Director Physical Design

Microsoft is a highly innovative company that collaborates across disciplines to produce cutting edge technology that changes our world. Microsoft’s Silicon team builds custom silicon for a diverse set of systems ranging from innovative consumer products like Xbox to high-performance Azure cloud servers, clients, and augmented reality. 
 
We are looking for a Director of Physical Design to join the SCIPS Semi-custom and Central IP Silicon team and lead a team of RTL to GDS, RTL to PD, and implementation engineers. This team delivers a variety of IP to Azure, Xbox and Surface silicon products as well test chips in cutting edge technologies.  The candidate should be a motivated self-starter with the ability to lead others who will thrive in this cutting-edge technical environment. 
 
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.

Responsibilities

• Principal Physical Design, responsible for:
  • Providing technical direction and managing deliverables of a team of Physical Design (PD) and implementation engineers.
  • Overseeing a diverse set of projects, including soft IP (intellectual property), test chips, and mixed-signal IP development.

• Responsibilities:

  • Soft IP Projects: Ensure IPs meet timing, power, and area targets.
  • Test Chips: Manage all aspects of physical design, including:
    • Floorplanning, bump and Electrostatic Discharge (ESD) planning.
    • Synthesis, place-and-route, clock tree synthesis (CTS).
    • Signoff for timing, electromigration, voltage drop, and physical verification.
  • Mixed-Signal IP: Integrate complex analog IPs within a digital system, acting as a key interface between IP and System on Chip (SoC).
  • Signoff Responsibility: Review signoff quality metrics prior to IP shipment and SoC tapeout.
  • Collaboration: Work closely with packaging engineers on IP requirements for 2D, 2.5D, and 3D packaging options.
  • Communication: Strong skills needed to coordinate with Register Transfer Level (RTL), Design for Testability (DFT), Computer-Aided Design (CAD), and SoC teams.

• Leadership:

  • Provide technical direction to less-experienced physical design engineers.
  • Work with limited direction and attention to detail.
  • Provide clear status updates on progress, issues, and risks to management.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• 9+ years of related technical engineering experience
  • OR Bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience or internship experience
  • OR Master's degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 3+ years technical engineering experience
  • OR Doctorate degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, or related field AND 2+ years technical engineering experience.
• 8 + years of experience in hardware design 
• 3+ years of experience managing a design team 

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