Principal Software Engineer/ Architect

Job ID: 200061306Posted: 2026-11-11Location: United States, Washington, RedmondSalary: USD $142,800 - $274,800 per yearEmployment type: Full-TimeWork site: 3 days / week in-officeRole type: Individual ContributorTravel: Less than 25%Profession: Software EngineeringDiscipline: Software EngineeringCompany: MicrosoftOverviewSecurity represents the most critical priorities for our customers in a world awash in digital threats, regulatory scrutiny, and estate complexity. Microsoft Security aspires to make the world a safer place for all. We want to reshape security and empower every user, customer, and developer with a security cloud that protects them with end to end, simplified solutions. The Microsoft Security organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world.We are hiring a Principal Software Engineer / Architect to help define the future of Microsoft's Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) platform—the foundation of trust that secures identities, services, devices, and communications across Microsoft and for our first-party and third-party customers. Our platform powers the complete certificate lifecycle for both public and private PKI, enabling secure authentication, encryption, code signing, workload identity, and emerging cryptographic scenarios at global scale. PKI is far more than a service—it is the trust fabric at the heart of modern security. As cyber threats continue to evolve and industry standards rapidly change, our mission is to build a platform that makes security the default experience, enables cryptographic agility, and empowers Microsoft and our customers to confidently adopt the next generation of security technologies. We are looking for a technical leader who is passionate about building highly secure, resilient, and globally distributed platforms while driving the architectural vision for one of Microsoft's most critical security investments. You will help shape the future of trust across the Microsoft ecosystem by innovating across several key areas: 1. Building the next-generation PKI platform that manages the complete lifecycle of public and private certificates for Microsoft's first-party services and external customers. Architecting trust at hyperscale, delivering highly available, resilient, and secure services that protect some of the world's most critical workloads. 2. Driving cryptographic agility, accelerating the adoption of modern cryptographic standards while preparing Microsoft's ecosystem for emerging technologies such as post-quantum cryptography. 3. Protecting trust boundaries by design, embedding security, compliance, and least-privilege principles into every layer of the platform. 4. Enabling security by default, simplifying certificate management, identity, and trust so developers and service teams can build secure systems without compromising developer productivity. Operating with engineering excellence, delivering automation, reliability, and operational efficiency for one of Microsoft's foundational security platforms. 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.ResponsibilitiesDefine and drive the technical vision for Microsoft’s Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) platform, partnering closely with engineering, product management, and security teams to modernize and secure certificate lifecycle management for public and private PKIs.Architect and build resilient, highly scalable, low-latency services that establish trust boundaries, secure access to online resources, and enable cryptographic agility across Microsoft’s first- and third-party ecosystems.Design secure, reliable, observable, and reusable platform capabilities, leveraging telemetry and data to guide architectural decisions and championing engineering excellence through robust system design, design and code reviews, automation, testing, and operational best practices.Write clean, maintainable, and high-quality code while improving reliability, test coverage, diagnosability, and service health.Collaborate across Microsoft to deliver secure-by-default solutions that simplify adoption, strengthen customer trust, and empower engineers to build on a world-class identity and authorization platform with a customer-obsessed, data-driven, and growth mindset.Embody our Culture and ValuesQualificationsRequired 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 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 8+ 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 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.Proficiency in programming languages such as C#, Rust, Go, Java or C++.Demonstrated ability to write clean, maintainable, and efficient code.Experience with cloud platforms such as Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud: Understanding of cloud infrastructure and services.Strong problem-solving and analytical skills: Ability to diagnose issues, identify root causes, and implement effective solutions.Proven experience in building scalable and reliable software solutions.6+ years architecting distributed systems. #MSFTSecurity #PKI #CryptoSoftware Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $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: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.