Principal Solution Engineer

Microsoft • Raleigh, NC

3d

About The Position

Work with multinational enterprise customers to achieve business goals using Azure as their platform of choice. Build customer access, become a trusted technical adviser, uncover opportunities, and turn customer ambitions into practical solutions that deliver business value. Combine an enterprise-architecture mindset and broad cloud understanding with hands-on applications and AI expertise, recognizing how complete solutions fit together and when to involve specialists.

The role offers autonomy and influence across customer organizations. Own the technical direction of complex opportunities, align teams when priorities are unclear, and take responsibility for agreed technical outcomes. Engage from executive conversations through practical demonstrations, drawing on account teams, specialists, and partners. Microsoft describes its mission as empowering every person and organization to achieve more, and emphasizes responsible innovation, shared progress, and a growth-mindset culture.

Requirements

• Master's degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, or a related field and 4+ years of technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience; or bachelor's degree in one of those fields and 6+ years of such experience; or 7+ years of such experience; or equivalent experience.
• 8+ years of technical pre-sales, technical consulting, technology delivery, or related experience, or equivalent experience.
• 6+ years of experience with cloud and hybrid or on-premises infrastructures, architecture designs, migrations, industry standards, and/or technology management.
• Microsoft is unable to sponsor a work visa for this role due to the nature of the role's job duties.

Nice To Haves

• Certification in relevant technologies or disciplines, such as Office 365, Power BI, Azure Architect and Development exams, Cloud Platform Technologies, Information Security, or Architecture.

Responsibilities

• Proactively build customer access, discover unmet needs across Azure, and create technical opportunities that deliver business value.
• Independently lead complex engagements spanning multiple technologies, teams, and customer locations; align stakeholders, resolve competing priorities, and drive technical decisions through discovery, workshops, and demonstrations.
• Help customers modernize applications using Azure and cloud-native approaches while balancing existing investments with future business needs.
• Guide modern software delivery and developer productivity, including GitHub and GitHub Copilot.
• Shape intelligent applications and agent solutions using Microsoft Foundry, Copilot technologies, and enterprise data, including Microsoft Fabric where relevant.
• Build focused prototypes and demonstrations to test customer ideas, show value, and guide secure, responsible AI adoption.
• Take an end-to-end view across Azure infrastructure, networking, identity, security, data, applications, and AI, including hybrid environments.
• Adapt and extend architecture patterns for complex customer requirements.
• Recommend trade-offs between business value, security, reliability, and cost, and develop practical roadmaps rather than isolated product designs.
• Work with specialists, customer success, and partners to help customers progress from architecture to adoption.
• Build trusted relationships with developers, architects, Heads of Development, VPs, and other technical and business stakeholders; listen, challenge constructively, and build consensus.
• Understand customer priorities, programmes, and decision-makers, aligning technical engagement with broader business and transformation strategy.
• Connect technical choices to customer outcomes and differentiated Microsoft value, build a clear case for investment, and qualify opportunities around customer needs and business value.
• Shape opportunity-growth strategy with account teams, using data and insights to guide investment decisions and overcome technical barriers.
• Lead collaboration across teams and coach technical colleagues and account teams.
• Create reusable architectures and approaches from customer engagements and help others apply them to improve outcomes beyond individual opportunities.
• Maintain hands-on learning, relevant skills, and certifications, and demonstrate inclusion, integrity, and customer focus.

Benefits

• Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation; details are available through Microsoft's corporate pay information page.

What This Job Offers

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