below marketmost similar roles pay hereabove market
This role pays more than
66%
of similar roles. Most pay
$173,737–$221,850
— the blue band above.
At the midpoint, this role pays about
$209k
versus about
$198k
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
648 open roles
on FindRole.
Listed pay typically runs
$119,800–$234,700
across 624 roles with salary data.
The Principal Software Engineer joins the Azure Kubernetes Service team to design, develop, and operate critical services within the AKS Resource Provider and control plane. This role involves leading the design of complex technical solutions for cluster lifecycle management, upgrades, networking, security, and fleet-scale service operations. You will improve platform reliability through observability, performance analysis, capacity planning, and resiliency testing while investigating complex production issues. The position requires proficiency in coding languages including C++, C#, Java, Go, and Python. Candidates should possess experience with Kubernetes, containers, cloud-native infrastructure, and large-scale distributed systems. You will also utilize AI-assisted engineering tools like GitHub Copilot to improve development velocity and diagnostics for workloads across cloud and edge environments, including AI and GPU-enabled deployments.
What does a Software Engineer earn in Remote?
Median $208800 from 367 postings across 50 companies.
Lead the design and implementation of highly available, secure, and scalable services within the AKS Resource Provider and control plane.
Drive technical solutions for cluster lifecycle management, upgrades, node pools, networking, and security.
Improve platform reliability through observability, performance analysis, capacity planning, and resiliency testing.
Investigate complex production issues and implement long-term engineering improvements to reduce operational risk.
Contribute to technical strategy and architectural decisions for key AKS platform investments.
Improve engineering productivity through tooling, automation, testing infrastructure, and operational excellence practices.
Mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and incident investigations.
Leverage AI-assisted engineering tools to improve development velocity, diagnostics, and operational workflows.
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#, Java, Go, or Python.
Ability to pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check every two years.
Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field and 8+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages like C++, C#, Java, Go, or Python (preferred).
Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field and 12+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages like C++, C#, Java, Go, or Python (preferred).
Experience building and operating large-scale distributed systems or cloud services (preferred).
Experience with Kubernetes, containers, and cloud-native infrastructure (preferred).
Experience designing reliable production systems using observability, telemetry, automated recovery, and safe deployment practices (preferred).
Experience troubleshooting networking issues involving DNS, TCP/IP, TLS, load balancing, routing, and service connectivity (preferred).
Kubernetes
Azure Kubernetes Service
C++
C#
Go
Java
Distributed Systems
Cloud Infrastructure
Security Testing
Observability
Software Development Lifecycle
Kubernetes
Azure
C
C++
C#
Golang
Java
JavaScript
Python
Linux
Containers
Distributed Systems
site-reliability engineering
Observability
AI
Machine Learning
GitHub Copilot
Distributed Databases
Storage Systems
C
C++
C#
Java
Python
JavaScript
Cloud Infrastructure
Service Architecture
Capacity Planning
Data Protection
Telemetry
Root-Cause Analysis
Operational Automation