Microsoft may be preparing its next generation Xbox gaming console. Several job listings posted on LinkedIn reveal that the company is looking to hire employees to work on the “next-generation console” architecture.

The software giant is looking to put together a team “responsible for defining and delivering next generation console architectures from conception through implementation,” reports Business Insider. The job postings were first discovered by Beyond 3D, and vacancies include a senior architect and performance engineer, a senior hardware design verification engineer and a graphics hardware architect.

The senior architect and performance engineer position is for someone who will get “involved in product definition from early evaluation all the way through high volume manufacturing,” and who would focus on “performance evaluation and modeling.” His or her responsibilities would include, “pre-silicon [i.e. modeled] performance…validation,” performance verification “for specified workloads,” “post-silicon [i.e. after fabrication] performance validation,” “architectural investigation into vendor [e.g. Intel, AMD, Nvidia, etc.] offerings,” “benchmarking,” performance tool design, and debugging” reports PCworld.

The hardware design verification engineer will play a vital role in a key role in the “development and verification of the Xbox and future platforms” and includes the following responsibilities, “the design verification and qualification of the Xbox console at the component, motherboard, and system levels,” according to the listing on LinkedIn. This is the posting that created the most buzz about the eventual development the next generation Xbox console.

As for the graphics hardware architect vacancy; the ideal candidate for the position “should have a broad background in 3D graphics rendering architectures and algorithms (ideally with gaming applications in mind), 3D software pipelines, and physics.” He or she “is expected to have a working knowledge of how state-of-the-art PC and/or console OS, driver and application code is designed and how it interacts with graphics HW/firmware. The ideal candidate will have been the lead architect and/or implementation lead of a 3D graphics core,” says the job listing.

The last time Microsoft began working on the Xbox 360 it took two years of production, so if the company were to begin immediately, one can expect a new console to be out in 2012-2013.  Some of the improvements expected include, an improved graphics processor for better graphics, a Blue-ray drive, and native 3D gaming support, indicates Yahoo Tech News.