Principal Software Engineer
Microsoft · Posted Oct 23
Software, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and hardware services
Get a personal compatibility score
Add a resume for personal matches
About the role
The Future of Scalable Software Engineering (FoSSE) team in Microsoft's CoreAI division builds AI agents that transform some of the world's largest codebases, including Windows and Azure, combining agentic automation with static analysis, testing, and formal verification. The team began in Microsoft Research and continues to collaborate closely with it, working on migration at scale (e.g., x86 to ARM, CodeQL remediation), legacy C/C++ and C# to Rust modernization, and specification-driven development using TLA+, F*, Lean, and Verus. This role leads the design and delivery of agentic tools and infrastructure for one or more of these problem areas, from architecture to production adoption.
What you will do
- Lead the design and delivery of agentic tools and infrastructure for one or more of our problem areas (such as migration at scale, language modernization, or specification-driven development).
- Set technical direction for a problem area end to end, from architecture to production adoption.
- Architect systems that let a small expert team drive transformations across hundreds of millions of lines of code.
- Define the validation strategies and quality bars that make agent-produced changes trustworthy at scale.
- Lead cross-organizational efforts with partner teams, such as Windows, Azure, compiler, and security teams, and with the research community.
- Turn ambiguous, fast-moving problems into roadmaps while staying flexible as models improve.
- Mentor senior engineers and raise the engineering bar across the team.
- Represent the team externally through talks, papers, and our blog.
Skills used in this role
What the employer is looking for
- Bachelor's degree in computer science or related areas and 10+ years of experience. Or a Master’s degree with 8+ years of experience. Or a PhD in computer science or related areas with 5+ years of experience.
- Experience coding in languages such as C, C++, C#, or Rust.
- Experience building developer tools using LLM-based agents.
- Experience with compilers and program analysis.
- Excellent technical design, problem-solving, and debugging skills.
- Strong communication and collaboration skills, customer obsession, and a passion for shipping high-quality products.
Preferred qualifications
- Experience with Rust and C/C++ interop and memory safety.
- Experience testing at scale, such as differential testing, property-based testing, or fuzzing.
- Experience with formal methods such as TLA+, model checking, F*, Lean, Verus, Dafny, or similar.
- Experience working with very large codebases and build systems.
- Interest or experience in human-AI interaction and developer experience design.
- Experience leading research-to-production transitions.
- Track record of leading technical efforts across teams or organizations.
- Publications or open-source contributions are a plus.
Benefits and support
- Compensation and benefits are detailed in the job posting
About Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is a multinational technology company that develops, licenses, and supports a wide range of software products, services, and hardware devices. Best known for its Windows operating systems, Microsoft 365 productivity suite, and Xbox gaming consoles, the company has expanded heavily into enterprise cloud computing via Azure and advanced artificial intelligence solutions. As one of the world's most valuable public enterprises, it empowers individuals and businesses globally through innovative digital transformation.
- Industry
- Software
- Company size
- 228,000+ employees
- Founded
- April 4, 1975
- Location
- Redmond, Washington, USA
- Funding stage
- Public Company
Leadership
Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
Chief Financial Officer
Vice Chair and President
Recent coverage
GeekWire
Microsoft unveils tools to monitor and corral rogue AI agentsOctober 19, 2026
Futurum Group
Microsoft Expands Sovereign Cloud Capabilities Across Public and Private EcosystemsOctober 20, 2026
BGR
Microsoft asks certain Xbox Series X/S owners to sell consoles back to Best Buy amid component cost pressuresOctober 20, 2026