and acceptance criteria for platform bring-up and release readiness.
  • Diagnose complex architecture and integration issues across silicon, board, and firmware boundaries.

What we're looking for

  • Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 3+ years technical engineering experience.
  • Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 6+ years technical engineering experience.
  • Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field and 8+ years technical engineering experience.
  • Equivalent experience to the degree and years of experience requirements.
  • Ability to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check.
  • Strong coding experience in C, C++, Rust, or similar low-level programming languages (preferred).
  • 10+ years of experience in firmware, embedded systems, or hardware platform architecture (preferred).
  • Experience with Python or other scripting languages for automation, validation, and tooling (preferred).

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