This role pays more than
57%
of similar roles. Most pay
$180,375–$231,000
— the shaded band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$209k
versus about
$206k
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
644 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$119,800–$234,700
across 624 roles with salary data.
As a Principal Software Engineer within the AI Engineering Excellence team, you will serve as a founding technical leader focused on modernizing software development lifecycle workflows through agent-driven automation. You will define the architecture and engineering roadmap for AI-native capabilities, transforming ambiguous problems into production-grade systems that improve developer productivity and ship velocity. Your daily work involves building prototypes, evaluating emerging generative AI models and frameworks, and establishing reusable implementation patterns across the organization. The role requires expertise in languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python, alongside deep knowledge of cloud platforms, distributed systems, and CI/CD infrastructure. You will solve complex technical challenges by integrating agents into the software lifecycle to automate planning, testing, deployment, and operations while ensuring high standards for reliability, security, and performance in a large-scale engineering environment.
What does a Software Engineer earn?
Median $196500 from 2013 postings across 147 companies.
Define the technical vision, architecture, and roadmap for AI-native engineering workflows and platform capabilities.
Analyze end-to-end software development lifecycles to identify opportunities for agent-driven automation and shared tools.
Build and prototype production-grade services and tools for planning, testing, deployment, and operations.
Establish engineering standards, design documents, and reusable patterns for other teams to adopt safely.
Evaluate emerging AI models and tools based on reliability, security, cost, and performance in production scenarios.
Lead 0→1 technical incubation from initial hypothesis to validated, scalable capabilities.
Own the operational readiness of products, including observability, security, and incident response.
Influence cross-organizational technical direction and align stakeholders through clear reasoning and demonstrated results.
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.
A Master's Degree in Computer Science or related field and 8+ years of engineering experience (preferred).
Over 10 years of technical engineering experience with a Bachelor's degree (preferred).
Proven success leading the architecture and delivery of complex production systems or developer platforms across multiple teams and domains (preferred).
Hands-on experience using generative AI models, coding agents, and engineering platforms to build production software (preferred).
Experience improving engineering execution at organizational scale through developer workflows, systems, or operating practices (preferred).
Deep technical expertise in areas such as cloud platforms, distributed systems, developer tooling, identity, security, observability, CI/CD, or testing infrastructure (preferred).
Experience building products for developers, AI-enabled workflows, internal developer platforms, or cloud infrastructure in complex environments (preferred).
TypeScript
Node.js
Next.js
Prisma
Distributed Systems
relational database s
APIs
Authentication
Role-Based Access Control
Security Automation
SOC 2
NIST CSF
Web Applications
System Design