Microsoft

Principal Software Engineer (AI / Agentic Developer Productivity)

Microsoft$142K — $274K *
Information Technology
5 - 7 years of experience
Job Overview by Ladders

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with languages like C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
  • Ability to meet Microsoft security screening requirements, including background checks every two years.
  • Experience with Agent SDKs, large language models, or AI orchestration frameworks is preferred.
  • Strong fundamentals in system design, algorithms, testing, debugging, and code review.
  • Demonstrated capability to lead technical direction and mentor peers.
  • Familiarity with ambiguous problem-solving in fast-paced environments.

Responsibilities

  • Own and deliver complete features across all stages of the development lifecycle.
  • Advocate for and implement AI methodologies in coding practices.
  • Experiment with various AI approaches, learning from successes and failures.
  • Provide mentorship and coaching to fellow engineers.
  • Write and review high-quality, scalable code with an emphasis on maintainability.
  • Foster a positive culture that encourages authenticity and collaboration.

Benefits

  • Access to a diverse range of AI development tools and resources.
  • Opportunities for professional development and mentorship.
  • A collaborative work environment that values individual contributions.
  • Involvement in cutting-edge AI research and development.
Full Job Description
Responsibilities
  • Own and deliver complete features across the development lifecycle, including design, architecture, implementation, testability, debugging, shipping, and servicing.
  • Use AI in your daily coding and advocate to the team and customers an evolving state-of-the-art of how best to do this.
  • Demonstrate resiliency to experiment and try multiple AI approaches that may not work - because no one has tried them before.
  • Provide mentorship and coaching to engineers in, and beyond, your team.
  • Write and review clean, well-thought-out code with an emphasis on quality, performance, simplicity, durability, scalability, and maintainability.
  • Contribute positively to a culture where everyone can bring their full and authentic self and where we do our best work as a result.


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.

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:
  • Prior experience building with Agent SDKs, large language models (LLMs), prompt engineering, or AI orchestration frameworks (e.g., LangChain, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, LlamaIndex, or similar).
  • Familiarity with agentic AI development patterns - multi-step reasoning, tool/function calling, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and human-in-the-loop workflows.
  • Proven experience as a Software Engineer delivering large-scale, production-quality systems.
  • Solid software engineering fundamentals: system design, algorithms, testing, debugging, and code review.
  • Demonstrated ability to lead technical direction and mentor peers in a collaborative team environment.
  • Comfort working in ambiguous, fast-moving problem spaces where best practices are still being established.
  • Hands-on experience with AI-powered developer tooling and coding assistants, such as:
  • GitHub Copilot and Copilot Workspace - AI pair programming, CLI, and task-oriented development
  • Claude Code - agentic CLI for autonomous software engineering tasks
  • OpenAI Codex / ChatGPT - LLM-based code generation and explanation
  • Cursor - AI-native code editor with inline generation and multi-file edits
  • Prior experience using agentic plugins, agents, skills, hooks, etc.
  • Experience dogfooding, evaluating, and forming opinions on emerging AI developer tools, and translating those insights into team-wide best practices.
  • Background in developer tooling, build systems, CI/CD pipelines, or engineering systems at scale.

#CAP #CAPHiring

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $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

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

About Microsoft

Microsoft is an American multinational corporation that develops, manufactures, licenses, supports, and sells a range of software products and services. Microsoft’s devices and consumer (D&C) licensing segment licenses the Windows operating system and related software, Microsoft Office for consumers, and the Windows Phone operating system. The company’s computing and gaming hardware segment provides Xbox gaming and entertainment consoles and accessories, second-party and third-party video games, and Xbox Live subscriptions; surface devices and accessories; and Microsoft PC accessories. Its phone hardware segment offers Lumia smartphones and other non-Lumia phones. Its D&C segment provides Windows Store, Xbox Live transactions, and Windows phone store; search advertising; display advertising; Office 365 Home and Office 365 Personal; first-party video games; and other consumer products and services as well as operating retail stores. Microsoft’s commercial licensing segments license server products, including Windows Server, Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio, System Center, and related Client Access Licenses (CALs); Windows Embedded; Windows operating system; Microsoft Office for business, including Office, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, and related CALs; Microsoft Dynamics business solutions; and Skype. Its commercial segment offers enterprise services, including premier support services and Microsoft consulting services; commercial cloud comprising Office 365 Commercial, other Microsoft Office online offerings, Dynamics CRM Online, and Microsoft Azure; and other commercial products and online services. The company markets and distributes its products through original equipment manufacturers, distributors, and resellers, as well as online.

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Learn more about Microsoft
Size
181,000 employees
Market Cap
$1,762.4 billion
Industry
Net Income
$51.3 billion
Founded
1975
5 Year Trend
+15.5%
Revenue
$153.2 billion
NASDAQ

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