Principal Software Engineer

Role Description

Be at the forefront of our Microsoft 365 Resilience efforts, by leading the development and architecture of our most critical monitoring and alerting. Identifying critical paths in highest priority scenarios including Copilot and develop and work with service teams to build robust reliability measures including Graceful Degradation and failure modes.

As a Principal Software Engineer, you will transform and evolve how our critical paths are monitored, measured and designed reliably. You’ll work directly on the probes, monitoring and alerting that orchestrates the most critical paths across Microsoft 365, empowering Microsoft’s M365 Core Platform and Copilot teams to measure reliability and monitor service health with rigor.

This opportunity will allow you to dive deep on Microsoft’s M365 Core Platform, technologies, and rapidly grow your career.

The M365 Foundation team is a core pillar within Microsoft’s M365 Core Platform and Services organization, responsible for ensuring the reliability, resilience, performance, and scalability of the platform that underpins Microsoft 365 services. The team drives strategic investments across:

• AI Evaluations
• Performance & Efficiency
• Change Management
• Reliability & Resilience
• Observability & Intelligent Cloud
• Fleet & Capacity

With an emphasis on trust, security, and operational excellence.

Responsibilities

• Lead product development and scaling to customer requirements and apply best practices for meeting scaling needs and performance expectations and holds accountability for products that do not meet expectations.
• Partner with stakeholders (e.g., PM, DS, Leadership) to determine user requirements within and across teams.
• Proactively seek new knowledge and adapt to new trends, technical solutions, and patterns that will improve the availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance of products while also driving consistency in monitoring and operations at scale and share knowledge with other engineers.
• Guide the team and lead identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform.
• Guide the team to drive multiple group project plans, release plans, and work items in coordination with appropriate stakeholders.
• Act as an expert and DRI (Designated Responsible Individual), be on call to mitigate system/product/service degradation to avoid 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#, 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#, 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#, or Python OR equivalent experience.
• Analytical mindset with a data-driven approach to problem-solving, consistently upholding high standards of quality and engineering rigor.
• Collaborative and team-oriented, skilled at articulating complex ideas across disciplines, levels, and product areas to drive alignment and shared success.
• Experience independently owning and delivering technically challenging projects with measurable impact.
• Demonstrated ability to quickly master new technologies, tools, and domains.

Requirements

• 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: Microsoft Careers .
• This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Company Description

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.