Principal AI Engineer

Microsoft

About The Position

Security represents the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. Microsoft Security aspires to make the world a safer place for all. We want to reshape security and empower every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that protects them with end to end, simplified solutions. The Microsoft Security organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate. The Security AI Platform team builds and operates production infrastructure that powers AI-native security capabilities at Microsoft scale. We are organized into two focused groups: Platform + Apps develops the core product, microservices, and architecture; AI Operations ensures reliability, deployments, and operational excellence. Together, we deliver mission-critical services that process millions of requests daily. We are seeking a Principal AI Engineer - Platform to help define the technical direction for the Platform + Apps group. In this role, you will design and architect solutions for large, ambiguous problems, drive the development of microservices, ML inference pipelines, and user experiences. You will provide hands-on technical leadership, guide associate and mid-level engineers, and personally contribute to critical architectural decisions and prototypes. 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. In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Requirements

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.
6+ years technical engineering experience building production software systems
6+ years driving complex, cross-functional initiatives; demonstrated success leading without authority across multiple teams
4+ years working with Machine Learning/AI production systems
3+ years building and operating large-scale distributed systems and microservices architectures
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.
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.

Nice To Haves

Proven track record shipping ML inference platforms or AI-powered products at scale with measurable customer and business impact
Deep knowledge in ML inference technologies: model serving frameworks, LLM inference platforms, model optimization, and GPU resource management
Experience guiding full-stack development spanning backend services (C#/.NET, Python) and frontend applications (React, TypeScript)
Security domain knowledge (threat detection, SIEM/SOAR, attack pattern recognition) and familiarity with security analyst workflows
Experience with Azure infrastructure: AKS, Event Hub, Kusto/ADX, Cosmos DB, Redis, and Infrastructure as Code (Bicep, Helm)
Background in API design: REST, gRPC, OpenAPI, versioning strategies, and backward compatibility
Demonstrated success mentoring engineers and influencing technical direction without direct authority

Responsibilities

Define the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for the platform; align stakeholders across Security AI, partner product teams, and Azure AI to deliver cohesive customer value
Drive technical direction for engineers building microservices, ML inference pipelines, APIs, and user interfaces
Architect multi-tier ML inference systems: high-performance rule engines, LLM serving, transformer models, and intelligent caching strategies
Provide hands-on technical leadership: prototype critical components, review designs and PRs, define API contracts, establish coding standards, and build evaluation frameworks
Drive microservices architecture decisions: service decomposition, API design (REST/gRPC), data models, state management, and inter-service communication patterns
Own the end-to-end product development lifecycle: requirements analysis, technical design, implementation, testing, and deployment coordination with AI Operations
Collaborate with AI Operations team on deployment strategies, infrastructure requirements, and operational readiness for new features
Ensure Responsible AI, privacy, and security guardrails are designed in from day one; coordinate safety reviews and compliance requirements
Mentor senior and mid-level engineers; cultivate a builder culture of velocity, quality, and continuous improvement
Engage with enterprise customers and partner teams to co-design solutions; communicate technical roadmaps and demonstrate capabilities to executives
Embody our culture and values