Principal Silicon Operations Engineering Lead

Microsoft Silicon 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 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 trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide and we are looking for passionate engineers to help achieve that mission.  

Our team is creative and resourceful; we value growth and learning. We want to amplify your abilities so you can do your best work. Join us, and together we will turn groundbreaking hardware designs into reality!  

Microsoft's Silicon Cloud Hardware Infrastructure Engineering organization is seeking a Lead Negotiator, EDA Tools & Strategy to own the commercial strategy, negotiation, and lifecycle governance of Microsoft's Electronic Design Automation (EDA) and silicon engineering technology portfolio. 

This role is the single point of accountability for how Microsoft acquires, deploys, and optimizes EDA tools across a global custom silicon organization. You will lead enterprise negotiations and renewals with the semiconductor industry's largest EDA and IP suppliers, shape the multi-year tooling strategy in partnership with CAD and silicon design leadership, and establish the licensing, consumption analytics, and supplier governance frameworks that turn a multi-hundred-million-dollar tooling portfolio into measurable engineering leverage. You will operate across Engineering, Finance, Procurement, and Legal, influence executive stakeholders without direct authority, and translate deep technical requirements into commercial terms that scale with Microsoft's long-term silicon roadmap.  

#azurehwjobs   #SCHIE   #MILE 

EDA Commercial Strategy & Negotiation Leadership 

• Serve as Microsoft's lead negotiator for EDA, design IP, and silicon engineering technology agreements, owning deal strategy, negotiation planning, and term structures through executive approval and signature. 

• Define the multi-year commercial strategy across the EDA supplier portfolio, including renewal sequencing, competitive leverage, bundling and unbundling decisions, and alternative sourcing options. 

• Build negotiation business cases with modeled scenarios, total-cost-of-ownership analysis, benchmarking, and executive recommendations that balance engineering capability against cost and risk. 

• Partner with Procurement and Legal to structure enterprise agreements, licensing constructs, and contract terms that scale with silicon program demand and protect Microsoft's long-term flexibility. 

• Own post-signature contract governance including amendments, true-ups, entitlement compliance, audit readiness, and escalation management. 

EDA Portfolio, Licensing & Cost Optimization 

• Own planning, forecasting, reporting, and financial governance for Microsoft's EDA and engineering tooling portfolio. 

• Drive license optimization through consumption analytics, peak-demand modeling, license pooling strategies, and reallocation across silicon programs, phases, and geographies. 

• Partner closely with Finance on budget, accrual, and forecast accuracy, and deliver quantified savings and cost-avoidance targets year over year. 

• Establish demand management and chargeback models that create accountability for tool consumption across engineering teams. 

Supplier Relationship & Performance Governance 

• Own executive-level relationships with EDA vendors. 

• Define and operate supplier KPIs, SLAs, quarterly business reviews, roadmap reviews, and escalation frameworks. 

• Hold suppliers accountable for support quality, roadmap commitments, and delivery against contracted outcomes, and drive continuous improvement plans where performance gaps exist. 

• Represent Microsoft in supplier executive forums and industry engagements on EDA strategy and ecosystem direction. 

Technical Partnership with Silicon & CAD Engineering 

• Partner with CAD, design, verification, and physical design teams to translate technical tool requirements into sourcing strategy and commercial outcomes. 

• Build and maintain the multi-year EDA tool roadmap aligned to silicon program milestones, node transitions, and methodology changes. 

• Evaluate emerging capabilities, including AI-assisted design, cloud and HPC burst compute, and new methodology flows, and drive adoption decisions with engineering leadership. 

• Ensure tooling strategy is aligned with engineering compute capacity planning and Cloud/HPC infrastructure investments. 

Business Intelligence, Analytics & AI Enablement 

• Own the analytics strategy for EDA dollar spend, license utilization, supplier performance, and portfolio health. 

• Develop executive dashboards and KPI frameworks that convert tooling, contract, and consumption data into actionable decisions. 

• Apply AI and automation to renewal readiness, entitlement tracking, contract intelligence, and consumption forecasting to increase speed and accuracy of commercial decision making. 

Executive Engagement & Cross-Functional Leadership 

• Serve as a trusted advisor to silicon engineering executives on tooling investment, supplier risk, and commercial strategy. 

• Lead executive business reviews, negotiation readouts, and investment decision forums, simplifying complexity into clear recommendations. 

• Build durable partnerships across Engineering, Finance, Procurement, Legal, IT, and external partners, driving outcomes without direct authority. 

• Raise negotiation, supplier management, and commercial acumen across the broader silicon operations community through mentorship and reusable frameworks. 

Required/Minimum Qualifications 

• Doctorate in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years technical engineering experience
  • OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience
  • OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience OR equivalent experience. 

Other Requirements:

• This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations, the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations.  As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their U.S. permanent residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export-controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable. 
• 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 in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience OR Master's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience OR Bachelor's Degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience OR equivalent experience.
• 1+ year(s) experience working on or leading projects from beginning-to-end.
• 10+ years of experience in commercial negotiation, strategic sourcing, supplier or vendor management, technical program management, technology strategy, or technology business operations.
• 5+ years of experience leading enterprise-scale negotiations, contracts, or licensing agreements, including pricing models, commercial terms, and contract structuring.
• 3+ years of experience managing a technology, licensing, services, or supplier portfolio with direct budget or financial accountability.
• Experience partnering and consulting across engineering, finance, procurement, and legal teams to deliver cross-functional business outcomes.
• Experience negotiating or managing EDA, design IP, or semiconductor design tool agreements.
• Semiconductor, silicon engineering, or hardware development experience, including familiarity with the silicon development lifecycle and CAD flows (Front-End, Physical Design, Analog).
• Experience with software licensing models, entitlement management, consumption-based pricing, and license optimization at enterprise scale.
• Experience defining supplier governance frameworks, KPIs, SLAs, and executive business review cadences for multi-million-dollar engagements.
• Experience building analytics and executive reporting (for example, Power BI) to drive spend, utilization, or supplier performance decisions.
• Experience applying AI and automation to contracting, sourcing, or operational workflows.
• Experience supporting global engineering organizations in a highly matrixed environment.
• Management consulting or professional services background spanning RFPs, SOWs, engagement pricing models, and managed services governance.

Silicon 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.