Principal Software Engineer - Cloud Infrastructure

Microsoft

Quick summary

Work type
On-site
Location
Redmond, WA
Salary
$142,800–$274,800 / yr
Posted
5 days ago
Closes
Dec 9, 2026

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $184k
This role $209k
$127k most similar roles pay here $291k

This role pays more than 68% of similar roles. Most pay $152,000–$215,350 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $209k versus about $184k for comparable roles.

Based on 239 similar postings.

Employer

About Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is a global technology leader producing software, hardware, and cloud services including Windows, Office 365, Azure cloud platform, Xbox gaming, and Surface devices. Industry: Software & Cloud Computing

Microsoft currently has 1589 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $119,800–$234,700 across 1415 roles with salary data.

Most-posted roles

View all roles at Microsoft

At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Software Engineer - Cloud Infrastructure

As a Senior Cloud Infrastructure Engineer on the Kubernetes team, you will lead the design, development, and operation of cloud-native platform components with a focus on reliability, networking, security, and observability at scale. Your day-to-day responsibilities include driving end-to-end architecture for large-scale distributed systems supporting globally deployed services, ensuring strong performance, resilience, diagnosability, and cost efficiency. You will provide technical leadership in Kubernetes-based infrastructure, including service-to-service communication, traffic management, and resiliency patterns while partnering across engineering teams to define and execute on cross-organizational technical strategy. Key skills include hands-on experience with distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, Kubernetes internals, advanced networking, and proficiency in languages such as C++, Java, or Python. You will contribute to the development of AI-enabled capabilities and coach engineers to foster technical growth and raise quality standards across the organization.

What you'll do

  • Lead the design and development of cloud-native platform components for reliability and scalability.
  • Drive end-to-end architecture for large-scale distributed systems supporting global services.
  • Ensure high availability and strong performance of scalable systems with cost efficiency.
  • Provide technical leadership in Kubernetes-based infrastructure, including traffic management.
  • Guide engineering excellence through reviews and implementation of best practices.
  • Contribute to the development of AI-enabled capabilities in scalable and reliable systems.
  • Coach engineers on technical growth and raise overall quality standards across teams.

What we're looking for

  • 6+ years of hands-on software engineering with distributed systems and cloud infrastructure.
  • Deep understanding of Kubernetes internals including control plane, scheduling, networking, and storage.
  • Expertise in advanced Kubernetes networking, traffic management, and reliability patterns.
  • Strong background in designing consistent, fault-tolerant, scalable, and high-performance distributed systems.
  • Proven experience owning live production systems with incident mitigation and operational excellence.
  • Proficiency in at least one system language such as Go, C++, or C#.
  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field.

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