Principal Optical Engineer

Microsoft Silicon Cloud Hardware and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team behind Microsofts expanding Cloud Infrastructure and responsible for powering Microsofts Intelligent Cloud mission. SCHIE delivers the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsofts 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 Microsofts 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 Cloud Hardware Systems Engineering (CHSE) 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 seeking a Principal Optical Engineer to lead the implementation integration qualification and high-volume deployment of optical interconnect solutions for Microsoft cloud and AI infrastructure. Working in partnership with platform and optical architecture teams this role translates approved architectures and technology selections into module fiber connector rack-integration supplier validation and manufacturing requirements and drives them from product definition through fleet deployment.

#SCHIE

• Partner with platform and optical architecture teams to translate approved optical architectures and technology selections into deployable product requirements interfaces acceptance criteria and implementation plans.
• Own product-level requirements and tradeoffs for optical modules and engines fiber assemblies connectors fiber-management systems and rack-level optical paths across performance power thermal constraints reliability serviceability manufacturability cost schedule and supply continuity.
• Drive optical interconnect productization from product definition through design maturity prototype integration interoperability qualification production release manufacturing ramp and fleet deployment.
• Lead cross-functional implementation and design reviews spanning optics electrical interfaces SI/PI mechanical tolerances thermal integration firmware and telemetry rack integration validation reliability manufacturing and serviceability.
• Define and drive component- module- assembly- rack- and system-level validation qualification reliability inspection and production-test strategies with evidence-based coverage and exit criteria.
• Lead resolution of complex module- fiber- connector- rack- manufacturing- and field-level issues by organizing cross-team debug correlating supplier and system data and driving verified corrective and preventive actions.
• Provide technical direction to optical-module fiber cable connector ODM contract-manufacturing and test-equipment partners; establish deliverables design-review criteria quality expectations yield targets escalation paths and readiness gates.
• Drive supplier selection and production readiness across design maturity DFM/DFT/DFR process capability yield quality cost capacity continuity of supply and change control.
• Identify productization and deployment risks early communicate options and consequences to senior stakeholders and drive decisions that balance performance reliability serviceability schedule cost and fleet-scale operability.
• Mentor engineers and create reusable implementation specifications qualification methods manufacturing controls supplier scorecards design guides and lessons learned across optical-interconnect programs.

• Masters Degree in Electrical Engineering Computer Engineering Mechanical Engineering or related field AND 7 years technical engineering experience
  • OR Bachelors Degree in Electrical Engineering Computer Engineering Mechanical Engineering or related field AND 8 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.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelors degree in Optical Engineering Photonics Electrical Engineering Physics or a related field and 10 years of technical engineering experience or equivalent experience.
• 10 years of experience developing and delivering optical modules fiber assemblies connectors fiber-management systems or rack-level optical interconnects across the hardware product lifecycle.
• Experience leading optical hardware implementation integration validation qualification manufacturing readiness and production deployment for complex cloud networking or AI infrastructure.
• Experience providing technical leadership across internal organizations and external module cable connector ODM contract-manufacturing or test partners.
• Experience productizing high-speed optical modules optical engines fiber assemblies connector systems or rack-scale optical interconnects for cloud networking or AI infrastructure.
• Knowledge of pluggable near-packaged or co-packaged optical solutions sufficient to translate architecture interfaces into implementable module fiber connector thermal mechanical telemetry and serviceability requirements.
• Experience with 112G/224G-class electrical interfaces PAM4 optical links link budgets FEC considerations interoperability and end-to-end system margin analysis.
• Deep knowledge of fiber-optic connector and fiber-management technologies including MPO MMC LC lensed or expanded-beam interfaces blind-mate designs routing cleaning inspection and high-density rack integration.
• Hands-on experience with optical and high-speed electrical characterization system bring-up margin analysis and correlation of supplier data laboratory measurements and production results.
• Experience defining DVT qualification reliability inspection production-test DOE FMEA process-capability yield and quality-control plans for high-volume optical hardware.
• Experience directing optical-module fiber cable connector ODM contract-manufacturing and test-equipment partners across design maturity cost quality capacity supply continuity change control and ramp.