Principal Software Engineer | Microsoft Careers

Microsoft

Quick summary

Work type: On-site
Location: —
Salary: $142,800–$274,800 / yr
Posted: 6 days ago
Closes: Dec 7, 2026

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $180k

This role $209k

$101k most similar roles pay here $293k

This role pays more than 95% of similar roles. Most pay $152,150–$207,350 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $209k versus about $180k for comparable roles.

Based on 239 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 1586 open roles on FindRole.

Listed pay typically runs $119,800–$234,700 across 1414 roles with salary data.

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View all roles at Microsoft

At a glance

TL;DR · Principal Software Engineer | Microsoft Careers

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As a Principal Software Engineer on the Azure Host Networking team, you will lead the development of high-speed software-defined networking capabilities using technologies like SRIOV, DPDK, Linux network acceleration, RDMA, and containers. Your day-to-day responsibilities include collaborating with stakeholders to define user requirements, developing design documents, mentoring engineers, and ensuring system reliability through on-call monitoring. You will work with state-of-the-art hardware accelerators to build scalable SDN solutions for diverse industries such as finance and AI, requiring expertise in C/C++, Linux networking stack internals, and performance optimization of systems software. This role demands a deep understanding of kernel technologies, network systems, and experience working with Windows Server OS or similar environments, offering opportunities for technical leadership and innovation in cloud-scale infrastructure.

Skills

C C++ Linux Windows Server OS DPDK SRIOV RDMA Containers Performance Optimization System Software High-Performance Networking Cloud-Scale Solutions Collaboration Technical Leadership Innovation Monitoring Observability Automation CI/CD

What you'll do

Leads the development of design documents for high-speed SDN solutions on Azure.
Develops platform drivers and manages hardware to support network acceleration up to 400 Gbps.
Implements software-defined networking capabilities using SRIOV, DPDK, Linux network acceleration, RDMA, and containers.
Mentors engineers and provides technical leadership in building reliable, high-performance cloud-scale SDN solutions.
Collaborates with stakeholders to drive project plans, release schedules, and work items for multiple groups.

What we're looking for

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related field with 6+ years of technical engineering experience in coding (C/C++).
5+ years of hands-on experience with Windows Server OS or Linux networking stack internals.
5+ years of expertise in performance optimization of systems software.
Experience leading the development and mentoring engineers to produce maintainable code across products.
Proactive approach to learning new trends, technical solutions, and patterns for improving product efficiency and reliability.

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