Senior Software Engineering Manager - Virtualization & Kernel

Microsoft

8h

About The Position

The Virtualization Core Platform team is seeking a Senior Software Engineering Manager to contribute to high‑performance hypervisor technologies, Windows and Linux kernel features, and related areas. The team values engineers who enjoy collaborating with peers to advance the next generation of the platform. Candidates should be enthusiastic learners with dependable design capabilities and the ability to build and guide a dynamic team. Hyper‑V (Hypervisor‑V) is used by millions of individuals each day and serves as the foundation of the Azure cloud, supporting nearly all of Microsoft’s online services through millions of virtual machines.
The team plays a central role in Microsoft’s technical strategy, working across rapidly evolving areas such as datacenter transformation, cloud technologies, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). The work includes advancing virtualization technologies, enabling new levels of virtual machine confidentiality and security, and supporting multiple platforms including Linux while contributing to Open Source initiatives. Experience with virtualization is welcome, but individuals without prior experience are encouraged to bring their existing expertise and develop into virtualization specialists.
In the Senior Software Engineering Manager role, the selected candidate will guide a team responsible for components of Microsoft’s virtualization platform, engaging in low‑level virtualization work and collaborating with key silicon partners to enable new hardware capabilities. The position focuses on advancing performance, reliability, and security. The team is committed to delivering a high‑quality platform that consistently meets customer expectations while fostering a collaborative environment where new ideas are supported. A wide range of roles and responsibilities are available, and the team aims to help candidates find the best fit within the Virtualization Core Platform organization.
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 4+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, or Rust
• 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 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, or Rust
• OR Bachelor'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++, or Rust
• OR equivalent experience.
• 2+ years people management experience.
• 2+ years technical engineering experience working on part of an operating system (including but not limited to Linux or Windows), a virtual machine manager (VMM) or a related accelerator stack, or hypervisor
• 1+ years incident management experience

Responsibilities

• Coaches team on producing extensible, maintainable, well-tested, secure, and performant code that adheres to design specifications. Continuously improves code performance, testability, maintainability, effectiveness, and cost, while learning about and accounting for relevant trade-offs. Applies metrics to drive code quality and stability. Applies appropriate coding patterns and best practices. Leads by example in best code-writing practices (e.g., leveraging state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence [GenAI], approaches to source code organization, naming conventions). Coaches team on identifying and escalating blockers or unknowns during the development process, communicating how they will impact timelines, and identifying strategies and/or opportunities to address them.
• Coaches teams on and identifies dependencies and incorporates them into the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform. Actively identifies other teams and technologies to leverage, how they interact, and where their own system or team can support others. Coaches team to understand upstream and downstream interactions between systems and ensure security, compliance, performance, and reliability can be achieved across the entire stack. Collaborates with other teams to reach common goals where dependencies and validation concerns overlap. Works across teams to resolve conflicts around dependency and required work.
• Remains current by investing time and effort into being informed of current developments. Seeks new knowledge, evaluating new trends, technical solutions, and patterns, assessing how to adapt them to current problems, and shares knowledge with other engineers. Trains team on conducting learning and literary sessions to raise awareness on relevant engineering design principles (e.g., security, testability, performance, scalability, accessibility, product knowledge).
• Coaches team on driving multiple groups' project plans, release plans, and work items in coordination with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., technical program managers). Breaks down long-term project vision into milestones. Guides other members on project estimation. Anticipates future goals to guide future resources. Reviews and implements resources in response to changing context. Coaches team on ensuring required security protections and detection processes are accounted for in planning. Coaches team on ensuring project plans adhere to security, privacy, and compliance requirements. Coaches team on ensuring all code for a product/solution is properly flighted for quicker mitigation of production incidents.
• Managers deliver success through empowerment and accountability by modeling, coaching, and caring. Model: Live our culture. Embody our values. Practice our leadership principles. Coach: Define team objectives and outcomes. Enable success across boundaries. Help the team adapt and learn. Care: Attract and retain great people. Know each individual’s capabilities and aspirations. Invest in the growth of others.

What This Job Offers

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