Microsoft 365 powers some of the world's largest productivity, collaboration, and AI experiences, including Copilot, Agents, PAC, and the Substrate platform. As these experiences rapidly evolve, the underlying infrastructure, hardware platforms, and software systems must evolve with them.
We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to help define the future of hardware strategy and performance architecture across Microsoft 365. This role sits at the intersection of large-scale distributed systems, AI workloads, hardware platform evolution, and software performance engineering.
You will work across engineering, infrastructure, and platform teams to ensure Microsoft 365 is positioned to take full advantage of emerging hardware capabilities while delivering industry-leading performance, efficiency, and 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
Drive hardware strategy and hardware-software co-design for Microsoft 365, Copilot, Agents, PAC, and Substrate workloads.
Define benchmarking, workload characterization, and performance evaluation frameworks used to influence platform and infrastructure decisions across compute, gpu, memory, storage, networking, and accelerator technologies.
Lead deep technical investigations into performance, efficiency, and scalability challenges across large-scale distributed systems and AI-powered services.
Partner with Azure, infrastructure, and platform engineering teams to evaluate emerging hardware technologies and translate platform capabilities into meaningful customer and business impact.
Build the next generation of AI-assisted performance engineering capabilities, enabling faster analysis, diagnosis, optimization, and decision-making across Microsoft 365 services.
Provide technical leadership across organizational boundaries, influencing architecture, platform direction, and engineering practices at Microsoft 365 scale.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor'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 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.
- Master'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 Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
- OR equivalent experience.
- Proven track record leading performance, systems, infrastructure, or hardware strategy initiatives for large-scale cloud services.
- Deep understanding of distributed systems, computer architecture, performance engineering, benchmarking, and workload analysis.
- Experience using data, experimentation, and technical analysis to influence platform, architecture, or infrastructure investment decisions.
- Demonstrated ability to lead cross-organizational technical efforts and influence senior engineering leaders.
- Experience applying AI to engineering workflows, performance analysis, diagnostics, optimization, or operational decision-making.
- Experience with AI infrastructure, large-scale inference workloads, retrieval systems, agent platforms, or Copilot-style architectures.
- Experience evaluating emerging hardware platforms and translating hardware capabilities into product and platform advantages.
- Experience building AI-assisted engineering systems for diagnostics, performance analysis, optimization, or operational intelligence.
Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 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
