Principal Software Engineer

As a Principal Software Engineer on the Microsoft Teams AI Agents and Copilot team, you will lead the design, development, and evolution of scalable backend systems that power intelligent, agent-driven experiences. Microsoft Teams supports over 300 million daily active users globally, enabling seamless collaboration, productivity, and communication across work and life. It also serves as a robust platform for ISVs to build and extend applications and agents within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. 

We are looking for a visionary engineering leader to drive the next wave of innovation in Copilot and AI agent development. In this role, you will architect and deliver backend services that enable contextual assistance, proactive insights, and triage capabilities across messaging, apps, and collaborative content—transforming how users interact with Teams in an AI-first world. 

You will play a pivotal role in shaping how users engage with high-volume information, designing systems that are performant, reliable, and extensible. Your work will directly influence the productivity and engagement of a diverse global user base. 

You’ll collaborate across disciplines—engineering, product, design, and research—to deliver high-quality, resilient software solutions. If you thrive in a fast-paced, startup-like environment and are passionate about technical excellence, thought leadership, and building systems that scale, this is the team for you. 

Responsibilities

• Architect and implement end-to-end solutions across backend services, AI agents, and frontend experiences using modern frameworks and technologies to deliver intelligent, scalable, and resilient systems.  
• Drive performance, scalability, and cost efficiency by optimizing existing infrastructure and services to meet the demands of a global user base.  
• Design and maintain robust APIs that enable seamless integration with frontend components and partner services, ensuring fluid and consistent user experiences across Teams and the Microsoft 365 ecosystem.  
• Develop intelligent observability and recovery tools to monitor AI agent behaviour, Copilot responsiveness, and backend service health—enabling proactive diagnostics, performance tuning, and resilient user experiences.  
• Collaborate cross-functionally with product managers, partner engineers, data scientists, and leadership to define and deliver impactful features that elevate productivity and engagement through Copilot and AI agents.  
• Champion security and privacy compliance, ensuring all solutions meet Microsoft’s standards for trust, governance, and responsible AI. 

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, or a related field, with 10+ years of experience in backend systems design and development.  
• Proven expertise in object-oriented programming using languages such as C#, Java, Python, or Node.js, with a strong focus on building scalable, distributed services.  
• Deep understanding of algorithms, data structures, cloud-native architecture, and microservices.  
• Hands-on experience with SQL and NoSQL databases, and designing data models for high-scale, low-latency applications.  
• Strong proficiency in building and consuming RESTful APIs, and deploying services on cloud platforms like Azure, AWS, or GCP.  
• Familiarity with CI/CD pipelines, infrastructure-as-code, and automated deployment strategies.  
• Experience in livesite operations, including debugging customer issues, incident management, and service recovery.  
• Excellent communication and collaboration skills, with a track record of working across disciplines to deliver impactful solutions.  
• Passion for technical innovation, continuous learning, and mentoring others.  
• Experience with large language models (LLMs), prompt engineering, and AI/ML pipelines.  
• Exposure to Copilot, agentic workflows, or AI-driven user experiences is a strong plus.  
• Understanding of responsible AI principles, including privacy, security, and ethical considerations in AI system design. 

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:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science OR related technical field AND 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C#, Java, Python, or Node.js
• OR Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C#, Java, Python, or Node.js
• OR equivalent experience.

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. 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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