Principal AI Network Architect

Microsoft
San Francisco Bay area / New York City metropolitan area2026-04-02onsite

About the job

Join the Systems Planning and Architecture (SPARC) team within Microsoft’s Azure Hardware Systems and Infrastructure (AHSI) organization, the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure and for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission. We are seeking a passionate Principal AI Network Architect to join the AI systems architecture team. The role includes network architecture evaluation, design and optimization for next-gen AI systems. Your work will have a direct influence on Azure product roadmaps.

Responsibilities

Spearhead architecture definition and evaluation of AI accelerator platforms, with a focus on high bandwidth, low latency networks. Drive end to end optimization of the stack from hardware, the software kernels.

Partner with silicon and platform design teams to co-design infrastructure that meets performance, reliability and deployment goals. Frame decisions in terms of TCO, performance, flexibility, scalability.

You will be working with state of art networking lab to prototype new network architectures.

Participate in industry consortiums to shape standards, and influence vendor roadmaps.

Qualifications

Minimum

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.

Preferred

Master’s or Doctoral degree in Electrical Engineering, Computer Engineering, or related fields and 10+ years of technical experience in the domain.

Deep expertise with ethernet networking, RDMA (RoCE, Infiniband), congestion control, and layer 2/3 switching.

Experience architecting scale-out/backend network for AI GPU clusters

Familiarity with scale-up networks such as NVLinks, UALink.

Experience with high radix ethernet switches

Familiarity with AI model execution pipelines, being able to analyze communication flows and its impact on model performance.

Prior contributions in standards committee and experience on hyperscale network deployments would be an added benefit

Skilled in partnering and influencing architects, hardware engineers, and software leads

Ability to manage through ambiguity, bringing clarity and results orientation to engage and energize collaborators and stakeholders

Collaboration skills, teamwork, and sense of presumed responsibility

Verbal and written communication skills, and ability to articulate and engage with both technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels.

Experience leading and driving complex projects with respect and integrity, including those with multiple workstreams spanning different business and technical disciplines.

Intellectual curiosity and passion about learning and deploying new technologies.

Problem-solving skills, analytical capabilities, and attention to details