Microsoft
Principal Software Engineer
$143K–$304K
Redmond, WA · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Oct 26, 2026
- Experience
- 6+ years technical engineering experience.
- Education
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field.
About the job
Leads the technical strategy and modernization of billing and usage-processing systems for Microsoft’s SQL products, improving correctness, reliability, and operational effectiveness.
What you'll do
- Set architecture and technical strategy for billing, metering, and usage-processing pipelines across SQL products.
- Investigate production incidents and address systemic causes through lasting reliability and architectural improvements.
- Align product, commerce, and platform teams, and promote AI-assisted engineering practices across the development lifecycle.
What they ask for
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field.
- 6+ years technical engineering experience coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
- Pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
Nice to have
- Experience with large-scale distributed cloud services, billing or commerce systems, or mature production-system modernization.
- Experience leading multi-team technical strategy, production incident investigations, or adoption of AI-assisted engineering practices.
Pay
USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year (base salary); USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year (base salary)
Tools
C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, Azure SQL Database, SQL Server
AI focus
Apply AI across architecture and code understanding, development, testing, debugging, validation, incident analysis, and operational engineering; develop reusable practices for the broader engineering organization.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative