Principal Software Engineer

Windows + Devices powers experiences for over a billion users worldwide, building the platforms and products that create experiences across Microsoft and leading Windows and Surface products through deep partnership across the company and with OEM partners. The Windows Engineering System is the backbone that lets Windows engineers design, code, build, validate, and ship at massive scale, securely and with high quality. 

The Build team creates and operates build orchestration and execution systems, lab infrastructure, signal production and analysis capabilities, and developer tooling that enable engineers across Microsoft to produce Windows and other foundational software at significant scale. 

Our systems connect source code, dependencies, compilers, security controls, artifacts, diagnostics, and distributed infrastructure across a large and continuously evolving engineering ecosystem. 

We partner with Windows product teams and Engineering Systems organizations to make builds faster, more reliable, secure, observable, and easier to use. Our work spans modern services and pipelines as well as mission-critical native tools and long-lived codebases. Improvements delivered by this team benefit thousands of developers and millions of build actions. 

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer who will provide technical leadership across Build and the broader Windows engineering ecosystem. You will define architectural direction, lead complex multi-quarter initiatives, and solve ambiguous engineering problems that span organizational and technical boundaries. You will remain deeply hands-on while influencing engineering strategy, raising technical standards, developing engineering talent, and enabling engineers and teams to deliver at greater scale. 

This role requires broad systems thinking, solid engineering judgment, and the ability to balance modernization with the compatibility and operational continuity required by foundational Windows engineering systems. You will shape how Microsoft builds software by converting recurring developer and operational challenges into durable platform capabilities, diagnostics, guardrails, and engineering practices. 

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. 

As a Principal Software Engineer on the Windows Engineering Systems Build team, you will: 

• Define and drive the technical strategy and architecture for foundational build tools, services, and engineering workflows used across Windows and partner organizations. 
• Lead multi-quarter initiatives that modernize critical engineering systems while improving reliability, performance, security, maintainability, observability, and developer experience. 
• Identify systemic opportunities across the engineering ecosystem and translate ambiguous business, developer, and operational needs into clear technical direction and durable platform investments. 
• Design and deliver solutions across build orchestration, distributed execution, caching, compilers, toolchains, dependency management, artifact production, diagnostics, and engineering infrastructure. 
• Diagnose complex and high-impact failures across organizational and technology boundaries, driving investigations from initial evidence through root cause, remediation, and prevention. 
• Establish architectural principles, engineering standards, and technical decision frameworks that enable teams to evolve critical systems safely and consistently. 
• Partner with Windows product teams, security organizations, and Engineering Systems teams to integrate new capabilities while protecting compatibility, scale, and operational continuity. 
• Establish measurable success criteria, telemetry, and operational signals that make reliability, performance, adoption, regressions, and customer impact visible. 
• Advance secure software-supply-chain practices, including dependency governance, provenance, artifact integrity, policy enforcement, and compliance automation. 
• Provide technical leadership during significant operational events, helping teams understand failure modes, make sound tradeoffs, and implement systemic reliability improvements. 
• Use and advance AI-assisted engineering workflows for investigation, implementation, review, diagnostics, and operational response while maintaining rigorous validation, security, and engineering judgment. 
• Influence technical decisions across teams and organizations by clearly communicating architecture, risks, tradeoffs, priorities, and long-term consequences to both technical and nontechnical audiences. 
• Develop and mentor engineers and technical leaders through architecture and code reviews, debugging, project leadership, career development, and thoughtful delegation of technical ownership. 
• Multiply the effectiveness of the broader engineering organization by creating reusable designs, tools, diagnostics, documentation, and engineering practices. 

• Bachelor'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 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 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, or TypeScript.
  • OR bachelor's degree in computer science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in those languages.
  • OR equivalent experience. 
• Experience defining architecture and technical strategy for complex systems used by multiple teams or organizations. 
• Experience with Windows internals, native software development, and build technologies such as C++, C#, PowerShell, MSBuild, BuildXL, Bazel, distributed build execution, or distributed caching. 
• Experience with developer infrastructure, build systems, compilers, CI/CD platforms, dependency management, or large-scale distributed services, including Azure DevOps pipelines, GitHub Actions, or comparable technologies. 
• Experience designing, building, operating, or modernizing critical software and production services at scale, including incident response, reliability, security, performance, and compatibility considerations. 
• Experience using telemetry and diagnostic technologies such as Kusto Query Language (KQL), Azure Data Explorer, Application Insights, or comparable technologies to troubleshoot complex systems and improve reliability or developer productivity. 
• Demonstrated ability to lead complex technical initiatives across organizational boundaries and influence architecture, engineering practices, and investment decisions without direct authority. 
• Demonstrated ability to communicate complex technical decisions, risks, and tradeoffs to engineering leaders, partner teams, and other stakeholders. 
• Experience developing engineers and technical leaders, creating clarity in ambiguous situations, and raising engineering capability across a team or organization. 
• Knowledge of secure development and software-supply-chain practices, including dependency governance, provenance, artifact integrity, compliance, and security automation. 
• Experience applying AI-assisted development technologies responsibly to improve engineering quality, investigation, diagnostics, or productivity. 
• Track record of converting recurring operational or developer problems into scalable platform improvements, diagnostics, automation, or engineering guardrails. 
• Experience designing, building, and delivering complex software systems, developer infrastructure, or production services. 
• Experience leading technical projects or initiatives that span multiple components, teams, or organizations. 
• Experience providing technical leadership, developing other engineers, and driving execution across complex engineering initiatives. 

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Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

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.