Principal Software Engineer - Azure Office of the CTO

If you're excited about innovation and exploration in an environment that supports and encourages experimentation, check out our team for an exciting open-source role! We are the Azure Incubations Team within the Azure Office of the CTO, responsible for identifying new product ideas, incubating them, and creating an open-source community around successful projects before handing them off to Azure’s service teams. Our goal is to develop disruptive opportunities that drive value to the Azure business, working closely with the open-source community.

 

To empower innovation, we've created a psychologically safe environment for experimentation. When we find promising ideas, we build them into fully functional products. If you're energized by this type of work, this Principal Software Engineer - Azure office of the CTO, role could be a great fit for you. The Incubations team focuses on projects with high levels of ambiguity. We seek an engineer whos excel in navigating uncertainty, crafting innovative solutions, and shaping early-stage technology architecture. We're looking for a Principal Software Engineer who can effectively communicate strategy to a wide range of audiences—from users and contributors to internal and external partners—with varying technical depth.

 

This position sits within the Project Radiuus (a CNCF (cloud native computing foundation) Open Source project) team delivering an open-source, cloud-native application platform that allows developers and operators to define, deploy and collaborate across public clouds and private infrastructure. We value work-life balance, continuous learning, and collaboration. In this role, you will have the opportunity to work across product teams and engage with and influence our open-source community while delivering critical features to our partners. As we finalize the last set of features, you'll have the unique opportunity to join the team at a pivotal moment—right before our project transitions into a dedicated Azure product team. This means you'll help shape and launch a transformative, high-impact service from its inception, influencing Azure’s future direction and making a lasting mark on the cloud ecosystem.

 

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.

Responsibilities

• Deliver the next-generation open-source cloud-native deployment framework.
• Establish engineering processes and drive technology decisions to create a performant, resilient, and secure product for the open-source community.
• Demonstrate a deep understanding of the impact of architectural choices.
• Collaborate with internal partner teams to integrate new technologies across services.
• Lead cross-group efforts, provide community and industry leadership, and help define strategic direction.
• Foster open-source community engagement and contribution.
• Mentor team members and support their professional development.
• Implement continuous feedback loops to measure customer value and usage insights.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline AND 6+ years of experience in software engineering using languages such as C#, Go, or Python, 
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 2+ years of experience building orchestration frameworks in cloud-native environments.
• 2+ years of experience working with Terraform, CloudFormation or Azure ARM (Azure Resource Manager) templates

 

Other Requirements:   

• 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. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Expertise in Kubernetes, including CRDs (Custom Resource Definitions), controllers, and operator patterns.
• Familiarity with Terraform, Bicep, and Infrastructure as Code (IaC).
• Understanding of multi-cloud architectures (Azure, Amazon Web Services).
• Experience with DevOps automation and build, test and release pipelines.
• Experience building and maintaining CLI (Command Line Interface) tools.
• Open-source community engagement through code contributions, documentation, and collaboration.
• Proven leadership in engineering teams and mentoring in ambiguous environments.
• Commitment to fostering an inclusive, collaborative, and respectful culture.
  
  

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $274,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year.  Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay  Microsoft will accept applications for the role until September 3, 2025.  

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

 

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

 

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