Principal Optical Network System Engineer
$142.8k - $304.2k/yr
Expert
Bachelor's, Master's
Redmond, WA, USA+2 moreMore locations: Hillsboro, OR, USA | Mountain View, CA, USA
In Person
Hardware EngineeringHardware Systems Integration
Company Historically Provides H1B Sponsorship
About the job
Requirements
- A Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, or a related field and 7 or more years of technical engineering experience; or a Bachelor's degree in one of those fields or a related field and 8 or more years of technical engineering experience; or equivalent experience.
- At least 8 years of experience with fiber optics, including related tools, devices, processes, design, deployment, operations, or manufacturing.
- At least 8 years of experience designing, testing, validating, or troubleshooting optical interconnects, optical components, or end-to-end fiber links.
- Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.
Responsibilities
- Define and drive networking architectures for AI training and inference platforms across scale-up and scale-out deployments, partnering with architecture, silicon, firmware, software, and Azure infrastructure teams to deliver solutions from concept through datacenter deployment and influence future networking roadmaps.
- Lead the integration, bring-up, and deployment of network hardware technologies, including switches, network interface cards, physical-layer devices, high-speed SerDes interfaces, optics, cables, and backplane solutions; collaborate with internal teams, original design manufacturers, and technology partners on qualification and production readiness.
- Define and execute validation strategies for AI networking infrastructure, including functional, performance, scale, interoperability, reliability, and stress testing; develop automated qualification frameworks and methodologies for rack-scale and cluster-scale AI environments.
- Analyze and optimize AI fabric performance across distributed training and inference workloads, evaluating latency, bandwidth utilization, congestion behavior, and collective communication efficiency and translating workload requirements into scalable networking solutions and architecture recommendations.
- Drive qualification and deployment of next-generation networking technologies, including high-speed copper and optical interconnects, PAM4-based SerDes, advanced optics, linear pluggable optics, linear receive optics, co-packaged optics, and silicon photonics; evaluate tradeoffs across performance, power, reliability, and scalability.
- Lead root-cause analysis of networking and AI fabric issues across physical-layer, network-protocol, and distributed AI communication layers; develop telemetry, diagnostics, automation, and fleet-monitoring solutions to improve network reliability, accelerate issue resolution, and enhance engineering productivity.
- Drive end-to-end architecture, integration, validation, and deployment of networking infrastructure for AI systems across scale-up and scale-out environments.
- Partner with silicon, firmware, software, hardware, and Azure infrastructure teams to define networking requirements and deliver scalable, reliable, high-performance AI fabrics.
- Lead bring-up, qualification, and optimization of network subsystems, including switches, network interface cards, physical-layer devices, optics, cables, and high-speed SerDes technologies.
- Develop validation and performance methodologies for AI networking infrastructure to ensure readiness across functionality, scale, reliability, and stress conditions.
- Drive root-cause analysis, telemetry, and automation solutions to improve network resiliency, operational efficiency, and fleet health.
- Evaluate and influence next-generation networking technologies and architectures required to support future AI workloads and hyperscale deployments.
Desired Qualifications
- Experience with data center networking and AI infrastructure, including GPU fabrics, InfiniBand, Ethernet, or UALink ecosystems.
- Understanding of scale-up and scale-out network architectures and the optical connectivity requirements of large-scale distributed AI systems.
- Experience in one or more areas such as high-speed copper or optical interconnects, high-speed optical transmission systems, co-packaged optics, near-packaged optics, silicon photonics, pluggable optics, advanced packaging, or rack-scale fiber management.
- Experience with optical engineering concepts, testing procedures, laboratory tools, analysis methods, or relevant industry standards.
- Experience testing or validating active or passive fiber-optic components and end-to-end fiber links.
- Familiarity with relevant standards or specifications, such as IEEE Ethernet, Optical Internetworking Forum specifications, or CMIS.
- Experience developing high-density fiber infrastructure, including fiber shuffle solutions, patch panels, connectors, cable assemblies, and rack-scale optical systems.
- Experience with hyperscale datacenter deployment, optical manufacturing processes, and original design manufacturer, contract manufacturer, and supplier ecosystems.
- Experience managing optical or networking products through engineering validation test, design validation test, production validation test, qualification, and production ramp.
- Experience with Linux environments and automation frameworks.
- Experience developing telemetry, diagnostics, validation, and qualification tooling.
- Familiarity with scripting and data analysis environments.
About the company
Microsoft builds workplace software, operating systems and cloud infrastructure for consumers, businesses and government agencies, from small organizations to global enterprises. Microsoft 365 combines Word and Excel with Teams communication and Copilot AI features, while Windows runs PCs and Surface supplies the company's own computers. Azure rents computing capacity, storage and databases to build and run web applications. Microsoft also sells Xbox consoles and games, collecting revenue through software licenses, subscriptions, usage charges and product sales. Founded in 1975 by Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Microsoft is headquartered in Redmond, Washington.
Company Size
10,001+
Company Stage
IPO
Headquarters
Redmond, Washington
Founded
1975
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Simplify's Take
What believers are saying
- US corporate staff receive education support: eligible, approved graduate coursework qualifies for up to $10,000 annually.
- Cloud demand expands: July 2026 results showed Azure and other cloud services revenue grew 43% year-over-year in fiscal Q4.
- Investment has an earnings cushion: July 2026 results reported $155.2 billion consolidated operating profit for fiscal 2026.
What critics are saying
- Performance reviews include security: every Microsoft employee must discuss their security contribution with their manager.
- Office flexibility depends on the role: Microsoft's postings specify requirements ranging from fully remote to fully on-site.
- Cloud capacity faces local limits: Microsoft describes power-grid delays and water constraints affecting US datacenter expansion.
What makes Microsoft unique
- Hybrid customers stay within reach: Azure Arc manages servers across customer datacenters and competing clouds.
- Developer reach extends beyond Azure: Microsoft's GitHub hosts code collaboration alongside AI coding tools.
- Professional data widens its business: Microsoft owns LinkedIn's recruiting, advertising and workplace-learning network.
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Benefits
- Health Insurance
- Dental Insurance
- Vision Insurance
- 401(k) Company Match
- Professional Development Budget
- Conference Attendance Budget
- Flexible Work Hours
- Remote Work Options