Principal Software Engineer

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As a Principal Software Engineer working on Outlook Classic, you will be bringing new Copilot-powered experiences to users around the world. A particular focus will be enhancing existing features to deliver AI capabilities. This will all be done with a focus on fundamentals and security. This opportunity will allow you to drive business results for not just Microsoft, but for all our customers and users. You will also be on the forefront of using LLMs and agents to accomplish key tasks with new solutions that people could have only dreamed of in the past.

As was said above, Outlook is used by hundreds of millions of users. This role will give you the opportunity to ship software at scale. Customer feedback, requirements gathering, implementation, experimentation, rollout, and monitoring processes must be tailored for this size of an audience, and you will learn how to do that effectively. Communication being a key aspect of the human experience, you will also get the satisfaction to see the impact of your work on people’s lives.

The features you will be working on exist in a fast-paced, agile, and quickly changing environment. You will be expected to quickly adapt and contribute in a dynamic environment, so only candidates with the required experience will be considered.

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.

Starting January 26, 2026, Microsoft AI (MAI) employees who live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. or 25-mile commute of a non-U.S., country-specific location are expected to work from the office at least four days per week. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.

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#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience shipping applications making extensive use of the Win32 API set.
  
• 5+ years of experience shipping applications making use of the MAPI API set.

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 related technical field AND 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
  • OR 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#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience.

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: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until October 16, 2025.

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• Partners with appropriate stakeholders to determine user requirements for a set of scenarios.
• Leads identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform.
• Leads by example and mentors others to produce extensible and maintainable code used across products.
• Leverages subject-matter expertise of cross-product features with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., project managers) to drive multiple group's project plans, release plans, and work items.
• Holds accountability as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI), mentoring engineers across products/solutions.
• Participates in live site duties to ensure service availability, including team on-call rotations and other customer support-related investigations.
• Proactively seeks new knowledge and adapts 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 shares knowledge with other engineers.