Senior Software Engineer
Microsoft
Senior Software Engineer
Belgrade, Serbia
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Overview
Join Microsoft Word at the Microsoft Development Center Serbia (MDCS), a collaborative team that welcomes creative problem-solvers excited to shape the future of Word - You'll work on state-of-the-art services, platforms, distributed systems, user experiences, and modern technologies that power the next generation of productivity for hundreds of millions of users.
We’re hiring a Senior or Principal Software Engineer (C/C++) to do deep systems work in a large, long-lived native codebase - the Word layout engine, a core aspect of how documents are visualized and interacted with across platforms and devices. You’ll shape architecture, ship critical components, and deliver measurable improvements in fidelity, performance, security, and reliability, collaborating with partners across Microsoft worldwide.
We’re looking for creative and driven engineers who work iteratively and data-driven, generating clarity in ambiguity, telling compelling technical stories, and raising others through mentorship and inclusion. You’ll champion and demonstrate AI-driven workflows that enhance engineering productivity and quality and help us redefine the future of documents across all platforms and devices.
Join us to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more.
What we offer
- Impact at scale: Power Word experiences for hundreds of millions of users.
- Real systems challenges: Work on the Word layout and rendering engine - redefining how documents are visualized and laid out for performance, reliability, and cross-platform consistency.
- Growth: Technical leadership opportunities (architecture + people) and mentorship.
- Modern engineering: Telemetry, experimentation, secure-by-design practices, and continuous integration and validation at Microsoft scale, with AI-augmented development.
- Culture: Respect, integrity, accountability - and a supportive environment that values learning, experimentation, and continuous improvement, where you’re energized, empowered, and supported to do your best work.
Qualifications
Required/Minimum Qualifications:
- Proven track record shipping C/C++ in complex systems; strong fundamentals (algorithms, concurrency, memory, performance).
- Evidence of architecting within large codebases and delivering critical components that others build on.
- Experience leading multi-engineer efforts; crisp written and verbal communication in English.
- Demonstrated data-driven decision-making (telemetry, benchmarking, experimentation) and operational rigor.
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.
Additional or Preferred Qualifications:
- Experience with layout/rendering engines, performance profiling, or other low-level systems domains.
- Modern C++ knowledge, large-scale build/CI, and secure coding practices.
- BS/MS in CS/EE/Math or equivalent practical experience.
Responsibilities
- Design, build, and ship C/C++ components that improve fidelity, performance, reliability, security, and efficiency—owning the full lifecycle (design → implementation → testing → roll-out → observability).
- Architect within constraints of a large, mature codebase; create designs that unblock other teams and promote healthy engineering patterns.
- Iterate with data: add/interpret telemetry, write benchmarks, run experiments; make well-reasoned trade-offs.
- Own an area end-to-end: map work, risks, and dependencies; drive execution across multiple engineers; resolve conflicts systematically.
- Collaborate globally with partner teams to align quickly and land impactful decisions.
- Raise the bar: mentor and coach; foster an inclusive, learning-oriented environment; energize and empower your team through clarity, storytelling, and meaningful work.
- Champion AI adoption: lead by example - use, demonstrate, and scale AI-driven development that improves iteration speed, decision quality, and team impact.
- Challenge the status quo thoughtfully; introduce new ideas and systematic improvements to long-standing systems.
- Stay grounded - be curious, data-driven, and open to being proven wrong while seeking the best long-term outcomes.