Microsoft

Microsoft

Posted via Microsoft Careers

Principal Software Engineer

Posted Aug 20, 2026

Role at a glance

Salary
$165.6K – $296.4K/yr
Location
Redmond, Washington, United States Mountain View, California, United States
Work arrangement
On-site
Employment
Full-time
Education
Bachelor's, Master's

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About the role

Original posting provided by Microsoft

View original
Overview

Team Purpose

Would you be excited about building a global-scale, Kubernetes-based service platform that powers Microsoft's productivity workloads? Do you want to lead a team of talented and motivated engineers who use cutting-edge technology and best practices to deliver high-quality solutions? If so, join us on the COSMIC team and help us shape the future of Microsoft's cloud infrastructure. 

The COSMIC team, part of the M365 Substrate Core organization, has a bold mission to standardize how we deliver services and build a modern Kubernetes-based compute fabric with turn-key geo-presence, security, high availability, fault isolation and automated cloud build out. COSMIC, which stands for Containers on Substrate-Managed Intelligent Clusters, is a strategic bet we are making to modernize our compute platform and improve the agility, security, compliance, and COGS of our services in the Experience and Devices division.  

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to help us take the platform to the next level and deliver on our promises of fabric unification and turn-key developer experience. 

Job Purpose

In this role you will be working with multiple teams across COSMIC and M365 Substrate Core defining and building solutions to deliver a high-level, prescriptive geo-scale application platform which standardizes how we deliver enterprise-ready services to the Microsoft cloud. 

This opportunity will allow you to work extensively with Microsoft Azure technologies while also using industry standard open source such as Kubernetes and related components. You will provide effective mentoring and technical leadership and will also have opportunities to collaborate with numerous teams across Microsoft and have significant impact on hundreds of critical Microsoft services running on the COSMIC platform. 

This is a flexible work opportunity and there is an option to work fully remotely. 

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. 



Responsibilities
  • Partners with appropriate stakeholders to determine user requirements for one or more complex scenarios. 

  • Provides technical leadership for the identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform. 

  • Leads by example and mentors others to produce extensible and maintainable code used across the company. 

  • Leverages deep subject-matter expertise of cross-product features with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., project managers) to lead multiple product's project plans, release plans, and work items. 

  • Holds accountability as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI), mentoring engineers across products/solutions, working on-call to monitor system/product/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions. 

  • Proactively seeks new knowledge and adapts to new trends, technical solutions, and patterns that will improve the availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance of products while also driving consistency in monitoring and operations at scale and shares knowledge with other engineers. 



Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

  • Bachelor'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 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 Qualifications:

  • Master'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 Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python 
    • OR equivalent experience.


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.

Microsoft

About the company

Microsoft

Large Enterprise

Microsoft is a global technology leader that empowers individuals and organizations to achieve more through innovative software, services, and devices. Founded in 1975, the company is best known for its flagship products like the Windows operating system and Microsoft Office suite. In addition to personal computing, Microsoft is a leader in cloud computing with its Azure platform, providing a range of solutions for businesses to enhance productivity and efficiency. With a strong commitment to sustainability and accessibility, Microsoft continues to drive technological advancements that shape the future of work and learning.