Principal Software Engineer
Microsoft
Microsoft is a company where passionate innovators come to collaborate, envision what can be and take their careers further. This is a world of more possibilities, more innovation, more openness, and the sky is the limit thinking in a cloud-enabled world.
Microsoft’s Azure Data engineering team is leading the transformation of analytics in the world of data with products like databases, data integration, big data analytics, messaging & real-time analytics, and business intelligence. The products our portfolio include Microsoft Fabric, Azure SQL DB, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure PostgreSQL, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Service Bus, Azure Event Grid, and Power BI. Our mission is to build the data platform for the age of AI, powering a new class of data-first applications and driving a data culture.
Within Azure Data, the databases team builds and maintains Microsoft's operational Database systems. We store and manage data in a structured way to enable multitude of applications across various industries. We are on a journey to enable developer friendly, mission-critical, AI enabled operational Databases across relational, non-relational and OSS offerings.
The Postgres Engineering team is hiring a Principal Software Engineer to help build and scale Azure Database for PostgreSQL, a globally distributed, fully managed database service.
The team is responsible for the core PostgreSQL service and its supporting platform, delivering a database offering that is secure by default, highly reliable, and deeply integrated with the Azure ecosystem. Engineers work across control‑plane and data‑plane components to ensure the service meets stringent requirements for availability, performance, scalability, and operational excellence.
In this role, you will drive the design and delivery of critical service capabilities, collaborate closely with product and platform partners, and influence engineering decisions that directly impact customer migrations, service health, and long‑term platform sustainability. This is a hands‑on role for engineers who thrive on solving hard distributed systems and database problems at cloud scale.
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.
Responsibilities
As a Principal Software Engineer with the Postgres Engineering Team, you will be responsible to :
- Lead design and implementation of database migration capabilities that enable customer adoption of Azure PostgreSQL and directly support business growth
- Own and deliver end‑to‑end features across the full engineering lifecycle, including architecture, implementation, testing, debugging, production rollout, and live‑site support
- Drive technical execution and design quality within a defined service area; make architecture trade‑offs that balance reliability, performance, and delivery timelines
- Mentor and coach engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and operational learnings, raising engineering standards and on‑call readiness
- Incorporate customer requirements, usage patterns, and live‑site signals into engineering decisions to improve reliability, scale, and usability
- Stay current with database, distributed systems, and cloud platform trends, and apply relevant improvements to service health and engineering practices
- Embody our culture and values
Qualifications
- Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related technical discipline.
- 12+ years of hands‑on software development experience using C++, Rust, C#, or an equivalent systems programming language.
- 5+ years designing, developing, and shipping system‑level features for large‑scale cloud services or backend distributed systems.
- Deep expertise in distributed systems, storage, and database architectures, with the ability to set technical direction and influence design across multiple teams.
- Proven experience building and operating cloud platforms or foundational services on Azure, AWS, or GCP, including ownership of scalability strategy, availability guarantees, and platform‑level observability.
- Experience working with PostgreSQL internals or similar enterprise‑grade database systems, sufficient to guide architecture and resolve complex production issues.
- Demonstrated ability to lead engineers and technical initiatives within a team or service, delivering reliable outcomes.
Job Requirements: Other & Additional
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.
Equal Opportunity Employer (EOP)
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations, and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form (Accessibility | Microsoft Careers).
Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.
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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.