Principal Software Engineer - Data, Personalization - Microsoft AI | Microsoft Careers

Microsoft

Hybrid

Quick summary

Work type: Hybrid
Location: —
Salary: $165,600–$296,400 / yr
Posted: 2 days ago
Closes: Nov 30, 2026

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $194k

This role $231k

$124k most similar roles pay here $315k

This role pays more than 88% of similar roles. Most pay $174,200–$214,500 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $231k versus about $194k for comparable roles.

Based on 240 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 728 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $119,800–$234,700 across 664 roles with salary data.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Software Engineer - Data, Personalization - Microsoft AI | Microsoft Careers

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As a Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft’s AI division, you will lead the design and development of distributed data infrastructure and APIs that power adaptive experiences for Copilot. Your day-to-day responsibilities include architecting scalable, low-latency systems for ingesting and processing personalized signals, designing data models and APIs to enable context-aware reasoning by Copilot, and building real-time personalization engines. You will also collaborate with privacy, security, and responsible AI teams to ensure that all personalization efforts are safe and user-controlled while optimizing performance across diverse workloads. This role requires expertise in backend technologies, familiarity with applied AI challenges, and proficiency in cloud infrastructure such as Azure, Kafka, Spark, and Flink. The ideal candidate is adept at making strategic decisions regarding risk versus velocity and value, contributing to the development of intelligent systems that deeply understand user preferences and workflows while maintaining privacy and security standards.

Skills

Azure AWS GCP Kafka Spark Flink Python Java C++ SQL NoSQL CI/CD Docker Kubernetes Terraform Prometheus Git REST GraphQL

What you'll do

Architect scalable, low-latency systems for ingesting, processing, and serving personalized signals.
Design data models and APIs enabling Copilot to understand user context and preferences.
Build real-time personalization engines that adapt Copilot’s behavior dynamically.
Ensure privacy, security, and transparency in all personalization features developed.
Optimize performance, reliability, and cost for diverse workloads across geographies.

What we're looking for

4+ years of experience building scalable cloud-based services (Azure, AWS, GCP)
Proficiency in open-source data technologies like Kafka, Spark, Flink
Strong background in large-scale data system architecture and optimization
Expertise in designing low-latency distributed data systems and APIs
Hands-on experience with real-time and batch personalization engines
Deep understanding of privacy, security, and responsible AI practices

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