Principal Software Engineer/ Architect

Principal Software Engineer / ArchitectLocation: Redmond, Washington, United States Work Arrangement: Hybrid, 3 days per week in-officeResponsibilities:Define and drive the technical vision for Microsoft's Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) platform.Partner with engineering, product management, and security teams to modernize and secure certificate lifecycle management across public and private PKIs.Architect and build highly resilient, scalable, low-latency services that establish trust boundaries and secure access to online resources.Enable cryptographic agility across Microsoft's first-party and third-party ecosystems;Drive adoption of modern cryptographic standards and prepare Microsoft's ecosystem for emerging technologies, including post-quantum cryptography.Design secure, reliable, observable, and reusable platform capabilities supporting identity and authorization services at scale.Use telemetry and data to guide architectural decisions and continuously improve performance, reliability, and security.Champion engineering excellence through system design, design reviews, code reviews, automation, testing, and operational best practices.Write clean, maintainable, high-quality code that meets security, performance, and scalability requirements.Improve service reliability, test coverage, diagnosability, observability, and overall service health.Collaborate across Microsoft to deliver secure-by-default solutions that simplify adoption and strengthen customer trust.Drive development of identity and authorization platform capabilities used by engineers across Microsoft;Foster a customer-focused, data-driven, and growth-oriented engineering culture.Contribute to the development of Microsoft's next-generation PKI platform supporting the complete lifecycle of public and private certificates.Help architect trust at hyperscale for critical workloads and services.Embed security, compliance, and least-privilege principles into platform architecture.Improve automation, reliability, and operational efficiency across the platform.Qualifications:Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field and 8+ years of technical engineering experience involving coding in languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python, or equivalent experience.8+ years of experience architecting distributed systems.Experience building scalable and reliable software solutions.Strong programming and software engineering skills;Ability to write clean, maintainable, and efficient code.Strong problem-solving and analytical skills, including diagnosing issues, identifying root causes, and implementing effective solutions.Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements.Successful candidates must pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter.Benefits and Compensation:Base salary of $165,600-$296,400 per year for most U.S. locations.Base salary of $220,800-$331,200 per year for positions in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metropolitan area.Certain roles may also qualify for additional benefits and compensation;Microsoft provides a comprehensive benefits program for eligible employees.Compensation varies based on location, skills, experience, and other job-related factors.