Principal Software Engineer

Our team focuses on optimizing ads performance for all advertisers in Microsoft Advertising by bidding on their behalf into real time auctions across our marketplaces. This is done through algorithm development, optimization, and experimental analysis of advertiser strategies and auction mechanisms. In our team, engineers and scientists work together and utilize all sorts of platforms, techniques, and approaches, including but not limited to mathematical modeling and optimization, machine learning, optimal control, and general operation research. We build and develop both online stacks as well as offline workflows to support our algorithm. At its core, our team utilizes signals of user and advertiser intent as well as auction’s characteristic to determine in real-time or near-real-time which ads can enter the auctions. Our work directly impacts billions of dollars in revenue annually.

We are seeking a highly skilled and self-driven Principal Software Engineer to join our team in Mountain View, CA or Redmond, WA. In this role, you will bring solid design and development expertise, with a solid background in large-scale distributed systems, cloud computing platforms, high-performance data processing infrastructure, and familiarity with machine learning training and inference pipelines. As a senior member of the team, you will drive the end-to-end design and implementation of infrastructure requirements for supporting our next-generation bidding platform and algorithms. Your work will have a direct impact on the experience of our advertisers and will play a critical role in increasing revenue across Bing Ads.

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

• Collaborate closely with data scientists and engineers to determine requirements for supporting any new feature for our bidding platform.
• Design the platform to align with advertiser product requirements, ensuring high-quality, timely delivery of features and enhancements.
• Implement, optimize, debug, refactor, and reuse code to establish and improve performance and maintainability, effectiveness, and return on investment.
• Implement large-scale data validation and quality assurance frameworks to ensure accuracy and consistency across all data inputs and outputs.
• Act as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) and guide other engineers by developing and following the playbook, working on call to monitor the bidding platform for degradation, downtime, or interruptions, alert stakeholders about status and initiate actions to restore the service for simple and complex problems when appropriate.
• Proactively seek new knowledge and adapt to new trends, technical solutions, and patterns that will improve the availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance of our bidding platform while also driving consistency in monitoring and operations at scale.

Starting January 26, 2026, Microsoft AI (MAI) employees who live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. or 25-mile  commute of a non-U.S., country-specific location are expected to work from  the office at least four days per week. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Java, Python or C#.
• 4+ years of experience developing and deploying large-scale distributed systems in production environments.
• 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.

 Additional or preferred qualifications

• Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Java, Python or C#
• 3+ years of hands-on experience in machine learning operations (MLOps), including pipeline automation, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• 2+ years of hands-on experience with large-scale streaming platforms such as Apache Spark or Flink.
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Java, Python or C#
• OR equivalent experience.

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 October 1, 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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