Microsoft

Principal Software Engineer

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

Qualifications

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience in languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python, OR equivalent experience.
  • Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience, OR Bachelor’s Degree and 12+ years of experience, OR equivalent experience.
  • 12+ years in systems software with a focus on OS kernel, memory management, and virtualization.
  • 10+ years leading hardware/software co-design projects and influencing technical direction.
  • Deep expertise in Windows OS internals, memory management, and virtualization principles.

Responsibilities

  • Lead system software prototyping to develop proof-of-concepts for memory cost reduction solutions.
  • Analyze workloads to uncover systems optimization opportunities.
  • Partner with experts to engineer cost-optimized solutions for Azure.
  • Influence hardware architecture and align with industry standards using data-driven insights.

Benefits

  • Microsoft Cloud Background Check required upon hire and every two years thereafter.
  • Opportunity to engage with cutting-edge cloud technology innovations.
  • Collaboration with a diverse range of experts across the Microsoft ecosystem.
Full Job Description
Overview

Join our Compute System Architecture (CSA)team within the System Planning and Architecture (SPARC) organization in Azure Hardware Systems & Infrastructure (AHSI). AHSI is the team behind Microsoft's expanding cloud business, responsible for delivering the hardware systems and infrastructure for cloud computing across Microsoft Azure, Bing, MSN, Office 365, OneDrive, Skype, Teams and Xbox Live.

The SPARC organization is responsible for strategy, planning and architecture pathfinding, and manages Azure's hardware roadmap from architecture concept, through production for Microsoft's current and future offerings. The CSA team within SPARC is at the forefront of systems architecture and technology pathfinding spanning compute, memory, storage, and system interconnects. Drawing on deep insights of workloads, emerging technology trends, and focused industry engagements, CSA team's charter is to define and evaluate novel systems architecture innovations through hardware/software co-design and advance them through technical readiness for productization.

The CSA team is seeking a Principal Software Engineer who could be part of the team to develop hardware/software co-design, software prototyping, and building reference designs to enable pathfinding for novel system architecture spanning OS memory management, memory overcommit, memory disaggregation, data acceleration and resource virtualization capabilities. This role has substantial technical responsibilities that require in-depth technical expertise in system software memory management internals, virtualization technologies, virtual machines memory management, memory compression technologies, and memory tiering/pooling systems. The candidate should have proven track-record of co-designing systems innovations collaborating with hardware/software/workload experts, building capable proof of concepts, developing and delivering high-quality reference software, and experience with influencing and driving innovations from concept to productization.

Success in this role requires:
  • Listening to those who operate Azure and their customers to identify current and emerging problems
  • Identifying promising technologies to address problems relevant for Azure business, engaging ecosystem partners, and derisking productization via capable proof-of-concepts
  • Working across organizational boundaries with roadmap planners, product architects, and hardware and software engineering teams, to land promising solutions in Azure data centers.
  • Collaborating closely with software principals to influence and accelerate time to solution through software support for hardware technologies in product roadmap.


Responsibilities
  • Lead full system software prototyping to develop capable proof-of-concepts to evaluate hardware/software co-designed capabilities for memory TCO reduction such as through memory tiering/pooling and overcommit solutions for Azure usages and deployment scenarios.
  • Develop deep insights through workload characterization and correlation to identify systems optimization opportunities.
  • Collaborate with diverse workload experts across Microsoft and partner ISVs to engineer TCO-optimized solutions for Azure general-purpose and specialized compute fleet.
  • Influence and shape hardware architecture and industry alignment, targeting three-to-six-year timeframe, with data-driven analysis, insights and recommendations.


Qualifications

Required/Minimum 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:
  • 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.
  • 12+ years of experience in systems software (OS kernel, memory management, I/O stacks, Virtualization) with demonstrated track record of success, guiding architecture and software enabling.
  • 10+ years of experience leading significant hardware/software co-design projects involving CPU and/or systems architecture and influencing technical direction.
  • Deep expertise in Windows Operating System internals and OS memory management and Virtual Machine memory management principles.
  • Deep expertise in CPU, memory and I/O along with virtualization of hardware(x86,ARM) and software architecture
  • Deep understanding of system architecture and the related firmware interactions to provide optimized platform for workloads.
  • Skilled in partnering and influencing architects, hardware engineers, and software leads
  • Ability to manage through ambiguity, bringing clarity and results orientation to engage and energize collaborators and stakeholders
  • Collaboration skills, teamwork, and sense of presumed responsibility
  • Verbal and written communication skills, and ability to articulate and engage with both technical and non-technical stakeholders at all levels.
  • Experience leading and driving complex projects with respect and integrity, including those with multiple workstreams spanning different business and technical disciplines.
  • Intellectual curiosity and passion about learning and deploying new technologies.
  • Problem-solving skills, analytical capabilities, and attention to detail


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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