Software Engineer II

Are you passionate about Linux operating systems, bare-metal systems, and building reliable infrastructure across diverse cloud and hardware environments? Do you want to help define how modern server fleets are provisioned, updated, recovered, and operated across partner clouds and third-party hardware? We are part of Microsoft’s Cloud Native Platforms Group. Within the Azure Linux OS Lifecycle team, we are building the future of Linux in the cloud and at the edge through the Azure Container Linux distribution.

In this role, you will design and build the platform capabilities required to create, provision, service, and operate Azure Container Linux on bare-metal systems. You will work across OS image creation, hardware enablement, unattended provisioning, secure OS updates, rollback and recovery, platform firmware lifecycle, qualification, observability, and fleet health. You will work with engineers across Microsoft and with external partners to solve systems problems and turn platform-specific integrations into reusable capabilities. These systems will help modernize Linux engineering and production fleets supporting SQL Server and data platforms, cloud-native services, and emerging AI and accelerator-based infrastructure. If you enjoy Linux systems engineering, solving problems across hardware and software boundaries, and building reliable platforms that operate at fleet scale, we would like to hear from you.

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.

• Design, build, deploy, and iterate on Azure Container Linux bare-metal platform capabilities across partner clouds and third-party server hardware.
• Drive the end-to-end machine lifecycle, including Azure Container Linux image creation, hardware bring-up, unattended OS provisioning, secure OS updates, rollback and recovery, and platform firmware update workflows.
• Develop portable integration layers and automation that account for differences in boot environments, storage and networking configurations, hardware management interfaces, firmware behavior, and partner cloud control planes.
• Build qualification, observability, and fleet-health systems that validate OS and firmware changes, detect regressions, diagnose failures, and support safe deployment across heterogeneous hardware at scale.
• Partner with cloud providers, server and component vendors, Microsoft workload teams, and internal infrastructure teams to bring up new platforms, resolve complex systems issues, and turn platform-specific learnings into durable Azure Container Linux improvements.
• Enable the modernization of Linux engineering and production fleets that support SQL Server and data platforms, cloud-native services, and emerging AI and accelerator-based infrastructure across cloud and edge environments.

Required Qualifications:

Software Engineering IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $102,100 - $202,200 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 $133,800 - $219,200 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.