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Physical Design Engineer II

Microsoft Corporation

Redmond, WAJob$102–202K/yrSeen todaySeen in employer's feed today

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At a glance

Compensation
$102–202K/yr
Location
Redmond, WA
Work Authorization
Not specified

Olive lists jobs from US employers, including remote roles you can work from the United States.

Job overview

Microsoft’s Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering organization is seeking a Physical Design Engineer II to support cloud hardware infrastructure. The role focuses on physical design, EMIR signoff and convergence, static timing analysis, and place-and-route strategies. The engineer will work with limited direction and may occasionally travel.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Physical DesignSynthesisPlace and RouteSignoffRHSCStar-RCFusion CompilerVCLPPrimetimeFormalityCadence InnovusConformal

Qualifications

Master's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or Related Field or Bachelor's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or Related Field or Equivalent Experience1+ Year Technical Engineering Experience2+ Years Technical Engineering ExperienceBachelor's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or Related Field or Equivalent Experience6+ Years Technical Engineering ExperienceMaster's in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or Related Field or Equivalent Experience4+ Years Technical Engineering ExperienceDoctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science or Related Field or Equivalent Experience2+ Years Technical Engineering Experience4+ Years Physical Design Experience4+ Years Hands-on EDA Tool ExperienceMicrosoft Cloud Background Check

Full job description

Overview

Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure and responsible for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission. SCHIE delivers the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's over 200 online businesses including Bing, MSN, Office 365, Xbox Live, Teams, OneDrive, and the Microsoft Azure platform globally with our server and data center infrastructure, security and compliance, operations, globalization, and manageability solutions. Our focus is on smart growth, high efficiency, and delivering a trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide and we are looking for passionate engineers to help achieve that mission.

As Microsoft's cloud business continues to grow the ability to deploy new offerings and hardware infrastructure on time, in high volume with high quality and lowest cost is of paramount importance. To achieve this goal, the AISIE team is instrumental in defining and delivering operational measures of success for hardware manufacturing, improving the planning process, quality, delivery, scale and sustainability related to Microsoft cloud hardware. We are looking for engineers with a dedicated passion for customer focused solutions, insight and industry knowledge to envision and implement future technical solutions that will manage and optimize the Cloud infrastructure. We are looking for a Physical Design Engineer II to join the team.

#SCHIE

Responsibilities

  • Responsible for Physical Design tasks at block, sub-chip, and/or full-chip level incl. design planning, synthesis, placement, clock tree synthesis, custom clocking, static timing analysis, physical verification, IR drop & EM check and formal equivalence checks

  • Responsible for delivering high-quality Electromigration and IR drop sign off modeling methodology and drive the overall EMIR convergence strategies

  • To analyze and drive the Static Timing Analysis violations and its convergence

  • To deliver best in class place and route (PNR) strategies especially on congestion and timing challenging blocks

  • You are expected to be able to work with limited direction, have keen attention to detail, and be able to provide crisp status of progress, issues, and risks on the program to the management team.  Occasional travel may be required

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 1+ year(s) technical engineering experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 2+ years technical engineering experience OR equivalent experience.

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. This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations, the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations.  As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their US. residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export-controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience

  • OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience

  • OR Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 2+ years technical engineering experience

  • OR equivalent experience.

  • 4+ years of experience in Physical Design, especially in synthesis, place and route (PNR) and signoff

  • 4+ years of hands-on experience in EDA vendor tools such as RHSC, Star-RC, Fusion Compiler, VCLP, Primetime, Formality, or Cadence Innovus and Conformal

Silicon Engineering IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $102,100 - $202,200 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 $133,800 - $219,200 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

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. 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 with religious accommodations 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)

How this job compares

Set against the 3,061 open Hardware Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 5, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$102–202K/yr
  • Washington median$136–205K/yr176 salary ranges
  • US median$132–204K/yr2,273 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $152K, is 13% below the Washington median midpoint ($175K) — in the middle half of Hardware Engineer salary ranges in Washington.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 196 open Hardware Engineer jobs in Washington and 3,061 across the US. 1% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in Washington
Experience
This posting asks for at least 1 year of experience — less than three in four Hardware Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for (median 5 years, across 2,588 postings).
Education
1,741 of the 3,061 open Hardware Engineer jobs (57%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 5, 2026. Pay medians are the middle values of the low ends and of the high ends of postings that list both ends of a range in the same cadence (a yearly salary or an hourly rate); a range's midpoint is halfway between its ends. Pay and experience figures resting on fewer than 20 postings are left out.

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