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July 19, 2025

Principal Software Architect

Senior • Hybrid • On-site

$139,900 - $274,800/yr

Redmond, WA

Overview

Microsoft 365 Copilot is a groundbreaking productivity tool that leverages the power of large language models, user data, Microsoft Graph, and the web to drive unparalleled creativity and productivity. At the heart of this innovation is the Microsoft Search, Assistant, and Intelligence (MSAI) team which designs and manages the central infrastructure that is the foundation of all the other copilots like Microsoft 365 Chat, Word, PowerPoint, and an expanding list of partners across Microsoft. Our team is responsible for foundational platform capabilities such as model deployments and capacity management, making data available for analytics and experimentation, providing compliant and secure data processing and model training environments, inner loop development tooling, and more. We are looking for a Principal Software Architect to help us deliver the next generation of capabilities for the platform


As a Principal Software Architect, you will be responsible for designing, developing, and delivering innovative software applications. You will work on coding, debugging, testing, and troubleshooting throughout the application development process. You will have the opportunity to work on challenging projects, collaborate with talented colleagues, and shape the future of technology at our company.

In this role, you will be expected to have a deep understanding of software development principles and be able to apply them to create high-quality software. You will work closely with other team members and partners to ensure that our software meets the needs of our platform users and is delivered on time and within budget.

You will have the opportunity to grow your skills and take on new challenges within the company. Join us and help us build the next generation of software applications.

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.

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.
  • 3+ years of experience designing distributed, NRT (near real-time) or Big Data systems.
  • 6+ years technical engineering experience designing and delivering highly available, large-scale cloud services and distributed systems.

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:

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science OR related technical field AND 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
    • OR 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 equivalent experience.
  • Experience working with large-scale distributed systems (e.g., cloud computing providers, SaaS services, etc., ideally with millions or billions of users) or similarly complex environments.
  • Awareness of, and ability to reason about, modern distributed software design patterns and cloud systems architecture, including microservices, containers, load-balancing, queuing, caching.
  • Experience in building, shipping and operating reliable solutions.

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: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until July 24, 2025.

 

 

#M365CORE

Responsibilities

  • Partners with appropriate stakeholders to determine user requirements for a set of scenarios.
  • Leads identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform.
  • Leads by example and mentors others to produce extensible and maintainable code used across products.
  • Leverages subject-matter expertise of cross-product features with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., project managers) to drive multiple group'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.
  • Proactively seeks new knowledge and adapts to new trends, technical solutions, and patterns that will improve the availability, reliability, efficiency, observability, and performance of products while also driving consistency in monitoring and operations at scale and shares knowledge with other engineers.