Principal Solution Engineer - Software Development & Platform

The Software Development & Platform (SDP) team works with Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), AI/cloud-native companies, and software providers to accelerate growth through Microsoft Azure, AI, and the Microsoft Cloud ecosystem. Our mission is to help software companies build, modernize, deploy, scale, and monetize applications on Azure while enabling them to deliver innovative solutions to their own customers.

As a Solution Engineer, you will serve as a trusted technical advisor to software companies throughout their cloud and AI journey. You will work directly with engineering leaders, architects, product teams, and technical decision-makers to design cloud-native applications, accelerate AI innovation, modernize architectures, and optimize workloads on Azure. You will help customers build differentiated solutions on Microsoft's platform while enabling go-to-market success through commercial marketplace, Azure consumption growth, and scalable customer support models.

This role combines deep technical expertise with business impact, helping customers transform their applications into secure, scalable, AI-powered solutions that create value for both their business and their end customers.

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

Customer & Technical Leadership

• Build trusted relationships with Chief Technology Officers (CTOs), engineering leaders, architects, and technical decision-makers at Independent Software Vendor (ISV) and software development companies.

• Act as a technical advisor throughout the customer lifecycle, helping customers architect, build, deploy, and operate solutions on Azure.

• Serve as the Voice of the Customer (VoC) by sharing technical insights, product feedback, and blockers with Microsoft engineering and product teams.

Application Development & Modernization

• Help customers design and develop cloud-native applications leveraging Azure services, platform capabilities, and AI technologies.

Technical Solutions

• Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS)

• Azure App Service

• Azure Container Apps

• Azure API Management

• Azure Functions

Lead architectural design sessions and technical workshops focused on application modernization, microservices, containers, Kubernetes, APIs, data platforms, and AI-enabled applications.

Guide customers in adopting Azure Well-Architected Framework and Cloud Adoption Framework best practices to create secure, scalable, resilient, and cost-efficient solutions.

Support customers in modernizing legacy applications and transitioning workloads to cloud-native architectures.

AI & Platform Innovation

Help customers build and deploy AI-powered applications using Azure AI services, Azure OpenAI, data platforms, and intelligent application patterns.

Technical Solutions

• Azure AI Foundry

• Azure OpenAI Service

• Azure AI Search

• Azure Machine Learning

• GitHub Copilot Enterprise

Drive conversations around platform engineering, developer productivity, DevOps, GitHub, automation, observability, and AI-powered software development.

Identify opportunities where Azure and AI can accelerate customer innovation and create competitive differentiation.

Customer Success & Growth

• Enable customers to successfully launch, scale, and support applications running on Azure.

• Remove technical blockers and accelerate projects from design through production deployment.

• Help customers optimize application performance, reliability, security, and operational excellence.

• Contribute to customer success plans and technical roadmaps that drive Azure adoption and business outcomes.

Ecosystem & Marketplace Enablement

• Enable software companies to publish, distribute, and monetize their solutions through the Microsoft Commercial Marketplace.

• Help customers align technical architecture with marketplace and go-to-market requirements.

• Support ISVs in delivering successful customer experience and scalable support operations for solutions built on Azure.

Innovation & Continuous Learning

• Maintain expertise across Azure, AI, application development, cloud-native technologies, and emerging platform capabilities.

• Share technical best practices, reusable intellectual property, and customer success patterns across the team.

• Continuously adapt skills to evolving customer needs and technology trends.

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering or related field AND 6+ years technical pre-sales or technical consulting experience OR equivalent experience., * 6+ years of experience in application development, cloud architecture, software engineering, solution engineering, technical consulting, or related fields.
• 5+ years of customer-facing experience working directly with software development organizations, engineering teams, or technical decision-makers.
• Experience designing, building, or supporting applications on Microsoft Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud Platform (GCP).
• Experience with modern software development practices including APIs, microservices, containers, Kubernetes, CI/CD, DevOps, cloud-native architectures, and AI application development.
• Effective problem-solving, architectural design, and technical consulting skills with the ability to communicate effectively with both executive and technical audiences.
• Experience working with ISVs, SaaS providers, or software companies, or AI-first/cloud-native organizations.
• Experience with Azure AI Services, Azure OpenAI, GitHub, Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS), and platform engineering practices.
• Experience supporting commercial software products and customer-facing applications at scale.
• Knowledge of Microsoft Commercial Marketplace and software monetization models.
• Azure certifications and/or software development certifications.
• Experience helping customers bring applications from concept to production deployment.

Digital Solution Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $251,900 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 $165,600 - $272,300 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.