Principal Software Engineer

Overview

Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team behind Microsoft’s expanding Cloud Infrastructure and responsible for powering Microsoft’s “Intelligent Cloud” mission. SCHIE delivers the core infrastructure and foundational technologies for Microsoft's over 200 online businesses including Bing, MSN, Office 365, Xbox Live, Teams, OneDrive, and the Microsoft Azure platform globally with our server and data center infrastructure, security and compliance, operations, globalization, and manageability solutions.

Our focus is on smart growth, high efficiency, and delivering a trusted experience to customers and partners worldwide and we are looking for engineers to help achieve that mission.

Are you passionate about building the next generation of Azure and AI infrastructure at hyperscale? Do you thrive in an environment that embraces innovation, technical excellence, and a growth mindset?

The Firmware Center of Excellence (FW CoE) is responsible for the hardware, firmware, and platform software stack that powers Azure's global infrastructure. We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to architect and deliver highly scalable cloud services that enable firmware lifecycle management across multiple generations of Azure hardware platforms, diverse SKU portfolios, and a broad range of firmware technologies. These services distribute critical updates to millions of servers worldwide while meeting the highest standards for reliability, security, fleet health, and operational excellence.

In this role, you will lead complex, high-impact initiatives across Azure Infrastructure, AI, Hardware, Firmware, and Datacenter organizations, driving technical strategy, cross-organizational alignment, and execution. You will solve challenging distributed systems and platform engineering problems, advancing intelligent automation for firmware deployment, infrastructure reliability, service healing, and node remediation workflows. Leveraging AI-driven insights and cloud-scale automation, you will influence the future of firmware management and autonomous infrastructure operations across Azure's global fleet.

The ideal candidate has a proven track record of leading end-to-end product development, navigating ambiguity, driving broad collaboration, and delivering innovative solutions that have Azure-wide impact.

Responsibilities

Design, build, and operate intelligent cloud services that power firmware lifecycle management, fleet health, and platform reliability across Azure’s global infrastructure.

Lead the development of AI-driven and autonomous platform capabilities that improve deployment orchestration, firmware compliance, predictive maintenance, and infrastructure remediation at hyperscale.

Drive complex, cross-organizational initiatives across Azure Infrastructure, AI, Hardware, Firmware, and Datacenter Operations teams to deliver innovative platform solutions.

Architect scalable systems that leverage telemetry, machine learning, and automation to proactively detect, diagnose, and remediate out-of-service nodes and infrastructure health issues.

Solve challenging distributed systems and cloud-scale engineering problems while advancing operational excellence, reliability, and efficiency across diverse hardware generations, SKUs, and firmware technologies.

Provide technical leadership and influence Azure-wide engineering strategy through innovation, execution excellence, and collaboration across multiple organizations.

Required 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.

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 Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications

Master'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 Bachelor'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 equivalent experience.

10+ years of experience architecting, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems and cloud services, including ownership of mission-critical production environments.

Proven experience driving AI-enabled engineering practices, automation, and data-driven decision making to improve developer productivity, operational excellence, and service reliability.

Demonstrated ability to translate customer, business, and platform needs into durable technical strategy and high-impact engineering outcomes.Track record of leading complex cross-organizational initiatives, influencing technical direction, and aligning diverse stakeholders to deliver platform-wide solutions.

Understanding of firmware technologies, infrastructure lifecycle management, or cloud-scale fleet operations.

Experience with reliability engineering, fleet health management, service remediation, and operational excellence at hyperscale.

#AHSI

#SCHIE

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: Amazon Web Services (AWS), Architecture, Analytics, Natural Language, Large Language Models (LLM), Language Processing, Functionality, Education, Data Analysis, Cybersecurity

Common previous titles: Software Engineer, Tech, Senior Specialist, Senior Solution Architect, Member of Technical Staff, Data Science Engineer, Software Engineer II, Senior Scientist, Product Manager, Principal