Principal Cloud Network Engineer

Microsoft · Washington · $142,800–$274,800 (stated in the posting)

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At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, with Azure serving as the physical platform that underpins this mission. Azure Global Networking designs, builds and operates the optical, wide-area and edge networks that connect every Azure region to each other and to the world. This network is the lifeline of connectivity for Azure and for the services people use every day. It is also, increasingly, the infrastructure on which artificial intelligence is built. Training frontier models and serving inference at planetary scale are network problems as much as they are compute problems.

We are building the next generation of that network. That means rethinking how the optical, packet and control layers work together, moving more of the network onto open hardware and software we control, and bringing new optical and fiber technologies into production as they mature. It also means changing how the physical network itself is built and maintained, using automation and robotics to make that work faster, safer and more consistent.

As a Principal Cloud Network Engineer, you will help decide what this network becomes and then take it into production. You will own significant parts of the next generation architecture, drive the disaggregation of the hardware the network runs on, and help lead how automation and robotics change the way physical infrastructure is built and operated. This is a role for someone who wants to work across the boundaries between light, packets, software and the physical world, on a network that can never be taken offline.

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.

• Next Generation Network Design: Own significant parts of the multi-year architecture for Azure's global network across the optical, packet and control layers. Design so that capacity, topology and protection can each evolve independently, and so that no single change or failure can reach the entire backbone.
• Hardware Disaggregation: Help move the network from vendor-integrated systems to open, interchangeable building blocks: merchant silicon, open network operating systems such as SONiC, open optical line systems, and pluggable and co-packaged optics. Define requirements, evaluate platforms, and work with silicon vendors, ODMs and optical suppliers to shape their roadmaps years ahead of availability.
• Programmable Optical Layer: Drive how optical circuit switching, optical protection switching, coherent transport and hollow core fiber become active parts of the network design. Define the interfaces, telemetry and control models that let software see, reason about and act on the physical layer.
• Physical Automation and Robotics: Find where automation and robotics can make the physical network faster, safer and more consistent to build and repair: inspection, installation quality, fiber and connector handling, hardware qualification, and repetitive lab and technician work. Run focused pilots with clear quality, safety and cost goals, and turn the ones that work into how we build.
• Simulation and Safe Change: Prove designs before anything physical moves. Use and extend network simulation, digital twins and lab automation so that architectures, capacity plans and changes are validated before they reach production. Help define which physical actions can be automated, which require human approval, and which should always stay human.
• AI-Driven Engineering: Apply AI and agents to our own engineering, across design, qualification, deployment and operations, so that engineers spend their time on architecture rather than on process.
• Concept to Production: Take ideas from paper to lab to pilot to fleet. Write the design, build or direct the prototype, define the qualification, and stay with it through deployment at global scale.
• Technical Leadership and Influence: Lead across Azure engineering, hardware, supply chain, datacenter operations, Microsoft Research and external partners without relying on reporting lines. Mentor engineers, raise the technical bar, and communicate trade-offs clearly to engineers, vendors and senior leaders. 

Required Qualifications:

• Doctorate Degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 3+ years technical experience in network design, development, and automation
  • OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 4+ years technical experience in network design, development, and automation
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 6+ years technical experience in network design, development, and automation
  • 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:

• Doctorate Degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 5+ years technical experience in network design, development, and automation
  • OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND 8+ years technical experience in network design, development, and automation
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Optical Engineering, Computer Science, Information Technology, or related field AND
• 12+ years technical experience in network design, development, and automation
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 3+ years experience delivering network designs into production and experience with live site accountability for a network.
• 1+ year(s) experience developing quality management programs.
• 1+ year(s) deep expertise in at least one of the following, with working fluency in at least one other:
  • Optical networking and photonics: DWDM and coherent transmission, optical line systems, optical switching, or fiber and cabling.
  • Large-scale network architecture: routing, traffic engineering, and the design and operation of backbone or datacenter networks.
  • Infrastructure software and systems: controllers, distributed systems, automation, simulation, or robotics for physical systems.
• 1+ year (s) disaggregated a network or optical system, deployed a software-defined network or optical controller at scale, brought a new optical technology into production, or automated physical infrastructure work. 
• 1+ year(s) experience with optical circuit or protection switching, coherent pluggables such as 400ZR and 800ZR, open line systems, or hollow core and other novel fiber.
  
  • Merchant silicon, white-box platforms, or open network operating systems such as SONiC.
  • Robotics, machine vision or mechatronics applied to hardware manufacturing, test, datacenter or field operations.
  • Building network simulation, digital twins, or capacity and failure models.
  • Applying AI or agentic systems to infrastructure design, operations or automation.
  • Working with silicon vendors, ODMs, optical suppliers or contract manufacturers on multi-year roadmaps.
  • Proficiency in at least one programming language such as Python, Go, C++ or Rust. 

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Cloud Network Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 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.

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