Principal Software Engineering Manager

We are proud of our collaborative culture and our track record of delivering results at scale, and we are seeking an experienced Principal Software Engineering Manager to help deliver the next generation of capabilities for the platform. In this role, you will act as a coach, guide, collaborator, and engineer -developing people and team identity, defining and delivering business and technical goals, building strong cross-team partnerships, and owning the reliability, scalability, resilience, and cost of critical services.

As a Principal Software Engineering Manager, you will lead a team working on a strategic initiative focused on driving efficiency and strengthening core fundamentals across the Microsoft 365 Copilot stack, with the goal of unlocking significant improvements for customers. Key engineering efforts include partnering closely with other teams to analyze service metrics, identify opportunities to improve Copilot efficiency and features, and execute on a clear technical vision while maintaining the availability and quality of live services.

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

• Lead a team focused on improving efficiency and fundamentals for M365 Copilot backend services, with a focus on scalability, reliability, and efficiency.

• Collaborate with engineering and research teams across M365, Azure and MAI to co-design and ship performance optimizations in M365 AI products.

• Provide strategic direction and apply deep technical knowledge to drive measurable business impact.

• Guide technical design, dependency management, and documentation across services and platforms.

• Drive code optimization, refactoring, and reuse to improve system performance, maintainability, and ROI.

• Act as Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) and lead on-call operations, ensuring system health and rapid incident response across product lines.

• Own product scalability and performance, applying engineering best practices and holding accountability for quality and customer satisfaction

• 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.

• 4+ years people management experience.

• 2+ years of experience building distributed, near real-time, high-load systems.

• 2+ years of experience translating requirements into feature implementations

• Familiarity with modern software design patterns (microservices, containers, caching, queuing).

• Experience with one of CUDA kernels, CPU/GPU performance optimization, network latency, and managing large-scale capacity fleets.

Software Engineering M5 - 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.

Microsoft is a global technology company headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We develop, license, and support a wide range of software products, services, and devices that help individuals and businesses realize their full potential.

Our flagship products include the Microsoft 365 productivity cloud, Windows operating system, Azure cloud platform, and Dynamics 365 business applications. We are also a leader in areas such as artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, developer tools, and gaming through Xbox and Game Pass.

With operations in more than 190 countries and over 220,000 employees worldwide, Microsoft is committed to responsible innovation, inclusive economic growth, and sustainability. We work closely with governments, industries, and communities to ensure that technology serves the public good and helps address some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

As we celebrate our 50th anniversary in 2025, we continue to look forward—investing in AI, cloud, and quantum computing to shape the future of work, education, and society at large scale.