Principal Software Engineer, Cloud Services - Microsoft Gaming

Microsoft Casual Games develops some of the most popular and enduring games in the world. From Solitaire to Sudoku, Minesweeper to Mahjong, for over 30 years Casual Games has delighted players of all ages with exciting, gameplay on Windows, iOS, Android, and the Web.

As Principal Software Engineer you will be responsible for designing, implementing and shipping services at the core of our Casual Gaming portfolio and platform. You will apply all your experience shipping software and services, from prototyping, through development into successful launch and onward into live operations, using a range of Microsoft and Open-Source tools and systems, supported by bleeding-edge services such as Generative AI. You will gain expertise in all aspects of game development and operation. You will thrive in our rich, creative, multi-disciplinary game-studio environment - collaborating closely with other engineers, production, design, and marketing - together shaping vision, planning, and executing on time on quality. Join us and take a leading role in creating our next great game.

Responsibilities:

• Lead architectural design for often complex, Microsoft-scale services, document and plan dependencies, trade-offs, and long-term scalability.
• Define, build and maintain high-quality, maintainable, secure production-ready code.
• Provide expert mentorship and guidance to the engineering team through collaboration, review, building process and more. Leads by example and mentors others to produce extensible and maintainable code used across the company.
• Leverages deep subject-matter expertise of 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.

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
• 4+ years building online services for Live-Service Games, Gaming, Web, and/or SaaS platforms
• 5+ years of experience designing secure and scalable services on Azure or AWS

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master'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 Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience
• 2+ shipped video games on PC, console and/or mobile
• Proven experience driving architectural and technical discussion with cross-discipline leadership

Other Qualifications:

• Ability to meet Microsoft, 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.

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: ;br>
Microsoft will accept applications for the role until November 10, 2025.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form .

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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