Microsoft

Principal Software Engineer

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

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field with 6+ years of coding experience in C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
  • Master's Degree or 8+ years experience preferred with the same coding languages.
  • Proven experience designing and operating reliable large-scale production infrastructure.
  • Strong problem-solving abilities to debug complex system issues across layers.
  • Technical leadership demonstrating mentorship and cross-team architecture alignment.
  • Hands-on experience with virtualization and container technologies like Kubernetes.
  • Experience in building multitenant AI platforms in cloud environments.

Responsibilities

  • Design and implement GPU-accelerated infrastructure for training and inference across various environments.
  • Develop systems for GPU management, including resource sharing and isolation.
  • Implement resource governance using orchestration platforms like AKS and Kubernetes.
  • Enhance virtualization stacks to support modern AI workloads with security features.
  • Optimize performance and capacity for large GPU setups.
  • Collaborate with network and storage teams for high-performance interconnections.
  • Lead platform feature development from design to production, focusing on observability and excellence.
  • Influence technical direction and architecture across teams through design reviews.

Benefits

  • Comprehensive health insurance options including medical, dental, and vision coverage.
  • 401(k) plan with company matching to support retirement savings.
  • Generous paid time off policy to support work-life balance.
  • Ongoing professional development and educational assistance opportunities.
  • Flexible work arrangements to accommodate diverse lifestyles.
Full Job Description
Responsibilities

  • Design and build GPU accelerated infrastructure for training and inference workloads, spanning bare metal, virtual machines, and containerized environments.


  • Develop systems for GPU device management, scheduling, isolation, and sharing (e.g., partial GPU allocation, multi-tenant usage).


  • Build and operate advanced orchestration and resource governance scenarios using platforms such as AKS, Dynamic Resource Allocation (DRA), and related Kubernetes ecosystem capabilities to enable fair sharing, isolation, and efficient utilization of accelerated resources.


  • Build and evolve virtualization and container stacks to support modern AI workloads, including secure and confidential compute scenarios.

  • Optimize performance, reliability, and utilization across large GPU fleets, including scaleup and scale out configurations.


  • Partner with networking and storage teams to enable high performance interconnects (e.g., RDMA/InfiniBand class networking) for distributed workloads.


  • Drive end-to-end platform features from design through production, including observability, diagnostics, and operational excellence.


  • Influence platform architecture and technical direction across teams through design reviews and technical leadership.


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.


Preferred Qualifications:

  • 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 Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
    • OR equivalent experience.
  • Proven ability to design and operate large-scale, production infrastructure with high reliability and performance requirements.

  • Strong problem-solving skills and the ability to debug complex, cross layer systems issues.


  • Demonstrated technical leadership, including mentoring engineers and driving cross team architectural alignment.


  • Hands-on experience with virtualization and/or container platforms (e.g., VMs, Kubernetes, container runtimes).


  • Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work across organizational boundaries.


  • Experience in building or operating multitenant AI platforms in cloud environments.


  • Familiarity with high performance networking and low latency communication stacks.


  • Familiarity with GPU virtualization, passthrough, or partitioning technologies.


#AIPLATFORM

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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