Microsoft
Principal Software Engineer
$143K–$304K
United States · On-site · Principal · Full-time · Posted Oct 19, 2026
- Experience
- 6+ years required; preferred alternatives: 8+ years with a master's degree, or 12+ years with a bachelor's degree; equivalent experience is also stated.
- Education
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
About the job
Leads engineering for Windows Core OS, developing and operating reliable software and mentoring engineers across products.
What you'll do
- Determine user requirements and lead design and dependency planning for products, applications, services, or platforms.
- Set technical direction through extensible, maintainable code and coordinate project and release plans across groups.
- Serve as an on-call Designated Responsible Individual, monitor service health, and improve reliability, availability, efficiency, observability, and performance.
What they ask for
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience.
- 6+ years of technical engineering experience coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
- Ability to meet required Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including the Microsoft Cloud Background Check.
Nice to have
- Master's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field and 8+ years of technical engineering experience; or bachelor's degree and 12+ years; or equivalent experience.
Pay
USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year (base salary); USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year (base salary, San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area)
Tools
C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python
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