Microsoft
Principal Software Engineer
$143K–$304K
Redmond, WA · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Oct 28, 2026
- Experience
- 6+ years of technical engineering experience; preferred alternatives include a master’s degree and 6+ years, or a bachelor’s degree and 8+ years, or equivalent experience.
- Education
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related technical field, or equivalent experience.
About the job
Build and operate scalable backend systems for long-running agents and multi-model experiences in Microsoft 365 Copilot, including evaluation and production reliability.
What you'll do
- Define architecture and technical strategy for agentic and multi-model Copilot capabilities.
- Build, ship, and operate distributed backend services; develop evaluation methodologies and experimentation frameworks.
- Lead cross-team initiatives and promote engineering practices, mentoring, and responsible AI-assisted development.
What they ask for
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science or related technical field and 6+ years of technical engineering experience coding in languages including 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.
Nice to have
- Experience designing and operating large-scale distributed systems, cloud services, or production platforms.
- Experience with production AI systems, AI evaluation, prompt management, responsible AI, or agentic 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, large language models, retrieval-augmented generation
AI focus
Build long-running agentic capabilities and multi-model experiences; develop production AI evaluations and promote responsible AI-assisted and agentic engineering.
Model-written summary · the original posting is authoritative