Principal Software Engineer, AI Data Platform (CoreAI)

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

96d • $139,900 - $274,800

About The Position

Join Microsoft's CoreAI team to build the AI Data Platform, the foundation for secure, scalable, reusable datasets that power model development. We seek Software Engineers passionate about large-scale data infrastructure, automation tools, and intelligence services to transform how Microsoft collects, generates, manages, and shares AI training data. The AI Data Platform team's mission is to build a central AI data platform that breaks down Microsoft's data silos and manages the full lifecycle of first-party, third-party, synthetic, and human-labeled data, accelerating AI model development with secure, reusable, and compliant datasets. The AI Data Platform team is responsible for large-scale data infrastructure, automation tools, and intelligence services to transform how Microsoft collects, generates, manages, and shares AI training data.

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 of experience in software engineering with a focus on distributed systems, large-scale data platforms, or cloud infrastructure.
• Experience leading design and delivery of complex, scalable systems.
• Proficiency in one or more programming languages (e.g., C#, Java, Python).
• Experience with cloud services (Azure, AWS, or GCP), container orchestration (Kubernetes), and big data frameworks (e.g., Spark, Databricks).
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements.

Nice To Haves

• Expertise in data lifecycle management (ingestion, validation, discovery, governance).
• Experience with PII detection/handling, compliance, and secure data management.
• Familiarity with AI/ML workflows, training data pipelines, or synthetic data generation.
• Strong cross-org collaboration skills and ability to influence at scale.
• Experience mentoring teams and setting technical direction.

Responsibilities

• Lead the design and development of large-scale data infrastructure and intelligent services that transform how Microsoft collects, manages, and shares data for AI.
• Shape the platform's technical direction, drive architectural decisions, and partner with leaders across Microsoft to maximize impact.
• Own the technical vision and architecture for scalable, secure, and reusable AI data infrastructure.
• Design and lead development of intelligent agent-driven services to automate the dataset lifecycle (ingestion, registration, validation, PII handling, discovery, governance, lineage, feedback).
• Build user-facing tools and APIs that make datasets easily discoverable and reusable across Microsoft's AI teams.
• Ensure platform security, compliance, and operational excellence, including entitlement management, capacity planning, and escalation support.
• Collaborate with applied scientists to integrate ML-driven methods (synthetic data, evaluation, human-in-the-loop workflows) into production pipelines.
• Mentor engineers, setting best practices in distributed systems, reliability, and large-scale data platform development.
• Influence cross-org strategy by aligning platform priorities with AI training and product teams to deliver company-wide impact.

Benefits

• Industry leading healthcare
• Educational resources
• Discounts on products and services
• Savings and investments
• Maternity and paternity leave
• Generous time away
• Giving programs
• Opportunities to network and connect

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Senior
• Industry: Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
• Education Level: Bachelor's degree