Principal Software Engineer
Microsoft
Overview
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. In Consumer Marketing, we bring that mission to life by transforming how customers discover, compare, and buy across our consumer web experiences.
We are seeking a strategic Director, Web Development to own the end-to-end engineering execution for our consumer marketing web ecosystem. This leader will oversee front-end and back-end development, drive compliance and governance updates, and ensure our web platforms are secure, performant, accessible, and scalable across global markets. The role manages a multi-million annual budget and leads an outsourced delivery organization of 60+ developers, partnering closely with Product, Design, Analytics, Security, Privacy, Legal, and Engineering to ship high-quality experiences with measurable business impact.
Responsibilities
Key Responsibilities
Own end-to-end web engineering delivery across front-end, back-end, and platform capabilities that enable modern consumer marketing experiences, with clear milestones, release discipline, and quality gates.
Set the technical direction and reference architecture for scalable, secure, high-performing web experiences, including frameworks, APIs, integration patterns, CI/CD, and operational readiness.
Lead compliance execution and governance in partnership with Security, Privacy, Legal, and Accessibility teams, ensuring continuous readiness for audits, policy changes, and remediation timelines.
Drive site health and customer experience excellence by improving performance (Core Web Vitals), reliability, monitoring, incident response, and post-launch validation across devices and locales.
Establish engineering standards and ways of working including code quality, automated testing (unit/integration/E2E), documentation, change management, and continuous improvement rituals.
Manage a $6M+ annual budget with strong forecasting, prioritization, and ROI accountability, ensuring investments translate to measurable delivery outcomes.
Lead and optimize an outsourced team of 60+ developers through clear operating models, capacity planning, performance management, and delivery accountability across partner agencies.
Partner cross-functionally to translate strategy into buildable plans, aligning with Web Strategy, Design, Content, and Analytics on requirements, tradeoffs, risks, and executive communications.
Qualifications
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.
Experience leading large outsourced or distributed teams at scale (50+ is strongly preferred), including performance management and delivery governance.
Experience owning of large budgets, vendor contracts, and operating models with strong financial and prioritization discipline.
Understanding of modern web architectures, APIs, content delivery patterns, CI/CD, monitoring, and operational excellence.
Track record of driving security, privacy, and accessibility compliance in partnership with cross-functional stakeholders.
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
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.