Principal Software Architect

Microsoft is a global leader in the technology industry, with a strong focus on innovation and customer satisfaction. Our mission is to empower every person and organization on the planet to achieve more.

We are seeking a highly skilled Principal Software Engineer to join our team at Microsoft. As a Principal Software Engineer, you will play a critical role in driving the technical details for projects spanning multiple areas and product teams. You will be responsible for designing, developing, and delivering high-quality software solutions that meet the needs of our customers.

• Drive Multiple Projects to Delivery: You will be responsible for driving multiple projects through to delivery, removing obstacles as needed to ensure success.
• Develop Architecture and Design: You will develop the architecture and design of large-scale distributed software services and solutions.
• Feature Development: You will be responsible for feature development, including technical designing, coding, validation, and releasing to production at all stages of the service lifecycle.
• Drive Improvements to Software Engineering Practices: You will drive improvements to software engineering practices, prioritizing engineering investments to balance short- and long-term goals.
• Mentor and Develop Other Engineers: You will mentor and develop other engineers, helping them to grow and develop their skills.
• Collaborate with Teams: You will collaborate with teams across Microsoft to achieve goals, promoting collaboration across teams for code reuse and knowledge sharing.
• Stay Up-to-Date with Industry Trends: You will stay up-to-date with industry trends and apply them to projects as appropriate.

• Education: You must have a BS or MS degree in Computer Science or Engineering, or equivalent years of work experience.
• Experience: You must have 10+ years of software design and development experience with backend services, and 10+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in any Object-Oriented coding language such as C++, C#, Java, or Python, or equivalent experience with C.
• Distributed Systems Experience: You must have 3+ years of experience architecting distributed systems.
• Global Collaboration: You must be proficient in English, as global collaboration is integral to our work at Microsoft.

• Communication Skills: You must be able to communicate technical details clearly across organizational boundaries.
• DevOps Experience: You must have experience in DevOps to maintain live services and/or application frameworks.
• Cloud and Services Experience: You must have cloud and services experience, with Azure cloud experience highly desirable.
• Analytical Skills: You must have excellent analytical skills with a systematic and structured approach to software design.
• Scalability and Reliability: You must have a passion for building highly scalable, highly reliable services.
• Agile Development Experience: You must have experience with or exposure to Agile and iterative development processes.

• Growth Mindset: You must have a growth mindset, with a desire to learn, a tendency to embrace challenges, persist in the face of setback, see failures as essential to mastery, learn from criticism, and find lessons and inspiration in the success of others.
• Diversity and Inclusion: You must be able to help create a diverse and inclusive culture where everyone can bring their full and authentic self, where all voices are heard, and where we do our best work as a result.
• Communication and Influence: You must be confident and articulate in expressing ideas to a mixed audience with varying views and challenges.
• Accountability and Motivation: You must have a sense of personal ownership and accountability, with the ability to develop and deliver to deadlines while managing internal stakeholder expectations.
• Collaboration and Motivation: You must be self-motivated, with a strong drive for reaching across teams and organizations to make progress collaboratively.