Software Engineer

Come build community, explore your passions, and do your best work. 

The Windows Servicing and Delivery (WSD) organization is responsible for delivering protected, productive, and predictable servicing experiences for Windows customers around the world. As security threats evolve and engineering systems grow in scale and complexity, WSD is investing in intelligent automation, large-scale quality analytics, and AI-powered validation platforms that improve the speed, quality, transparency, and reliability of the monthly security fixes delivered across the Windows ecosystem. 

The Validation team plays a critical role in validating Windows servicing releases, including the monthly security fixes shipped to customers. The team develops and operates modern validation platforms, automation frameworks, telemetry systems, and AI-powered engineering solutions that help identify regressions, quantify release quality, and reduce deployment risk across consumer, enterprise, cloud, and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) environments. 

Our mission is to help engineering teams make better release decisions faster through trusted validation signals, actionable insights, scalable automation, durable platform services, and responsible use of AI technologies. By transforming validation from a collection of isolated tests into an intelligent engineering platform, we help ensure that monthly Windows security releases meet rigorous standards for reliability, security, and customer quality. 

As a Software Engineer on the Validation team, you will contribute to software, services, automation systems, and AI-enabled solutions that improve validation effectiveness, engineering productivity, and the quality of monthly Windows security releases. 

You will work with experienced engineers, validation specialists, and cross-functional partners to design, implement, test, deploy, and maintain cloud services, automation frameworks, telemetry pipelines, quality analytics platforms, and agent-based engineering experiences used to assess release readiness and security-fix quality. 

This role provides an opportunity to build expertise in cloud-native services, engineering productivity systems, AI-assisted development workflows, large-scale reliability analysis, and modern validation technologies while helping deliver monthly Windows security updates at global scale. 

In this role, you will help modernize how the quality of Windows security fixes is validated and measured at scale. Your contributions will improve validation efficiency, strengthen confidence in monthly security releases, accelerate issue detection, and help deliver secure, reliable, and high-quality Windows updates to customers around the world.

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.

Software Development 

• Design, implement, test, deploy, and maintain software components that support Windows validation and readiness for monthly security releases. 
• Contribute to cloud-native services and automation platforms that improve validation coverage, scalability, reliability, and engineering efficiency. 
• Develop APIs, workflow integrations, dashboards, and services that enable the collection, processing, and analysis of quality signals. 

Validation Platform Engineering 

• Build and enhance automation frameworks used to validate monthly Windows security fixes across diverse hardware, software, and deployment environments. 
• Improve mechanisms that detect regressions, identify quality risks, and surface actionable insights earlier in the monthly security-release process. 
• Contribute to systems that increase validation signal quality and reduce manual analysis effort. 

AI and Intelligent Engineering 

• Use AI-assisted development tools, including GitHub Copilot and agentic engineering workflows, to improve engineering productivity and software quality. 
• Contribute to AI-powered solutions that automate repetitive engineering activities, improve investigation workflows, and accelerate root cause analysis. 
• Participate in the development of agent-based engineering experiences that improve validation, reliability analysis, and operational efficiency. 

Telemetry and Analytics 

• Use data and telemetry to understand system behavior, identify trends, measure validation effectiveness, and support data-driven decisions for monthly security-release readiness. 
• Develop dashboards, visualizations, and reporting capabilities that provide visibility into security-fix quality, test effectiveness, release readiness, and operational health. 
• Work with large-scale engineering datasets to improve quality insights and confidence in monthly Windows security releases. 

Service Reliability and Operations 

• Participate in supporting validation services and platforms in production environments. 
• Assist with investigation and mitigation of service issues, operational incidents, and reliability concerns. 
• Contribute durable fixes, automation, documentation, and monitoring improvements that reduce operational burden and improve platform resiliency. 
• Engineering Excellence 
• Participate in design reviews, code reviews, testing activities, and operational reviews. 
• Follow engineering best practices for reliability, observability, maintainability, security, and responsible AI development. 
• Continuously improve engineering processes, development workflows, and platform capabilities. 

Collaboration 

• Partner with engineering teams, release teams, servicing organizations, and functional stakeholders to improve validation outcomes and accelerate issue resolution for monthly security releases. 
• Communicate technical concepts clearly and contribute effectively within a highly collaborative engineering environment. 

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, or related technical discipline with proven experience 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

• Experience developing software applications, services, application programming interface (APIs), automation systems, or engineering tools. 
• Experience with one or more modern programming languages such as C#, Python, Java, C++, or similar languages. 
• Experience working with cloud services, distributed systems, or modern software development practices. 
• Understanding of software design, debugging, testing, and code quality principles. 
• Experience using source control systems, Continuous Integration/Continuous Delivery (CI/CD) pipelines, and modern software engineering workflows. 
• Effective problem-solving, analytical, and communication skills.
• Experience developing solutions using Microsoft Azure services. 
• Experience with Kubernetes, containerized workloads, or cloud-native architecture. 
• Experience with telemetry, analytics, Kusto (KQL), Power BI, or large-scale engineering data analysis. 
• Experience building engineering productivity tools, automation systems, validation frameworks, or quality analytics platforms. 
• Experience with software testing methodologies, validation systems, release readiness workflows, or quality engineering practices. 
• Experience using AI-assisted development tools and modern engineering productivity technologies. 
• Familiarity with large language models, retrieval systems, agentic workflows, MCP integrations, or intelligent automation solutions.
• Experience supporting production services and participating in operational excellence initiatives. 

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Software Engineering IC2 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $85,400 - $168,100 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 $111,100 - $183,700 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.