Principal Software Engineer

Our team is at the forefront of transforming digital advertising through intelligent automation and large-scale optimization. We design and build the auto-bidding platform that powers real-time ad auctions across Microsoft’s marketplaces—leveraging cutting-edge AI, machine learning, and large-scale distributed systems to bid on behalf of millions of advertisers.Our systems process billions of auction events daily, optimizing bids in milliseconds to maximize performance and return on ad spend. Engineers and scientists work hand-in-hand, blending algorithmic innovation, reinforcement learning, and large-scale data pipelines to create the intelligence that drives Microsoft Advertising’s success.

We’re looking for a Principal Software Engineer who thrives at the intersection of AI systems, real-time decision-making, and scalable cloud infrastructure. You’ll help shape the next generation of our agentic auto-bidding platform — one that learns, adapts, and optimizes autonomously. Your work will directly influence advertiser ROI and drive billions of dollars in revenue across Bing, MSN, and the Microsoft ecosystem.

We are looking for a collaborative and motivated Principal Software Engineer to help shape the future of the Bing Ads auction platform—the core system that powers ad delivery. In this role, you’ll lead technical direction, solve complex engineering challenges, and work across teams to build scalable, reliable solutions. 

As a Principal Software Engineer, you’ll drive projects from concept to delivery, influence technical decisions across multiple teams, and collaborate with engineering, product, design, and applied science partners. You’ll help modernize the advertising platform while improving performance, developer productivity, and AI-powered advertising capabilities. 

This role is a great fit for someone who enjoys solving large-scale distributed systems problems, leading through technical expertise, and building platforms that have a global impact on advertisers and users. 

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.

Collaborate with data scientists, ML engineers, and product teams to define requirements for agentic AI-driven bidding capabilities that observe, reason, and adapt autonomously.Architect and implement the next-generation agentic bidding platform, enabling AI agents to monitor marketplace signals, interpret advertiser and user behavior, and continuously optimize bidding strategies.Build large-scale data validation and quality frameworks to ensure correctness, consistency, and reliability across all auction-critical signals feeding the AI agents.Act as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI): drive operational excellence, incident management, on-call readiness, and high-availability practices for mission-critical bidding services.Develop experimentation and simulation frameworks to validate agent behavior and optimize policies before deployment in live auctions.Proactively adopt new patterns, technologies, and engineering practices to improve availability, efficiency, performance, and scalability across the bidding stack.Set technical direction, mentor engineers, and foster a culture of high-quality execution, innovation, and accountability.Explore and invest in emerging AI techniques — multi-agent systems, adaptive optimization—to enhance the autonomy, intelligence, and impact of the bidding platform.

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.

Preferred 

• 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 Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of hands-on experience with large-scale streaming platforms such as Apache Spark or Flink.
• 4+ years of experience as a technical lead, including mentoring and guiding engineers.
• 7+ years of experience developing and deploying large-scale distributed systems in production environments.
• 7+ years of hands-on experience in machine learning operations (MLOps), including pipeline automation, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• Domain knowledge and experience building large scale distributed bidding or auction platforms.
• Experience building real world applications using AI techniques.

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.

#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

Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 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.