This role pays more than
65%
of similar roles. Most pay
$174,600–$228,100
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$209k
versus about
$201k
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
598 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$119,800–$234,700
across 586 roles with salary data.
As a Principal Software Engineer on the M365 Enterprise Search Platform team, you will design, build, and operate large-scale distributed systems that power Retrieval-Augmented Generation for Microsoft 365 Copilot. You will be responsible for developing retrieval and grounding technologies to enable intelligent access to organizational knowledge across files, emails, meetings, and chats. Your daily work involves solving complex challenges in information retrieval, ranking, relevance, performance, and agentic reasoning while implementing modern Agentic Engineering practices to automate development workflows. The role requires expertise in software engineering fundamentals, cloud-scale architecture, and distributed systems. You will utilize programming languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python to build high-quality services. This position focuses on the technical intersection of search, AI, and platform engineering to provide reliable, scalable infrastructure for enterprise data sources.
What does a Software Engineer earn?
Median $197500 from 2196 postings across 133 companies.
Design and build search, retrieval, and RAG solutions for Microsoft 365 Copilot.
Develop, debug, test, and troubleshoot large-scale distributed systems.
Implement Agentic Engineering practices to automate design, coding, testing, and deployment workflows.
Drive the architecture of high-scale services for information retrieval, ranking, and grounding.
Ensure system reliability, performance, scalability, and operational excellence across enterprise data sources.
Establish engineering standards and platforms to safely operate AI-powered systems at scale.
Influence technical strategy and mentor engineers through data-driven decision making.
What we're looking for
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field and 6+ years of experience coding in languages like C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
Ability to pass Microsoft Cloud background checks and other required security screenings.
8+ years of software engineering experience building large-scale cloud services and distributed systems (preferred).
Technical expertise in software design, development, debugging, testing, and operational excellence (preferred).
Experience building search, retrieval, AI, or RAG-based platforms and services (preferred).
Experience with modern AI and Agentic Engineering practices, including workflow automation and AI-assisted development (preferred).
Proven ability to drive technical strategy, architecture reviews, and engineering best practices (preferred).
Excellent communication, collaboration, cross-functional leadership skills, and experience in agile environments (preferred).
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