Principal Software Engineer

Microsoft • Redmond, WA

6d

About The Position

Be at the forefront of Microsoft’s AI transformation and help shape the future of AI-powered thinking tools used by millions across Microsoft 365. Join the Notebooks team to build AI-forward experiences that turn diverse, unstructured information into clarity, insight, and action. Our team builds Copilot Notebooks—an AI-native space for gathering information, making sense of it, and taking action—alongside OneNote, a beloved productivity app trusted by millions worldwide.
Are you excited by platforms that enable highly distributed, collaborative experiences at scale? Do you care deeply about best-in-class UX, next-generation collaboration, and rock-solid fundamentals that drive real user engagement? As a Software Engineer on Copilot Notebooks, you’ll play a critical role in delivering scalable, reliable, and low-latency experiences. You’ll serve as the team’s performance expert—reviewing feature designs through a performance lens, proactively identifying bottlenecks, and driving improvements that ensure our AI experiences feel fast, responsive, and trustworthy at scale.
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.

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.
• 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.

Nice To Haves

• 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.
• 2+ years of experience working on building and designing complex web apps.
• 2+ years of experience working on web performance, including experience with web profiling tools and familiarity with industry best practices
• 2+ years of experience on defining engineering culture for a broader organization, including best practices on automation, performance, and reliability.
• 2+ years of experience leading crews of 5+ engineers on complex engineering projects in the web development space.

Responsibilities

• Guides engineers within and across teams to produce extensible, maintainable, well‑tested, secure, and performant code that adheres to design specifications.
• Partners with appropriate stakeholders to determine user requirements for one or more complex scenarios.
• Provides technical leadership in identifying dependencies and developing design documents for a product, application, service, or platform.
• Leads by example and mentors others to produce high‑quality code used across the company, promoting engineering excellence and long‑term maintainability.
• Leverages deep subject‑matter expertise of cross‑product features to collaborate with stakeholders and lead multiple products’ project plans, release plans, and work items.
• Holds accountability as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI), mentoring engineers across products/solutions and participating in on‑call rotations to monitor system/product/service health, including degradation, downtime, or interruptions.
• Proactively seeks new knowledge and adapts to emerging trends, technologies, and patterns to improve availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance, while driving consistency in monitoring and operations at scale; shares learnings with other engineers.
• Embody our Culture and Values

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Mid Level