Principal Software Engineering

Are you passionate about system architecture and software development? Do you enjoy improving engineering workflows and enhancing system reliability? If so, the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Service Hub team may be a great fit for you. We build infrastructure that streamlines development processes, boosts engineering efficiency, and strengthens reliability through standardized, well-designed components. Our team values collaboration, innovation, and supporting one another’s success.

As a Principal Software Engineer – Cloud Native Development on the AKS team, you’ll work across multiple layers of the technology stack—including service frameworks like gRPC(remote procedure call), Kubernetes, and Istio, as well as build, test, provisioning, release, and monitoring systems. You’ll design and implement distributed cloud services and libraries with a strong focus on security best practices. This role offers opportunities to lead technical efforts, mentor others, and contribute to high-impact areas of the business while working alongside a diverse and inclusive team that values continuous learning and shared growth.

At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We embrace a growth mindset, foster innovation, and collaborate to achieve shared goals. Every day, we build on our values—respect, integrity, and accountability—to create a culture where everyone feels included and can thrive.

• Develop code for creating production quality service, including micro-service creation (e.g., gRPC, REST API), middleware, build, test, resource provisioning, deployment, monitoring, etc.
• Keep up with the latest tech stacks.
• Build RAG (retrievel augmented generation), workflow that works well with LLM (large language models). This allows users to easily adopt the best practices and apply changes to existing code
• Work with users to help them use our system. Take their feedback and improve.
• Mentor engineers in terms of code review, design review, helping them debug technical problems, etc.

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, Go, C#, or Python 
  • OR equivalent experience. 
• 2+ years of experience designing and building distributed cloud services, with a focus on performance, reliability, and maintainability in production environments.
• 2+ years of experience enhancing system reliability, scalability, and security, applying best practices to ensure robust and secure service delivery across diverse environments.
• 1+ year(s) of experience working with Kubernetes, Linux, and container technologies, contributing to the development, deployment, and management of scalable cloud-native applications.

Other Qualifications: 

• 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, Go, C#, 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, Go, C#, or Python 
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 1+ year(s) of experience with build, release, and monitoring processes, including implementing continuous integration and continuous delivery (CI/CD) pipelines and observability tools to support service health and operational excellence.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

#azurecorejobs

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

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

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.