Senior Software Engineer

As a Senior Software Engineer on the Virtual Machines and Containers team in CoreOS, you will lead the design and implementation of key scalability features across the virtualization stack. This role is critical to enabling broader virtual machine (VM) density and performance improvements across our platform. You will work across components such as VM management services, system interfaces, and orchestration agents to ensure our infrastructure can scale efficiently and reliably.

In Core OS, we are responsible for the Operating Systems that power Azure, Microsoft's Linux OS, the platforms for Windows Client and Xbox, and our Windows Server ecosystem – through all of these, we support every one of our cloud businesses and billions of customers around the world. In this era of ubiquitous computing, systems software excellence has never been more important for Microsoft. High quality, high-efficiency operating systems and platform components underpin everything we do as a company, from making our systems more reliable for our customers, to increasing our competitiveness by reducing cost of goods sold (COGS), to delivering new features and capabilities to delight customers – that’s all us!

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

• Design and implement scalable solutions in the virtualization management stack.
• Improve system performance and reliability through deep analysis and optimization.
• Collaborate with partner teams to integrate new features and ensure end-to-end scalability.
• Contribute to architectural decisions and long-term technical strategy.
• Participate in code reviews, design discussions, and cross-team initiatives.
• Investigate and resolve complex issues in production and development environments.
• Drive deep technical impact across Microsoft’s virtualization platform.
• Collaborate with top engineers across Azure and Windows.
• Grow your expertise in systems programming, performance tuning, and distributed systems.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• 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
• 1+ year experience building operating system features, virtualization features, or device drivers
• OR equivalent experience. 

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:

• 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.
• 4+ years of systems software development experience using C, C++ or Rust.
• Experience with operating systems fundamentals and systems-level programming.
• Experience with container runtimes and familiarity with Go.

Software Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $158,400 - $258,000 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 October 01 , 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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