Software Engineer II – AI Platform Development (Azure PostgreSQL)

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Are you an engineer eager to deepen your expertise in the inner workings of large-scale database systems? Are you excited to learn from experienced mentors, contribute to core platform code, and help advance the performance, reliability, and scalability of PostgreSQL in the cloud? We are looking for a Software Engineer II who is curious, driven, and ready to make an impact on how Azure PostgreSQL delivers robust best in class cloud database systems for demanding workloads. This is a high-impact opportunity to shape foundational systems and features that underpin applications and services for developers worldwide.

About the Team

We are a fast-growing, highly collaborative team dedicated to advancing the capabilities of modern database systems and empowering developers through deep technical innovation. Our work covers essential areas of database systems internals, including storage architecture, memory management, high-performance query processing, replication technologies, and robust distributed systems design. We believe that groundbreaking progress emerges at the intersection of rigorous systems engineering, thoughtful collaboration, and bold experimentation. Our inclusive, high-performing culture values diverse viewpoints, continuous technical growth, and an unwavering commitment to excellence that drives impactful results throughout the database technology landscape.

We do not just value differences or different perspectives. We seek them out and invite them in so we can tap into the collective power of everyone in the company. As a result, our customers are better served.

Why This Role Is Unique

• Technical Depth: Work at the intersection of research and production in one of the most technically demanding areas of cloud infrastructure: relational databases on a global scale.

• Mentorship and Growth: You’ll work alongside and learn from senior engineers and domain experts in distributed systems, databases, and cloud platforms. They’ll mentor and support you as you build your skills, deepen your expertise, and grow into a trusted contributor to real-world systems.

• Impact and Learning: Your work will ship to production and serve real users. You’ll learn how world-class engineering teams operate and how to turn great ideas into durable, scalable systems.

• Community and Culture: Be part of a collaborative, inclusive, and high-performing team that values intellectual curiosity, academic excellence, and real-world impact.
  

Required Qualifications

• Doctorate (or currently pursuing) in relevant field,
  • OR equivalent experience.
• Technical fundamentals in distributed systems, concurrency, cloud-native architecture, or database internals.
• 2+ year(s) of professional or academic experience in database systems internals.

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 with high performance native software engineering with C, C++, or Rust.
• Past research or engineering projects in database internals areas, such as storage engines, transaction management, and query optimization.
• Familiarity with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, GCP) and open-source communities.

Software Engineering IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $100,600 - $199,000 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 $131,400 - $215,400 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

Microsoft will accept applications and processes offers for these roles on an ongoing basis.

• Drives the architecture and development of core PostgreSQL database internals including storage engines, transaction management, indexing strategies, and query optimization, to enhance performance, reliability, and scalability in cloud environments.
• Innovates on cloud-native PostgreSQL features such as automated scaling, high availability, multi-region deployments, distributed query processing, backup/restore.
• Collaborates closely with infrastructure and platform teams to optimize resource management, security, and cost efficiency for PostgreSQL services in Azure.
• Contributes high-quality code, technical documentation, and engineering best practices to the development and maintenance of cloud-native PostgreSQL, upholding reliability, scalability, and usability for developers and enterprise customers.
• Engages with the PostgreSQL open-source community and cloud-native ecosystem to align with industry advancements and continuously evolve the offering for next-generation workloads.