Principal AI Software Engineer

Job ID: 200049586Posted: 2026-08-25Location: United States, Washington, RedmondSalary: USD $165,600 - $296,400 per yearEmployment type: Full-TimeWork site: 3 days / week in-officeRole type: Individual ContributorTravel: Less than 25%Profession: Software EngineeringDiscipline: Software EngineeringCompany: MicrosoftOverviewWould you like to work on a product that transforms Microsoft AI technologies and a modern-work suite to help millions of users work better and faster together? Do you enjoy working with teams that leverage AI to create fast and useful solutions for end-users?The future of work is being redefined with AI agents acting as digital co-workers. Microsoft is leading this transformation with M365, Copilot Studio, and Azure AI Foundry. As part of this team, you will help build Agent 365— an enterprise-grade solution that secures, governs, and manages AI agents with the same rigor and familiarity as human employees.As a Principal AI Software Engineer, you will collaborate with a diverse multi-discipline, multi-site team delivering end-to-end solutions and end user experiences across the M365 ecosystem designing the state of the art SWE agentic harness autonomously building highly scalable Azure service architecture, featuring a React-based UI that will delight our customers. 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.ResponsibilitiesThis role demands a blend of artificial intelligence expertise with full-stack development skills to contribute to all phases of our product lifecycle, from conception to deployment. You'll work closely with our product and design teams to deliver on the vision.Design implement, evaluate, and deploy AI-powered autonomous execution applications and servicesDevelop and fine-tune large language models (LLMs) and other deep learning modelsWrite clean, maintainable, and scalable code for model training, evaluation, and inference pipelinesOptimize AI models for performance, latency, and cost efficiency in production environmentsApply prompt engineering to enhance model outputs and performanceCollaborate and partner with cross-functional teams to integrate the latest from Entra ID, M365, and other Microsoft technologiesStay current with emerging research, tools, and frameworks in AI/ML to drive innovation.Rapidly prototype and iterate on new ideas to stay ahead in the agent platform raceProvide technical leadership and guidance to a team of software engineersQualificationsRequired Qualifications: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++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or PythonOR 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:Proven experience in developing and deploying large language models (LLMs): Demonstrated expertise in working with state-of-the-art LLMs, including their training, fine-tuning, and application in natural language processing tasksPractical experience in prompt engineering and evaluation, with the ability to design, refine, and test prompts to improve model accuracy, reliability, and usability.Experience with Agent based architectures, frameworks and technologies (such as MCP, A2A protocol, Langchain, Azure AI Foundry).Proficiency in Python for data science workflows, leveraging libraries such as NumPy, Pandas, scikit-learn, Matplotlib, and Jupyter for data analysis, experimentation, and rapid prototyping.Exposure to Deep Neural Network training and inference and experience in one or more deep learning frameworks (PyTorch, TensorFlow, etc.).Experienced in web application development frameworks, such as React.Experience delivering a Cloud SaaS product on Azure, AWS or GCP.Excellent communication and collaboration skills to work effectively across disciplines and partner teams.#CAP #A365Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 per year. Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.