Principal Software Engineer (CoreAI)

Overview

CoreAI is at the forefront of Microsoft's mission to redefine how software is built and experienced. We are responsible for building the foundational platforms, services, programming models, and developer experiences that power the next generation of applications using Generative AI. Our work enables developers and enterprises to harness the full potential of AI to create intelligent, adaptive, and transformative software.

Within CoreAI, the Future of Scalable Software Engineering (FoSSE) team is building capabilities to enable AI-enabled modernization of the world's largest code bases.

In this role, you will help define the future of software development at the largest scales. You will help build and combine static analysis and ML tools to empower AI-assisted translation and migration tasks across the world's largest bases. You will work with state-of-the-art LLMs and reasoning models, large code bases, and static analysis algorithms and advanced code parsers to enable AI agents at the largest scales.

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, and we're dedicated to this mission across every aspect of our company. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. Join us and help shape the future of the world.

Our team values a friendly, collaborative atmosphere with a passion for technology. We believe strongly that a diverse team that applies empathy and leverages high quality communication skills helps us deliver superior products and is key to our success.

Responsibilities

Drive Strategic Clarity: Leverage data-driven insights and competitive intelligence to inform product direction, identify opportunities, and guide decision-making.

Architect for Scale and Sustainability: Design and evolve durable, scalable system architectures that balance long-term maintainability with short-term delivery needs, making thoughtful engineering trade-offs.

Foster Engineering Alignment: Build consensus across engineering teams and partner organizations by driving clarity, alignment, and shared ownership of technical direction.

Build Foundational Capabilities: Contribute to and lead the development of core platform components and reusable building blocks that accelerate team velocity and product innovation.

Champion Customer-Centric Development: Engage directly with customers and product teams to capture feedback, understand demand signals, and refine product messaging-ensuring the voice of the customer shapes product evolution.

Operational Excellence: Drive operational excellence with a high bar for data quality, stability, security and privacy. Set high standards for reliability and performance.

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:

• 3+ years of experience building low-level systems Rust code.
• Hands-on experience building, shipping, and supporting software, or software-based services) with coding experience in at least two of C, C++, Java, or C#.

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:


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.