below marketmost similar roles pay hereabove market
This role pays more than
58%
of similar roles. Most pay
$169,550–$228,400
— the blue band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$209k
versus about
$199k
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
634 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$119,800–$234,700
across 612 roles with salary data.
The Principal Software Engineer Manager - Windows Validation and Quality Engineering leads the Validation organization within the Windows Servicing Delivery group. This leader defines the strategy to transform existing validation programs into a connected, AI-powered engineering capability. Responsibilities include managing a high-performing engineering team, overseeing a portfolio of validation platforms, and leading vendor-delivered work. The role focuses on modernizing how validation is planned and executed by integrating AI-assisted reasoning, automation, telemetry, and agentic workflows to improve release quality and engineering confidence. Candidates must possess technical expertise in languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python. The work involves solving complex servicing problems by shifting from reactive analysis toward continuous risk intelligence and trusted release decisions within the Windows servicing ecosystem.
Define and execute a strategy to transform validation programs into an AI-powered engineering ecosystem.
Lead and develop a high-performing engineering team by setting priorities and growing technical capabilities.
Drive the development of AI-powered validation agents, automated investigations, and risk assessment systems.
Manage the validation portfolio by prioritizing investments, consolidating programs, and unifying coverage metrics.
Oversee vendor and contractor-delivered validation work, ensuring quality, scope, and delivery commitments.
Partner with cross-functional stakeholders to align validation strategies and reduce duplication across the engineering lifecycle.
Establish architecture, reliability, and observability practices for validation platforms and services.
Use telemetry and incident learning to continuously improve platform health and engineering confidence.
What we're looking for
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field and 6+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages like C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python (or equivalent experience).
Ability to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire and every two years thereafter.
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, or a related technical field and 10+ years of experience in software development, validation, or platform engineering (preferred).
4+ years of people-management experience leading software engineers or multidisciplinary engineering teams responsible for production services or operationally critical programs (preferred).
Experience defining technical strategy and leading complex engineering transformations involving architecture, organizational change, and delivery across multiple teams (preferred).
Experience designing and operating large-scale software systems, validation platforms, automation frameworks, data pipelines, or telemetry systems (preferred).
Experience managing work delivered through vendors, contractors, or external engineering partners, including scope, delivery, and quality (preferred).
Experience developing or adopting AI-powered engineering workflows, agentic systems, or automated investigation solutions (preferred).
Generative AI
Large Language Models
Agentic AI
Machine Learning
AI Orchestration Frameworks
Azure OpenAI
OpenAI
Anthropic Claude
Google Gemini
Retrieval-Augmented Generation
Vector Databases
Semantic Search
Prompt Engineering
Cloud-Native Architecture
APIs
Distributed Systems
DevOps
CI/CD
Observability
Secure Software Development
Video Coding
AV1
AV2
AVC
HEVC
VVC
Deep Learning
Computer Vision
C++
Python
gStreamer
Docker
REST APIs
XML
JSON
Git
GitHub
ABR Algorithms
Video Processing