Senior Principal Software Engineer

Microsoft; Redmond (WA); On-site; USD 163,000 - 297,000; Full time

Job summary

Join a leading company as a Senior Principal Software Engineer, shaping the future of databases in the age of AI and LLMs. Drive impactful results in a fast-paced environment, working on distributed systems, software architecture, and design. Ideal candidates will possess extensive experience, technical leadership skills, and a commitment to quality and collaboration.

Qualifications

• 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in multiple languages.
• Experience in shipping products and services.
• Strong problem solving and debugging skills.

Responsibilities

• Lead coding responsibilities as an individual contributor.
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship.
• Determine user requirements and develop design documents.

Skills

Coding in C

Coding in C++

Coding in C#

Coding in Java

Coding in JavaScript

Coding in Python

Technical Leadership

Problem Solving

Debugging

Education

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Master's Degree in Computer Science or related field

Tools

Fine Tuning

PyTorch

CUDA

Job description

We are building a planet-scale multi-modal database from the ground up. You will be part of the team that is reimagining the databases in the era of Large Language Models (LLMs) by deeply integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) into all parts of the stack.

As a Senior Principal Software Engineer, you will lead and collaborate with a team of passionate engineers, driving ideas to impactful results in a fast-paced environment. You will be working on building and using system-level software (e.g., distributed systems, operating systems, databases, networking, etc.). You are experienced in software engineering from ideation and architecture design, to writing high-quality code, to shipping.

Successful engineers in our team have problem solving, design, coding and debugging skills, drive for execution and results, rigor in delivering quality software and a desire for continuous learning. Our team values a friendly, collaborative atmosphere with a passion for technology, and we believe that a diverse team with diverse perspectives that applies empathy and uses great communication skills helps deliver superior products and is key to success. This is a great opportunity to challenge yourself, grow your career, and influence the next generation of computing at Microsoft.

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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

**Responsibilities**

+ This will be an individual contributor role with the majority of time focused on coding responsibilities.

+ Partners with appropriate stakeholders to determine user requirements for one or more complex scenarios.

+ Provides technical leadership for the identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform.

+ Leads by example and mentors others to produce extensible and maintainable code used across the company.

+ Leverages deep subject-matter expertiseof cross-product features with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., project managers) to lead multiple product's project plans, release plans, and work items.

+ Holds accountability as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI), mentoring engineers across products/solutions, working on-call to monitor system/product/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions.

+ Proactively seeks new knowledge and adapts to new trends, technical solutions, and patterns that will improve the availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance of products while also driving consistency in monitoring and operations at scale and shares knowledge with other engineers.

+ Embody our culture (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/culture) and values (https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/about/corporate-values) .

**Qualifications**

Required Qualifications

+ 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

+ Experience in shipping products and services

+ Currently programming/coding in your current or most recent role

Preferred Qualifications

+ Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science

+ OR related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript or Python

+ OR Master'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#, Java, JavaScript, or Python

+ OR equivalent experience

+ 2+ years experience in Prompt Engineering

+ Experience with Fine Tuning and PyTorch

+ Experience with CUDA

Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $163,000 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 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 10, 2025.

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 (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .