Principal Software Engineer

Microsoft

Microsoft

Software Engineering

Redmond, WA, USA

USD 142,800-274,800 / year

Posted on May 19, 2026
Overview
As the Principal Software Engineer and technical lead, you will define the long‑term technical vision for our location services and geospatial platform, drive architectural decisions across teams, and ensure our services meet stringent reliability, scalability, and performance requirements. You will partner with engineering, product, and operations leaders to deliver mission‑critical capabilities that power our global ecosystem. This role sits at the intersection of AI, Search, and Geospatial Intelligence, driving mission‑critical location services that fuel both consumer experiences (Copilot, Ads, Bing and Bing Places), and commercial partner platforms across Microsoft Products such as Azure, Office and Windows.
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.


Responsibilities

  • Lead design and implementation for large‑scale services, ensuring resiliency, observability, and operational excellence.

  • Drive cross‑team alignment on platform strategy, APIs, and integration patterns.

  • Mentor junior engineers and influence engineering culture across the org.

  • Partner with TPMs to define roadmaps, manage dependencies, and de‑risk execution.

  • Lead deep technical investigations, incident reviews, and long‑term reliability improvements.

  • Champion agentic coding and automation, build high‑leverage engineering systems and raise the quality bar.



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.

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 Qualification:

  • 5+ years building and scaling distributed online services.
  • Demonstrated ability to influence across multiple engineering orgs.
  • Demonstrated ability to manage complex dependencies and deliver results across multiple engineering and project teams.
  • Excellent communication, stakeholder management, and conflict‑resolution skills.
  • Expert in service architecture, cloud infrastructure, and data‑intensive systems.
  • Familiarity with location services, geospatial data, online services, and data pipelines is a strong plus.

#MicrosoftAI



Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $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.

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