Microsoft Corporation logo

Senior Firmware Engineer

Microsoft Corporation

Mountain View, CAJob$160–261K/yrSeen 2w agoSeen in employer's feed 2 days ago

Most applications go out cold — see where you stand first. No sign-up to start.

You apply on the employer's site, with no Olive account needed.

Watch jobs like this.

Don't just apply. Show up ready.

Olive works from this exact posting.

At a glance

Compensation
$160–261K/yr
Location
Mountain View, CA
Work Authorization
Not specified

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

Job overview

Microsoft’s Firmware Center of Excellence develops hardware and firmware for Azure infrastructure, including next-generation server, silicon, and rack systems. The Senior Firmware Engineer architects end-to-end firmware solutions from concept through production, working across hardware, software, validation, product, vendor, and security teams. The role focuses on secure, scalable cloud hardware, platform and SoC design, system-level debugging, and firmware support for hardware interfaces.

Skills & qualifications

RequiredNice to have

Skills

Firmware ArchitectureFirmware DesignFirmware DevelopmentCodingCC++C#JavaJavaScriptPythonEmbedded LinuxU-BootBoard Support PackagesPlatform InitializationLow-Level DriversPCIeI2CeMMCSPIUSBUARTMemory ManagementSchedulingInterruptsMultithreadingOpenBMCDMTF MCTPRedfishPLDMSPDMRASNetworking ProtocolsREST API FrameworksCollaborationCoachingProblem SolvingDebuggingTroubleshootingAdvanced DesignIndependent Work

Qualifications

Bachelor's in Computer Science or Related Technical Field or Equivalent Experience4+ Years Technical Engineering ExperienceMicrosoft Cloud Background Check6+ Years Technical Engineering Experience6+ Years Firmware/Software Experience

Full job description

Overview

Microsoft Silicon and Cloud Hardware 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, Skype, OneDrive, AI 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 HW infrastructure on time, in high volume with high quality and lowest cost is of paramount importance.

The Firmware Center of Excellence is responsible for Hardware/Firmware for Azure Infrastructure. We are working on the next generation Hardware/Firmware for server, silicon and rack infrastructure with a focus on innovation in firmware technology to secure Azure infrastructure for Microsoft and their customers.

We are looking for highly motivated Senior Firmware Engineer with a background in Firmware architecture & design who can influence the partners and drive end to end (E2E) solutions from concept to production. Experience with Platform & System-on-Chip (SoC) Architecture and Design, bring up of SoC, root causing issues at the intersection of multiple subsystems across firmware and hardware.

Responsibilities

  • Design and architect firmware solutions for Cloud Hardware systems, focusing on system-level E2E design, debugging and troubleshooting.

  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams including hardware engineers, software developers, validation & integration, and product managers to define firmware requirements and specifications.

  • Develop and maintain firmware architecture, ensuring scalability, modularity, and maintainability.

  • Develop Security threat models for the platform working with vendors & Security teams.

  • Stay up-to-date with industry trends and advancements in firmware technologies, and provide recommendations for improvement.

  • Work closely with Microsoft product groups, industry partners and researchers to architect and develop server hardware solutions that meet the requirements for our cloud services platforms at the lowest possible cost of ownership.

  • Design and implement firmware modules to support various hardware interfaces, including USB vNIC, SPI, I2C, I3C, PCIe, and other related protocols.

  • Provide technical leadership and guidance to internal developers or external partners to deliver serviceable, reliable, and scalable solutions. · Contribute to product vision and roadmap by bringing innovation to server manageability ecosystem. Perform system-level debugging and troubleshooting to identify and resolve hardware/firmware-related issues

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python 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.

Preferred Qualifications:

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, or related technical discipline AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.

  • 6+ years of professional experience in architecting, designing and developing firmware/software solutions.

  • Experience in Embedded Linux, U-Boot and Board Support Packages (BSP) porting.

  • 6+ years of experience with any of the following: Platform initialization, low level drivers for peripherals such as PCIe, I2C, eMMC, SPI, USB, UARTs, Memory Management, Scheduling, Interrupts or multi-threading technologies.

  • In-depth knowledge of hardware and firmware interfaces: OpenBMC, DMTF MCTP, Redfish, PLDM, SPDM and RAS.

  • Collaboration (aligned with team, across teams).

  • Passionate about coaching team members and helping them grow.

  • Wants new technological challenges and able to deal with ambiguity.

  • Problem solving, debugging troubleshooting skills, advanced design, and development skills.

  • Self-motivated and able to work independently with minimal supervision.

  • Detailed knowledge of core networking protocols and REST API frameworks is an added plus.

Software Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 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

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 801 open Firmware Engineer jobs on Olive Jobs, counted November 7, 2026.

Pay
  • This posting$160–261K/yr
  • California median$167–240K/yr275 salary ranges
  • US median$147–232K/yr593 salary ranges

This range's midpoint, $211K, is 3% above the California median midpoint ($205K) — in the middle half of Firmware Engineer salary ranges in California.

Openings
Olive Jobs lists 350 open Firmware Engineer jobs in California and 801 across the US. 1% of them nationwide are listed as remote or flexible.
Hiring the most in California
Experience
This posting asks for at least 4 years of experience; Firmware Engineer postings that state a minimum ask for 5 years at the median (671 postings).
Education
344 of the 801 open Firmware Engineer jobs (43%) ask for a bachelor's degree or higher.

Counted across the open, public US postings on Olive Jobs on November 7, 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.

Prepare for this role

You've read the whole posting — now see how you match it.