Principal Software Engineer

Overview

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

As part of Microsoft Security, our team builds and operates Microsoft Information Protection (MIP) capabilities that help organizations discover, classify, label, and protect sensitive data across Microsoft 365, endpoints, applications, and cloud environments. We deliver secure, scalable solutions that help customers protect critical information, meet compliance requirements, and reduce data loss risk in an increasingly AI-driven world.

This role offers the opportunity to work on large-scale distributed systems, security and compliance technologies, and AI-powered data protection experiences used by millions of people worldwide. You will collaborate across product, security, and platform teams to deliver innovative capabilities that enable customers to adopt modern technologies securely and protect their most valuable assets. We foster an inclusive, high-accountability culture grounded in innovation, continuous learning, and a growth mindset.

Responsibilities

Lead end-to-end technical strategy and execution for large, complex, business-critical product areas by partnering with stakeholders to define vision, shape roadmaps, and deliver measurable customer and business outcomes.

Architect, design, and guide implementation of secure, scalable, resilient, high-performance distributed systems; set engineering standards and drive design/code quality through reviews, automation, and operational excellence.

Drive technical direction across teams by resolving ambiguous requirements, identifying cross-team dependencies, decomposing multi-quarter initiatives, and improving planning accuracy, risk management, and delivery predictability.

Own production health at scale by establishing observability strategy, leading incident response and root-cause analysis, and driving durable reliability, security, and performance improvements. Mentor and grow senior engineers, influence cross-organizational technical decisions, and foster a culture of continuous improvement, data-driven decision making, and engineering excellence.

Embody our culture and values

Required/minimum qualifications

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.

Qualifications - Other Requirements

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings: Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft background and Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, or a related technical field, AND 8+ years of professional software engineering experience coding in one or more programming languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python, with demonstrated technical leadership delivering large-scale, mission-critical systems across multiple teams, OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements

10+ years of software engineering experience, including technical leadership of large, cross-team initiatives from strategy through production operations.

Proven track record architecting and operating large-scale distributed/cloud services with strong reliability, security, and performance outcomes.

Demonstrated ability to influence at the organization level through technical vision, architecture governance, and executive-level communication.

Experience mentoring senior engineers and building engineering capability through design excellence, operational rigor, and continuous improvement practices.

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:

https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances.

If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.

Insights from previous hires

Top skills: Analytics, C++, Architecture, Algorithms, Communication, Automation, Agents, Machine Learning, Information Technology, Data Science

Common previous titles: Tech, Tech Support Engineer, Solution Engineer, Senior Data Scientist, Technical, Senior Solution Engineer, Engineer Senior, Senior Solution Architect, Software Engineer