[Hiring] Software Engineering IC6 @Microsoft

Role Description

In the Microsoft Frontier Company, you won’t just build software; you’ll deliver real outcomes for some of the world’s most complex organizations. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will bring strong software design and engineering expertise, building reliable systems and production-ready services that turn ideas and data-driven insights into scalable solutions.

• Build reliable, production-ready systems and services that turn ideas into scalable solutions.
• Ship engineering work that directly influences business strategy and customer outcomes.
• Collaborate with leading global organizations across industries.
• Apply the latest advancements in AI and software engineering to solve problems at scale.

Our work is powered by AI, applying the mindset and tooling across the entire development lifecycle to move from idea to production in days while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and trust.

Responsibilities

• Design, build, and ship secure software by default; apply Microsoft security and privacy practices, threat modeling, and safe deployment patterns to protect customers and the Microsoft cloud.
• Partner with customer engineering teams and domain experts to understand business goals, constraints, and success measures; translate them into clear technical requirements and solution approaches.
• Architect and implement cloud and AI solutions—from prototype to production—using modern engineering practices (code reviews, testing, CI/CD, observability) and partnering closely with Microsoft product teams and partners.
• Use iterative delivery to de-risk technical decisions early, improve reliability through automation, and continuously learn and adapt as customer needs evolve.
• Deliver solutions that meet agreed success metrics, support adoption, and enable customer teams through coaching, knowledge transfer, and clear documentation.
• Create reference implementations, frameworks, and best-practice patterns that can be reused across customers and contribute to the broader Microsoft ecosystem.
• Navigate complex, fast-changing problem spaces (especially in AI) and guide teams toward pragmatic decisions that balance value, feasibility, compliance, and risk.
• Work effectively with product, design, data science, security, and operations partners; create an inclusive environment where diverse perspectives improve outcomes.
• Set technical direction, unblock teams, and mentor engineers through design reviews and hands-on guidance; influence senior stakeholders by communicating tradeoffs and recommendations clearly.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
• Experience partnering directly with customers or internal stakeholders to deliver solutions end-to-end.

Requirements

• Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
• Experience designing, deploying, and operating AI or LLM-based solutions, including prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented approaches, model tuning, evaluation, data quality, performance monitoring, and use of cloud AI platforms.
• Familiarity with deploying and operating AI systems in production environments.
• Understanding of model evaluation, data quality, and performance monitoring.
• Experience using cloud AI platforms (Azure ML, OpenAI, or similar).
• Enjoy travel and are comfortable with travel up to 25%.

Benefits

• The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 per year.
• Base pay range for this role in the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area is USD $220,800 - $331,200 per year.
• Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.