Senior Software Engineer - Virtualization

Are you passionate about bridging the worlds of Linux and Windows at massive scale? Join the Linux on Windows team, where you’ll help shape the future of virtualization across Windows client, Windows Server, and Azure. As part of our team, you’ll work at the intersection of open-source and proprietary platforms, collaborating with engineers who contribute to both the Windows codebase and the Linux kernel, as well as our cutting-edge and open-source Rust-based VMM.

As a Senior Software Engineer in our team, you will design and build innovative solutions that enable seamless Linux virtualization experiences for millions of users and enterprises. You’ll have the opportunity to contribute code across multiple operating systems, drive deep technical investigations, and influence the direction of virtualization technologies at Microsoft. This opportunity will allow you to:

Accelerate your career growth by working on cross-platform engineering challenges.
Develop expertise in both Windows and Linux internals, as well as modern virtualization stacks.
Hone your skills in Rust, systems programming, and large-scale distributed systems.

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.

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 4+ 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 with systems engineering such as operating systems, virtualization, kernel development, and driver development.

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 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, Rust OR Bachelor'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++, Rust OR equivalent experience.

Software Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $158,400 - $258,000 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 October 06, 2025.

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• Collaborates with appropriate stakeholders to determine user requirements for a scenario.
• Drives identification of dependencies and the development of design documents for a product, application, service, or platform.
• Creates, implements, optimizes, debugs, refactors, and reuses code to establish and improve performance and maintainability, effectiveness, and return on investment (ROI).
• Leverages subject-matter expertise of product features and partners with appropriate stakeholders (e.g., project managers) to drive a workgroup's project plans, release plans, and work items.
• Acts as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI) and guides other engineers by developing and following the playbook, working on call to monitor system/product/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions, alerting stakeholders about status and initiates actions to restore system/product/service for simple and complex problems when appropriate.
• 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.