This role pays more than
66%
of similar roles. Most pay
$174,600–$225,000
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$209k
versus about
$200k
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 IC3 Data Platform team, you will provide hands-on technical leadership to build globally distributed infrastructure supporting analytics, service reliability, and AI-powered experiences. You will define architecture and lead the development of secure, self-service AI and data orchestration capabilities for multi-tenant platforms. Your daily work involves designing large-scale frameworks for LLM orchestration, RAG, agentic workflows, and evaluation pipelines while ensuring high standards for privacy and compliance. You will utilize a technical stack including Azure, Kubernetes, Apache Airflow, Spark, Flink, Kafka, and Event Hubs, while coding in languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python. This role solves complex problems regarding distributed systems and data infrastructure to power real-time communication services through advanced AI-native software development and automated engineering practices.
What does a Software Engineer earn in Washington?
Median $202800 from 326 postings across 28 companies.
Design and develop large-scale self-service AI, agentic, and data-platform capabilities including LLM orchestration and retrieval.
Build and maintain distributed infrastructure for analytics, service reliability, and AI-powered experiences.
Develop automated evaluation pipelines, observability tools, and governance frameworks for AI workflows.
Implement advanced data processing using technologies like Apache Airflow, Spark, Flink, and Kubernetes.
Write and review production-quality code while maintaining high standards for security and compliance.
Advance AI-native software development by integrating coding agents and agentic workflows into the lifecycle.
Define architectural decisions for multi-tenant systems involving identity, privacy, and distributed data infrastructure.
Mentor engineers and provide technical leadership to align cross-functional teams on complex requirements.
What we're looking for
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field and 6+ years of technical engineering experience in languages like C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
Ability to pass Microsoft Cloud background checks.
Master's Degree and 8+ years of experience, or a Bachelor's Degree and 12+ years of experience (preferred).
Experience with AI-native software development, including coding agents, agentic workflows, and reviewing agent-generated code (preferred).
Extensive experience architecting, developing, and operating reliable, large-scale, globally distributed production systems and data infrastructure (preferred).
Hands-on experience with technologies such as Airflow, Spark, Flink, Kafka, Azure Data Factory, Kubernetes, or Event Hubs (preferred).
Experience designing generative AI solutions including RAG, LLM orchestration, agentic workflows, and evaluation (preferred).
Demonstrated technical leadership, communication skills in English, and ability to influence without authority (preferred).