Principal Software Engineer

We are building a planet-scale multi-modal database from the ground up. You will be part of the team that is reimagining the databases in the era of Large Language Models (LLMs) by deeply integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into all parts of the stack.

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will lead and collaborate with a team of passionate engineers, driving ideas to impactful results in a fast-paced environment. You will be responsible for operating the service for some of the largest enterprise customers.

You will be working on operations, live site, deployment, monitoring, compliance, alerting and maintaining the Service Level Agreement (SLA) for our service.

Successful engineers in our team have problem solving, design, coding and debugging skills, drive for execution and results, rigor in delivering quality software and a desire for continuous learning. Our team values a friendly, collaborative atmosphere with a passion for technology, and we believe that a diverse team with diverse perspectives that applies empathy and uses great communication skills helps deliver superior products and is key to success. This is a great opportunity to challenge yourself, grow your career, and influence the next generation of computing at Microsoft.

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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

• This will be an individual contributor role with the majority of time focused on coding responsibilities pertaining to quality of service, livesite, monitoring, deployment, service lifecycle. 
• Leads identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform. 
• Leads by example and mentors others to produce extensible and maintainable code used across products. 
• Holds accountability as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI), mentoring engineers across products/solutions, working on-call to monitor system/product/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions.
• Embody our culture and values.

Qualifications

Required 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, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• Experience in shipping products and services.
• Currently programming/coding in your current or most recent role.
• Hands-on experience with asynchronous programming and concurrency (threads, tasks, futures, async/await).
• OR equivalent experience.

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, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript or Python
• Experience with Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), Amazon Elastic Kubernetes Service (EKS), and/or Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE).
• Experience with Virtual Machine Scale Sets (VMSS).
• Experience with live site operations, Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) or production support roles.
• Experience with Helm.
• Experience in shipping products and services.

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 13, 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. 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.