Senior Software Engineer / Principal Software Engineer, Copilot CLI

Microsoft

Confirmed live yesterday High trust

Quick summary

Work type: On-site
Location: Redmond, WA
Salary: $119,800–$234,700 / yr
Posted: 101 days ago
Freshness: Confirmed live yesterday
Closes: Nov 29, 2026
Nearby: 99+ roles within 25 mi

Market check

Salary context

Above market

How this pay compares to similar roles

Similar $171k

This role $177k

$106k most similar roles pay here $248k

This role pays more than 69% of similar roles. Most pay $151,000–$191,875 — the shaded band above. At the midpoint, this role pays about $177k versus about $171k 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.

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At a glance

TL;DR · Senior Software Engineer / Principal Software Engineer, Copilot CLI

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Senior Software Engineer/ Principal Software Engineer - Copilot CLI joins the Copilot CLI team within GitHub and Microsoft CoreAI to build a coding agent in the terminal. This role involves owning critical product areas of the Copilot CLI and shared agent runtime while designing and shipping performant, reliable terminal experiences for daily developer use. The engineer will focus on building, evaluating, and iterating on agentic systems, including tool design, agent loops, benchmarking, and quality optimization. Candidates should possess experience with C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python to develop high-performance tools. The work centers on the intersection of agentic AI systems and developer tooling, specifically solving problems related to turning modern AI into production-grade tools while managing terminal user interfaces and low-level primitives to ensure a polished, predictable experience for users across both GitHub and Microsoft platforms.

What does a Software Engineer earn in Washington?

Median $202800 from 326 postings across 28 companies.

See salary data

Skills

Python C++ C# Java JavaScript C Generative AI Agentic Systems Terminal User Interfaces Systems Design Benchmarking open-source Software Development Lifecycle Debugging

What you'll do

Own critical product areas of the Copilot CLI and shared agent runtime.
Design and ship performant, reliable terminal experiences for daily developer use.
Build, evaluate, and iterate on agentic systems including tool design and agent loops.
Use data, benchmarks, and user feedback to guide product iteration and investment.
Influence architecture, technical direction, and engineering standards across the organization.
Collaborate across teams to enable others to build products on a shared foundation.

What we're looking for

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or a related technical field is required.
Candidates must have at least 4 years of technical engineering experience coding in languages like C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
Ability to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check and other applicable security screenings is required.
Experience building and operating generative AI or agentic systems in production is preferred.
5+ years of experience building and shipping customer-facing developer products is preferred.
Strong engineering fundamentals including systems design, performance, and debugging in complex environments are preferred.
Experience designing, running, and optimizing evaluations for agentic systems is preferred.
Experience with terminal user interfaces (TUIs) or low-level terminal primitives is a plus.