New

Principal Software Engineer

Microsoft
$139,900.00 - $274,800.00 / yr
United States, Washington, Redmond
Jan 26, 2026
Overview Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. The MSAI (Microsoft Search, Assistant and Intelligence) team is doing this by leveraging Artificial Intelligence (AI) at the center of its mission through Copilotfor M365 to enable unbounded efficiency and productivity for all our customers. We are looking to bring talented Principal Software Engineers to come work with us on the Researcher team. You will be working closely with science teams to enhance the core orchestration platform, enable new model powered capabilities (as new Deep Reasoningmodels are developed) and enable Researcher to be an awesome end-end experience across all Desktop and Mobile canvases for Text, Image, Audio and other multi modal formats. This role will be focused on the backend service stack for Researcher and you willbe working in a multi discipline, high agility and dynamic team to rapidly innovate against competitive offerings from industry. Researcher will also become a gateway to create new content across many format types (Output slides, Pod Casts, PDF's, Videos)in close partnership with the OPG team. 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 Designs, builds and enables new service capabilities for the Researcher agent to enhance Quality of output, enhancing feature set that the LLM can reason over improve the scale of the Researcher Agents Partners with Science, PM and Design counterparts to understand product requirements and latest trends in industry to drive architectural changes as required to improve scale, reliability and agility of the Product Engages with customers (through various channels) and participates with PM and Science teams as part of Root cause analysis of customer issues / DSAT's to drive improvements into products. Provides Technical leadership to junior members of the team, scales learnings to broader product group. Defines success metrics and enhances success metrics based on platform / product evolution. Proactively seeks new knowledge across the industry and is highly adaptable to bring learnings to product quickly. Qualifications Required Qualifications: Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent 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. Preferred Qualifications: 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#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR 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 equivalent experience. Experience with LLM's Software Engineering IC5 - 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 This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled. Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. 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 with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.