Microsoft · 3 hours ago
Principal Sourcing Engineer - AI Scale Up & Switch
Redmond, WA
Full-time
Hybrid
Senior Level, Lead/Staff
$140K/yr - $275K/yr
6+ years expMicrosoft’s Cloud business is expanding, and the Cloud Supply Chain (CSCP) organization is responsible for enabling the hardware infrastructure underlying this growth including AI. The Principal Sourcing Engineer will lead sourcing strategies and supplier engagements for AI scale-up technologies, ensuring alignment with Azure requirements and managing risks in the supply chain.
Agentic AIApplication Performance ManagementArtificial Intelligence (AI)Business DevelopmentDevOpsInformation ServicesInformation TechnologyManagement Information SystemsNetwork SecuritySoftware
Responsibilities
Act as a technical trusted advisor for AI scale-up and scale-out interconnect technologies, including high-speed Ethernet/ESUN, NVLink/NVSwitch-class fabrics, and emerging AI-optimized switching architectures
Partner with Azure engineering and and system architecture teams to translate AI workload requirements (latency, bandwidth, topology, power, reliability) into sourcing and supplier strategies
Evaluate next-generation technologies across switch silicon, optical/electrical interconnects, cables, transceivers, and system-level fabrics to inform Azure roadmaps
Lead deep technical engagements with strategic suppliers (switch silicon vendors, system OEMs/ODMs, optics providers, and emerging startups)
Drive supplier technical alignment with Azure requirements, including performance targets, feature roadmaps, power efficiency, manufacturability, and long-term scalability
Influence supplier roadmaps through early-stage co-development, design reviews, and proof-of-concept evaluations
Define sourcing strategies that balance performance, cost, capacity, resilience, and time-to-market
Identify and mitigate technology and supply risks, including single-source dependencies, yield constraints and ecosystem bottlenecks
Support make-vs-buy decisions and multi-vendor strategies for critical AI interconnect components
Serve as a bridge between engineering, operations, supply chain, finance, and executive stakeholders, providing clear technical guidance and trade-off analysis
Lead due diligence for new suppliers, acquisitions, or strategic partnerships related to AI networking and scale-up fabrics
Drive end-to-end execution from technology evaluation → supplier selection → qualification → volume deployment
Contribute to long-term Azure AI infrastructure strategy through data-driven recommendations and executive-level communications
Qualification
Required
Master's degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Materials Science, or related field AND 6+ years experience in procurement, supply chain, sourcing, engineering, operations, or relevant sales-related roles OR Bachelor's degree in Business, Supply Chain Management, Engineering, Materials Science, or related field AND 8+ years experience in procurement, supply chain, sourcing, engineering, operations, or relevant sales-related roles 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
Preferred
10+ years of experience in high-speed networking, interconnects, or AI/HPC infrastructure, including hands-on exposure to switch silicon or system-level fabrics
Deep understanding of optical and electrical interconnects, including high-speed SerDes, co-packaged optics, pluggable transceivers, and advanced cabling
Deep understanding of AI cluster architectures, including scale-up vs scale-out trade-offs, topology design, and performance bottlenecks
Proven experience working directly with silicon vendors, OEMs/ODMs, or component suppliers in a technical sourcing or engineering role
Ability to influence without authority and drive alignment across highly matrixed organizations
Company
Microsoft
Microsoft is a software corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a range of software products and services.
10001+ employees
H1B Sponsorship
Microsoft has a track record of offering H1B sponsorships. Please note that this does not
guarantee sponsorship for this specific role. Below presents additional info for your
reference. (Data Powered by US Department of Labor)
Distribution of Different Job Fields Receiving Sponsorship
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Trends of Total Sponsorships
2025 (9192)
2024 (9343)
2023 (7677)
2022 (11403)
2021 (7210)
2020 (7852)
Funding
Current Stage
Public CompanyTotal Funding
$1MKey Investors
Technology Venture Investors
2022-12-09Post Ipo Equity
1986-03-13IPO
1981-09-01Series Unknown· $1M
Leadership Team
Satya Nadella
Chairman and CEO
Vukani Mngxati
Chief Executive Officer - Microsft South Africa
Recent News
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