Embedded Software Development Engineer

Job Description

Job Title: Senior Embedded Software Development Engineer. Location: Redmond, Washington, United States

Job Type: Full-Time (Hybrid, 3 days/week in office)

Responsibilities:

• Design, develop, test, and maintain embedded userspace C++ software that powers Microsoft's custom quantum readout instruments.
• Develop high-performance, near real-time data pipelines between FPGA/SoC hardware and client software using Direct Memory Access (DMA), efficient buffering, and low-latency execution.
• Implement, integrate, and debug hardware interfaces using Memory-Mapped I/O (MMIO), interrupts, and device driver APIs.
• Collaborate closely with FPGA engineers to resolve hardware and software integration challenges.
• Build reliable networked C++ services that support multiple concurrent clients, versioned binary protocols, and service discovery.
• Design structured logging, telemetry, health monitoring, crash diagnostics, and reliability features for long-running quantum instruments.
• Develop simulation and mock environments for hardware-dependent software;
• Contribute to Continuous Integration (CI) pipelines and hardware-in-the-loop testing.
• Validate software changes across FPGA and embedded hardware environments.
• Work closely with quantum experimentalists, FPGA engineers, control engineers, and software developers to deliver integrated quantum systems.
• Utilize modern AI-assisted development tools to improve engineering productivity.
• Follow Microsoft's engineering culture, best practices, and organizational values.

Qualifications:

• Doctorate in Physics, Engineering, or a related field with at least 1 year of industry or research experience, including postdoctoral research.

OR

• Master's degree in Physics, Engineering, or a related field with at least 4 years of industry or research experience.

OR

• Bachelor's degree in Physics, Engineering, or a related field with at least 6 years of industry or research experience.

OR

• Equivalent professional experience.
• Ability to satisfy Microsoft security screening requirements, including Microsoft Cloud Background Check.
• Ability to meet export control and citizenship verification requirements where applicable.
• Experience using AI tools to improve software development, research, automation, and engineering workflows.
• Familiarity with AI agents or copilots for software design, experiment setup, log analysis, documentation, specification generation, and knowledge retrieval.

Preferred:

• 5+ years of modern C++ (C++17 or newer) development experience.
• Experience developing Linux userspace software and interacting with device drivers and system services.
• Strong knowledge of multithreaded and concurrent programming.
• Experience interfacing software with hardware through MMIO, DMA, or similar technologies.
• Experience building network services using TCP/IP and binary communication protocols.
• Experience with CMake and Linux debugging tools such as gdb and core dumps;
• Experience with embedded Linux on ARM platforms, including Xilinx Zynq UltraScale+, Yocto, or PetaLinux.
• Experience with RF, scientific, or signal-processing instrumentation including ADCs, DACs, data acquisition, and timing systems.
• Experience designing highly observable and reliable systems using telemetry, watchdogs, health monitoring, and post-mortem diagnostics.
• Experience building simulation frameworks or mock hardware layers for continuous integration.
• Familiarity with Python for automation, tooling, and client integration.
• Exposure to quantum computing, quantum control systems, or advanced scientific instrumentation.

Benefits and Compensation:

• Base salary: USD $119,800 to $234,700 annually across most U.S. locations.
• Base salary for the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City Metropolitan Area: USD $160,200 to $261,000 annually.
• Eligible roles may receive additional compensation and comprehensive Microsoft employee benefits.
• Hybrid work schedule with three in-office days per week;
• Less than 25% travel required.
• Opportunity to work on Microsoft's topological quantum computing platform and Azure Quantum.
• Collaborate with leading experts in quantum computing, embedded systems, physics, AI, and high-performance computing.

Other Information:

• Company: Microsoft
• Profession: Quantum Computing
• Discipline: Quantum Engineering
• Role Type: Individual Contributor
• Work Arrangement: Hybrid (3 days per week in office)
• Travel: Less than 25%