Principal Security Engineer

The SPARC organization manages Azure's hardware roadmap from architecture concept through production for all of Microsoft's current and future on-line services. This role is for a Principal Security Engineer with a background in security protocols and secure hardware design. You will be involved with all phases of product development, from secure silicon design through manufacturing and supply chain, and into high scale deployment. At the design phase, you will work with security threat model team and be responsible for the silicon security architecture and design of low-level hardware accelerators., * Designed and developed firmware for Hardware Security Modules (HSMs), security accelerators, and Root of Trust (RoT) solutions.

• Contributed to all phases of product development, including architecture, design, implementation, integration, and validation for security-focused SoCs.
• Defined and implemented bootloader and embedded kernel architectures to support secure and reliable system initialization.
• Developed secure firmware supporting security protocols, key management, attestation, and cryptographic services.
• Implemented and optimized secure boot flows to ensure trusted device startup and firmware integrity.
• Wrote, debugged, and optimized embedded firmware with a focus on performance, reliability, and security.
• Diagnosed and resolved complex firmware issues through root cause analysis, debugging, and troubleshooting.
• Applied cryptographic principles and security protocols to protect embedded systems and hardware assets.
• Developed firmware for embedded devices running Real-Time Operating Systems (RTOS), utilizing OS primitives such as task scheduling, interrupts, threading, synchronization, and memory management.
• Collaborated with cross-functional hardware, software, and security engineering teams to deliver secure embedded solutions.
• Ensured firmware compliance with security requirements and industry best practices for trusted computing environments.

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience., * 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., * 10+ years of professional experience designing, developing security critical code.
• Familiarity with standard Cryptography algorithms
• Familiarity with secure boots, attestation, recovery
• Problem solving, debugging, and troubleshooting skills, advanced design and development skills.
• Experienced with ROM, Bootloader, and embedded runtime development.
• Ability to debug and resolve issues spanning multiple subsystems.
• Proven and demonstrable skill in Rust, C, C++.
• Experience in working in pre silicon environments.
• Familiar with PCIe, NVME, I3C, I2C, SPI, SPI-FLAS

Software 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.

Microsoft is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We develop, license, and support a wide range of software products, services, and devices that help individuals and businesses realize their full potential.

Our flagship products include the Microsoft 365 productivity cloud, Windows operating system, Azure cloud platform, and Dynamics 365 business applications. We are also a leader in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, developer tools, and gaming through Xbox and Game Pass.

With operations in more than 190 countries and over 220,000 employees worldwide, Microsoft is committed to responsible innovation, inclusive economic growth, and sustainability. We work closely with governments, industries, and communities to ensure that technology serves the public good and helps address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

As we celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2025, we continue to look forward—investing in AI, cloud, and quantum computing to shape the future of work, education, and society at large scale.