Senior Principal Researcher AI Systems Architecture

Microsoft Research is building next-generation AI systems that connect frontier model behavior with runtime memory interconnect and hardware architecture. You will help define cross-layer architectures that improve sustained inference throughput accelerator utilization energy efficiency and the economics of large-scale AI infrastructure.

As a Senior Principal Researcher you will lead research from first-principles workload analysis through architectural modeling pre-silicon definition prototype evaluation and technology transfer. You will work across Microsoft Research AI infrastructure systems software silicon engineering packaging and hardware architecture while developing expertise in emerging AI workloads memory systems and deployable hardware platforms. The expected work arrangement is three days per week in-office subject to confirmation and applicable approvals.

• Lead end-to-end AI system memory and hardware architecture identifying cross-layer opportunities across workloads runtimes memory systems and hardware.
• Develop architectural abstractions and mechanisms that connect AI model execution behavior with platform capabilities.
• Analyze emerging AI workloads including computation memory access communication data movement bandwidth latency capacity and power requirements.
• Drive pre-silicon architectural exploration performance modeling feasibility analysis and implementation pathfinding for next-generation AI hardware.
• Evaluate trade-offs across performance bandwidth latency power thermal limits silicon area packaging and total cost of ownership.
• Build analytical models simulators prototypes and experimental systems to validate architectural hypotheses.
• Collaborate across research and product engineering publish research mentor technical contributors and transfer promising concepts toward deployment.

Required Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Computer Science Computer Engineering Electrical Engineering or relevant field AND 6 years related research experience
  • OR Masters Degree in Computer Science Computer Engineering Electrical Engineering or relevant field AND 7 years related research experience
  • OR Bachelors Degree in Computer Science Computer Engineering Electrical Engineering or a related field AND 9 years related research experience
  • OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Extensive experience in computer architecture memory systems silicon architecture AI systems platform design or hardware/software co-design.
• Experience reasoning across workload behavior system software memory hierarchy interconnects and hardware architecture.
• Experience with pre-silicon architecture definition modeling feasibility analysis or highly parallel accelerator-based systems.
• Record of technical innovation demonstrated through research patents publications prototypes architecture delivery or product deployment.
• Experience with DRAM HBM CXL GPU memory systems host-memory interfaces or high-bandwidth memory architectures.
• Experience with accelerator-attached memory advanced packaging 2.5D/3D integration or high-speed scale-up interconnects.
• Experience analyzing large AI workloads such as LLM inference or training mixture-of-experts routing and KV-cache behavior.
• Experience developing performance models cycle-accurate simulators prototypes or performance-analysis infrastructure.
• Experience translating new memory or hardware capabilities into measurable system-level improvements.
• Experience evaluating bandwidth latency capacity locality power thermal area and data-movement trade-offs.
• Publication or patent record in computer architecture systems memory systems AI infrastructure or hardware platforms.
• Experience collaborating across research pre-silicon design and product engineering organizations.

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Research Sciences IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165600 - $296400 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 $220800 - $331200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
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.

Required Experience:

IC