Firmware Engineer II at Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, WA
$102,100–$202,200from the description
Jul 11, 2026
Redmond, WA
Jul 21, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role sits within a firmware engineering team responsible for Azure's server, silicon, and rack infrastructure. Day-to-day work involves designing and architecting firmware for cloud hardware systems, developing low-level drivers and security threat models, debugging hardware/firmware interactions across subsystems, and providing technical guidance to internal teams and external partners. It suits engineers with hands-on firmware development experience, particularly around platform initialization, hardware interfaces, and embedded systems.
Mid level · 2+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 150 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 45–230
Applicant volume Moderate — A normal amount of company. The rare requirements below are what will separate a shortlisted application from the rest.
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
What the occupation pays Median $170,959 (middle half $135,720–$216,519). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (8)
The role is titled 'Firmware Engineering IC3', where IC3 maps to Microsoft's Level 63 — an early-to-mid career individual contributor band. The posting's minimum experience gate is 2 years (Bachelor's) or 1 year (Master's), supporting a Mid classification despite the preferred qualifications referencing 4+ years.
The degree requirement is complex: a Master's + 1 year OR a Bachelor's + 2 years OR equivalent experience. Because a Bachelor's path is explicitly offered, the degree requirement is set to Bachelors (the minimum formal degree on any qualifying path). Candidates with equivalent experience and no degree are also accepted per the posting.
The background check requirement ('Microsoft Cloud Background Check') is a standard employment screening, not a US government security clearance — clearance is set to None.
Hardware interface skills (PCIe, I2C, SPI, USB, I3C) appear in the Responsibilities section as design/implementation duties, not in a formal 'Required Qualifications' block. They are marked required because the role's core day-to-day work explicitly centers on implementing firmware modules for these interfaces.
OpenBMC, MCTP, Redfish, PLDM, SPDM, and RAS appear under Preferred Qualifications and are marked preferred accordingly.
The compensation range of $133,800–$219,200/year applies specifically to the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metro; the general US range of $102,100–$202,200/year is reported here.
The posting does not specify a single work location beyond 'across the U.S.'; Microsoft's SCHIE team is headquartered in Redmond, WA, so Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue CBSA is used as the primary metro.
Ignored 2 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): firmware development, SoC architecture.
Read the full posting
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