Software Engineer II

Overview We are looking for a Software Engineer II to join the Special Projects and Resources Team (SPARTANs) in M365 Core – Substrate. SPARTANs take on strategic projects and difficult engineering problems across M365 Core, removing agility, modernization, AI Acceleration barriers for engineers throughout Substrate. Substrate is the data and intelligence platform that underpins Microsoft 365. It enables partner teams to build, operate, and modernize compliant and reliable services at global scale. SPARTANs help the organization move faster and deliver greater impact by establishing outcome-oriented missions that unblock critical programs in areas such as modernization, resilience, cost optimization, compliance, and developer productivity. As a Software Engineer II on SPARTANs, you will work across different services and codebases to solve clearly scoped portions of complex engineering problems. You will collaborate with experienced engineers and partner teams to understand unfamiliar systems, develop and validate solutions, and deliver measurable improvements. This role offers an opportunity to strengthen your distributed-systems expertise while contributing to high-impact projects across Microsoft 365. Our team is dedicated to serving others and leaving every system and engineering organization stronger than we found it. We value technical curiosity, sound engineering judgment, collaboration, continuous learning, and measurable customer impact. Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We work with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. We build on the values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive. Responsibilities

• Ramp up on unfamiliar services and codebases, building an understanding of their architecture, dependencies, and operational characteristics.
• Work with senior engineers and partner teams to turn open-ended engineering problems into scoped deliverables with clear success criteria.
• Design, implement, test, and deploy software that advances SPARTANs missions in modernization, resilience, cost optimization, compliance, and developer productivity.
• Own features and technical deliverables from design through deployment, validation, and measurement of impact.
• Diagnose and address performance, latency, scalability, reliability, and cost issues in distributed services.
• Use telemetry, profiling, debugging, and experimentation to form hypotheses and make evidence-based engineering decisions.
• Write clean, secure, testable, and observable code using languages such as C#, Java, C++, Rust, or other appropriate technologies.
• Collaborate with teams across repository, service, and organizational boundaries to coordinate dependencies and land changes safely.
• Communicate technical progress, risks, decisions, and tradeoffs clearly to engineering partners and stakeholders.
• Apply a growth mindset by seeking feedback, learning from production issues, and sharing knowledge with the broader engineering community.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 2+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• OR equivalent experience.

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.
• Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 3+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• OR equivalent experience.
• Experience designing, implementing, testing, or debugging production software.
• Experience collaborating with others to deliver software features or engineering improvements.
• Experience designing and developing reliable distributed systems, cloud services, or platform components.
• Experience owning a software feature or service component from design through production deployment.
• Experience diagnosing production issues using logs, metrics, distributed tracing, debuggers, profilers, or similar diagnostic tools.
• Experience measuring and improving service latency, scalability, resource utilization, reliability, or operational cost.
• Experience writing automated unit, integration, performance, or reliability tests.
• Experience working in large codebases and ramping up on unfamiliar systems.
• Experience with Azure or another public cloud platform.

#M365Substrate, #Spartans, #AIJobs Software Engineering IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $102,100 - $202,200 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 $133,800 - $219,200 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.