In the Microsoft Frontier Company Engineering team, you won’t just build software; you’ll deliver real outcomes for some of the world’s most complex organizations.
We are a global team of world-class engineers who have been working in a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) model for more than a decade, embedding directly within customer teams to solve their toughest challenges, side-by-side, and shipping production-ready solutions in days, not months.
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will bring strong software design and engineering expertise, building reliable systems and production-ready services that turn ideas and data-driven insights into scalable solutions. You’ll work in small, multidisciplinary crews alongside data scientists, product managers, and domain experts, owning the full lifecycle from design through to deployed solutions.
Our work is powered by AI, applying the mindset and tooling across the entire development lifecycle to move from idea to production in days while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and trust.
This role offers the opportunity to:
Build reliable, production-ready systems and services that turn ideas into scalable solutions
Ship engineering work that directly influences business strategy and customer outcomes
Collaborate with leading global organizations across industries
Apply the latest advancements in AI and software engineering to solve problems at scale
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees, we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.
Responsibilities
Put security first: Build and ship solutions that meet enterprise security standards (threat modeling, secure coding, privacy, and compliance) from design through production.
Translate business needs into technical solutions: Partner with stakeholders to define problem statements, success metrics, and architectural approaches that deliver measurable outcomes.
Design and lead architecture: Own end-to-end system design for cloud and AI workloads, making sound tradeoffs across reliability, performance, cost, and maintainability.
Deliver quickly without sacrificing quality: Use modern engineering practices (CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and progressive delivery) to iterate fast and reduce operational risk.
Drive customer success and adoption: Work directly with customer engineering teams to deliver production-ready solutions, unblock delivery, and ensure outcomes are adopted at scale.
Build reusable, scalable assets: Create solution accelerators, reference architectures, and code that can be reused across customers and scenarios to maximize impact.
Operate effectively in ambiguity: Continuously learn and adapt as technologies and customer priorities evolve; bring clarity, structure, and momentum to complex engagements.
Lead and mentor across disciplines: Provide technical direction, coach engineers, and collaborate with product, data, and security partners to deliver as one team.
Lead complex delivery end-to-end: Coordinate multiple workstreams, manage dependencies, and raise the bar on reliability and operational excellence for services running in production.
Model inclusive, customer-obsessed leadership: Create an environment of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement while representing the company professionally with external stakeholders.
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
Microsoft is unable to sponsor a work visa for this role due to the nature of the role’s job duties.
Additional or Preferred Qualifications (PQs)
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.
Experience designing, deploying, and operating AI or LLM-based solutions, including prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented approaches, model tuning, evaluation, data quality, performance monitoring, and use of cloud AI platforms
Familiarity with deploying and operating AI systems in production environments
Understanding of model evaluation, data quality, and performance monitoring
Experience using cloud AI platforms (Azure ML, OpenAI, or similar)
Enjoy travel and are comfortable with travel up to 25%
#FDE
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.
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.
Similar Jobs
What you need to know about the Chicago Tech Scene
Key Facts About Chicago Tech
- Number of Tech Workers: 245,800; 5.2% of overall workforce (2024 CompTIA survey)
- Major Tech Employers: McDonald’s, John Deere, Boeing, Morningstar
- Key Industries: Artificial intelligence, biotechnology, fintech, software, logistics technology
- Funding Landscape: $2.5 billion in venture capital funding in 2024 (Pitchbook)
- Notable Investors: Pritzker Group Venture Capital, Arch Venture Partners, MATH Venture Partners, Jump Capital, Hyde Park Venture Partners
- Research Centers and Universities: Northwestern University, University of Chicago, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Illinois Institute of Technology, Argonne National Laboratory, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory
