Principal Applied AI Engineering Manager

Quick Facts

• Role: Principal Applied AI Engineering Manager

Description

Lead a high-performing AI engineering pod building production agentic AI services for Azure customer support. Own end-to-end engineering execution for LLM orchestration, multi-agent coordination, RAG-based pipelines, and evaluation frameworks that operate at Azure scale. Set technical direction and standards, ensure production health and responsible AI compliance, and deliver measurable KPIs.

Responsibilities

• Build and lead the AI engineering pod; hire, coach, and develop Applied AI Engineers; foster an inclusive, high-trust culture.

• Own the lifecycle of production AI agents from spec to deployment, including LLM orchestration, multi-agent workflows, RAG pipelines, and evaluation systems.

• Set architecture patterns, code quality bars, evaluation frameworks, deployment practices, and observability standards.

• Ensure deployed agents meet quality, performance, and safety standards; drive incident response and continuous improvement.

• Build evaluation systems (rubrics, golden datasets, judge agents) and gate progression from shadow mode to autonomous operation.

• Influence product and platform roadmaps; translate customer support patterns and demand signals into engineering priorities.

• Drive measurable business impact using KPIs such as case volume reduction, automation accuracy, resolution-time improvement, and CSAT impact.

• Ensure responsible AI and compliance by partnering with AI Governance (PII protection, action boundaries, audit trails).

• Develop engineering talent by mentoring applied AI engineering craft and building career growth paths.

Requirements

• Master’s degree in Computer Science or related field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience coding in C/C++/C#/Java/JavaScript/Python

• OR Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or related field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience coding in C/C++/C#/Java/JavaScript/Python

• Equivalent experience

• Ability to meet Microsoft/customer/government security screening requirements; pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Benefits

• Typical base pay range (U.S.): USD $142,800–$274,800 per year (location-specific ranges apply for San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metro).

• Eligible for benefits and other compensation (per Microsoft pay/benefits information).