Principal Software Engineer

Job description

To delight our customers in a Cloud First world, Microsoft Azure cloud business delivers highly available online services with cutting edge features and innovative functionality lighting up on a regular basis.

Availability, reliability, and performance are all key differentiators that customers demand and expect in cloud services when choosing a provider.

A major factor in the quality, as experienced by our customers, is the quality of the infrastructure that is running the cloud.

Cloud Hardware Infrastructure Engineering (CHIE) is a fast-growing R&D organization that designs, engineers and qualifies the entire cloud-optimized infrastructure, including advanced Compute and Storage server technology that push the technological.

Our team – CRC (Cloud Readiness Certified), within CHIE, drives the hardware, firmware and infrastructure software validation lifecycle and is accountable for the quality experience of our cloud customers.

Our goal is to exceed customer expectations in every aspect related to infrastructure quality.

Therefore, we invest heavily in automating the validation processes, from the inception and throughout the entire h/w lifecycle.

We invest in systems that continuously monitor the hardware quality in production, predict hardware failures, detect behavioral anomalies and mitigate issues before they impact customers.

Our mission is to ensure a consistent high quality of production hardware through automation and smart engineering that can scale as fast as the cloud business grows.

The candidate for this position has a passion for engineering excellence and user-centric design, with proficient skills in front-end web development, distributed systems, and high-quality implementation.

This role requires the ability to translate customer requirements into intuitive, performant, and visually appealing user experiences, ensuring that solutions meet both technical and usability standards.

We are looking for a **Principal Software Engineer** to join our team.

We are looking for someone who combines technical leadership with hands-on expertise, guiding teams through architectural decisions, mentoring engineers, and driving best practices across the stack.

A deep understanding of UX principles, accessibility, and responsive design is essential, alongside experience in building and improving high-availability services.

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.

**Responsibilities**

+ Foster and maintain a customer-obsessed culture, ensuring solutions reflect real user needs and deliver exceptional experiences.
+ Envision, design, develop, and deliver software that measures and improves hardware quality at scale, while also building intuitive, performant front-end web applications.
+ Translate customer requirements into elegant, user-friendly interfaces, applying UX principles and accessibility best practices.
+ Collaborate with hardware architects to determine key components and drive end-to-end verification strategies.
+ Lead technical discussions and mentor peers, ensuring engineering best practices and maintaining a high-quality bar for code and design.
+ Solve complex problems, identify and drive solutions for systemic issues, and create new designs, architectures, standards, and methods for large-scale distributed systems.
+ Drive improvements in live site cloud systems, enabling safe and effective testing in production environments.
+ Champion a ‘can-do’ attitude across the organization, inspiring innovation and ownership.
+ Advocate for performance optimization and responsive design, ensuring seamless user experiences across devices.
+ Collaborate deeply with internal Azure teams and external partners, influencing technical direction and delivering integrated solutions.
+ Embody our culture (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/culture) and values.

(https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about/corporate-values)

**Qualifications**

**Minimum 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#, Typescript, PowerShell, or Python
+ OR equivalent experience.
+ 1+ years of experience in Azure DevOps
+ OR equivalent Application Lifecycle Management (ALM) tools experience.
+ Proficient experience in front-end web development (e.g., React, TypeScript, HTML/CSS) and building intuitive, responsive user interfaces.

**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:**

+ Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent experience.

+ 10+ years of experience shipping, operating, and improving large-scale distributed systems.

+ Proven ability to lead technical initiatives, mentor engineers, and influence architectural decisions.

+ Proficient development skills in a modern programming language (C# preferred).

+ Great problem-solving skills, with a bias for quality and engineering excellence.

+ Superior communication skills, both verbal and written.

+ Ability to translate customer requirements into technical solutions and deliver exceptional user experiences.

+ Firm sense of accountability and ownership for end-to-end project lifecycle.

+ Knowledge and work experience in data mining, statistics, and mathematics.

+ Capable of technical deep dives into service design, operating systems, networking, and storage.

+ Experience defining and measuring customer SLAs.

+ Ability to build consensus and influence broadly toward common goals and priorities through advanced impact and influence skills.

+ Familiarity with UX principles, accessibility standards, and performance optimization for web applications.

+ Experience collaborating with hardware architects and driving end-to-end verification strategies.

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: US corporate pay information | Microsoft Careers (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/us-corporate-pay.html)

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until October 23rd, 2025.

#SCHIE #CHSE #azurehwjobs

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer.

Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .

Required Skill Profession

Other General