Microsoft
Principal Software Engineer
$166K–$331K
United States · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Nov 3, 2026
- Experience
- 8+ years required; preferred alternatives: 12+ years with a master's degree, or 15+ years with a bachelor's degree; equivalent experience is also stated.
- Education
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field, or equivalent experience.
About the job
Leads architecture and development of Azure’s low-level virtualization and device-virtualization software, delivering high-performance, secure infrastructure for compute, networking, and storage.
What you'll do
- Define architecture and deliver foundational device-virtualization capabilities across Microsoft’s virtualization platform.
- Develop and optimize low-level systems software and networking and storage dataplanes for performance, reliability, security, and scale.
- Lead cross-team technical execution, resolve system-level issues, and mentor engineers.
What they ask for
- 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.
- Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements, including the Microsoft Cloud Background Check.
- Experience developing low-level systems software and delivering software for performance-critical, hardware-integrated infrastructure.
Nice to have
- Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience, OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15+ years technical engineering experience, OR equivalent experience.
- Experience with DPU/SmartNIC or accelerator software, hardware acceleration interfaces, cloud infrastructure, and systems performance troubleshooting.
Pay
USD $165,600 - $296,400 per year (base salary); USD $220,800 - $331,200 per year (base salary)
Tools
C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, Rust, Linux
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