Principal Software Engineering Manager

Microsoft; United States; Remote; USD 139,000 - 275,000; Full time

Job summary

Microsoft is seeking a Principal Software Engineering Manager to lead the Azure configuration distribution platform. This high-impact role requires expertise in distributed systems, with responsibilities including guiding teams, optimizing code, and setting performance standards in a dynamic cloud environment.

Qualifications

• 6+ years engineering experience in languages including C, C++, C#, or Rust.
• 4+ years experience in cloud based services.
• 2+ years people management experience.

Responsibilities

• Guide teams in identifying user requirements and dependencies.
• Drive adoption of configuration distribution standards and best practices.
• Lead product development for scalability and performance.

Skills

Distributed Systems

C

C++

C#

Rust

People Management

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

Master's Degree in Computer Science

Job description

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Ready to lead a foundational system that powers Azure? We’re hiring a Principal Software Engineering Manager to lead the team behind Azure’s configuration distribution platform—a foundational service critical to how configurations are delivered across our cloud. This is a high-impact role for someone who thrives on solving tough distributed systems challenges, growing engineering teams, and building reliable infrastructure that other services depend on every day.

Our mission is to standardize and scale configuration distribution across Azure, making it more reliable, secure, and efficient in a constantly evolving cloud environment. This isn’t just another backend service—it’s a platform that underpins how services across Azure operate, deploy, and stay resilient. Configuration distribution is one of the hardest problems in cloud-scale systems. Services today run on dynamic fleets of microservices, containers, and virtual machines, deployed across multiple regions and zones. These fleets are in constant flux—scaling up, down, and redeploying with minimal notice. Ensuring that every instance gets the right configuration at the right time is critical for system reliability, security, and operational speed.

You’ll be leading a team that’s solving these challenges head-on—designing scalable systems, working across org boundaries, and laying down the foundation for service teams to build with confidence. If you're ready to lead from the front, make technical and organizational impact, and shape the future of Azure’s infrastructure, we’d love to talk.

This Principal Software Engineering Manager position offers a unique opportunity to lead a high-impact team developing a foundational service within Azure’s cloud ecosystem. This role involves building and scaling distributed systems that are central to service reliability, configuration management, and platform consistency across Azure. You will work alongside experienced engineers and technical leaders, contributing to strategic decisions and driving execution across a broad technical surface area. The role supports both technical depth and leadership development, offering exposure to complex engineering challenges, cross-functional collaboration, and customer-centric design. As a people and technology leader, you will guide a team through data-informed development, leveraging both qualitative feedback and quantitative signals to deliver solutions that meet real user needs. With organizational backing, a clear technical charter, and flexibility for up to 100% remote work, this role provides a foundation for long-term growth in both technical and leadership dimensions.

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.

Responsibilities

• Guides partnership with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., project manager, technical lead) to determine user requirements within and across teams.
• Guides teams and leads identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform.
• Drive adoption of configuration distribution standard and best practices for configuration distribution in Azure. Collaborate with stakeholders across the organization to evangelize the benefits of distributed systems and facilitate their adoption.
• Optimizes, debugs, refactors, and reuses code to improve performance and maintainability, effectiveness, and return on investment (ROI).
• Guides team to drive multiple group's project plans, release plans, and work items in coordination with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., project managers).
• Guides team and acts as an expert for Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) and monitors other engineers across product lines, working on call to monitor system/product/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions.
• Leads product development and scaling to customer requirements and applies best practices for meeting scaling needs and performance expectations and holds accountability for products that do not meet expectations.
  
  

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, or related technical discipline AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, or Rust
• OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ years of coding/designing experience in distributed systems cloud based services.
• 2+ years people management experience.
  

Other Requirements

• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:
• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.
  

Additional Or Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science OR related technical field AND 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, or Rust
• OR Master'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#, or Rust
• OR equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of coding/designing experience in distributed systems cloud based services.
• 4+ years people management experience.
  

Software Engineering M5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 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

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until June 27, 2025.

#azurecorejobs

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.

Seniority level

• Seniority level

  Not Applicable

Employment type

• Employment type

  Full-time

Job function

• Job function

  Engineering and Information Technology

• Industries

  Software Development

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