Principal Software Engineer

Microsoft•Redmond, WA

1d•$142,800 - $304,200

About The Position

The OIC team within Microsoft’s Substrate organization is seeking a Principal Software Engineer to help shape intelligent cloud service operations. The team builds large-scale distributed platforms that help engineers understand cloud-service health, detect and diagnose failures, and recover safely and efficiently. Its work advances service operations through AI, automation, telemetry, distributed systems, and intelligent diagnosis to improve reliability and protect customer experiences. In this role, you will provide technical leadership on complex engineering problems spanning services and teams. You will define architecture and technical strategy, turn ambiguous problems into scalable solutions, and influence platforms used to operate Microsoft’s large-scale cloud services. The position works at the intersection of distributed systems, cloud platforms, AI-assisted engineering, and large-scale service operations, with influence on technical direction across teams and organizations.

Requirements

Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field and 6+ years of technical engineering experience coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python, or equivalent experience.
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including passing the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.

Nice To Haves

Master's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field and 8+ years of technical engineering experience coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python; or a bachelor's degree in a related field and 12+ years of such experience; or equivalent experience.
Experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems, cloud services, or platform technologies.
Experience with AI-assisted systems, AI agents, machine learning, or intelligent automation.
Experience with observability technologies, including metrics, logs, traces, telemetry pipelines, or service-health systems.
Experience with workflow, orchestration, or automation platforms.
Experience building extensible platforms, frameworks, or developer experiences used by multiple engineering teams.
Demonstrated ability to define a technical vision and translate it into an executable, long-term engineering strategy.
Experience mentoring senior engineers and developing technical leadership across an organization.

Responsibilities

Provide technical leadership for the architecture and evolution of large-scale distributed cloud platforms and services.
Identify and solve complex, ambiguous engineering problems and translate them into clear technical strategies and scalable architectures.
Lead the design of systems that use AI and automation to improve how cloud services are monitored, investigated, diagnosed, and operated.
Define reusable platform capabilities, APIs, architectural patterns, and engineering standards that enable multiple teams to build and innovate efficiently.
Drive architectural decisions across multiple services and engineering teams, balancing scalability, reliability, security, performance, extensibility, and engineering velocity.
Partner across engineering, product management, and architecture disciplines to translate customer and business needs into long-term technical investments.
Lead complex initiatives from early problem definition and architecture through implementation, rollout, and operational maturity.
Establish engineering practices around quality, testing, observability, security, privacy, and operational excellence.
Use production learnings and data to identify systemic improvements and influence future platform investments.
Mentor engineers and technical leaders and raise the engineering bar through design reviews, technical guidance, and hands-on leadership.
Build partnerships across organizational boundaries and drive alignment when solutions require multiple teams or technologies.