Principal Software Engineer – Systems Architect

The Cloud & AI organization accelerates Microsoft’s mission and bold ambitions to ensure that our company and industry is securing digital technology platforms, devices, and clouds in our customers’ heterogeneous environments, as well as ensuring the security of our own internal estate. Our culture is centered on embracing a growth mindset, a theme of inspiring excellence, and encouraging teams and leaders to bring their best each day. In doing so, we create life-changing innovations that impact billions of lives around the world. Microsoft is one of the largest enterprise service companies in the world.

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer – Systems Architect to work with a high-impact team in CISO Security Engineering. With the future of security in development, CISO Security Engineering is looking for a Principal Systems Engineering Architect to define the tools and infrastructure. In this role, you will apply your software engineering and architecture skills to solve varied technical challenges that are critical to the security of Microsoft’s products and customers.

As a Principal Software Engineering Architect in the Microsoft CISO organization you will have a unique opportunity to influence security across the company and industry and have a direct impact on protecting our customers and their data. You will drive designing, evolving and maintaining the architecture of complex security systems. You will collaborate with product managers and engineering managers to align technical solutions and business goals.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

• Leads Security Design and Architecture: Analyze and understand challenges in security business domain. . Develop and build durable solutions.. Own the technical approach to create and improve architecture. Deeply understand evolving security risk, security research, and security tradeoffs associated with engineering patterns and approaches.
• Guide cross-functional teams through architectural discussions and decision-making for solution components, including design, compliance and cost considerations.
• Develop and present architecture and design proposals: lead the testing and validation of hypotheses and proposed solutions.
• Author Well-Designed, Scalable, Reliable Code: Author thoughtful, well-designed secure code, including libraries for essential security functions, proof-of-concept code, and bugs or foundational changes. Effectively share findings from technical investigations.
• Collaborate with Partner Teams: Collaborate with the broader security engineering team and product teams to understand product and platform architecture and develop thoughtful security improvements.
• Lead the creation of design documentation and user stories: determine appropriate technologies and their interactions. Facilitate and contribute to design discussions, ensuring alignment across teams and incorporating learnings from prior work.
• Nurture Talent: Mentor other engineers throughout the design and testing process.

• Embody our culture and values

Skills:

• Experience understanding, referencing, and building detailed engineering plans to improve existing product security stance and architecture
• Project management and organization skills, with the ability and passion around security impact. 
  
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate across teams and drive clarity in solving complex technical and security challenges, making sound decisions in fast-paced, evolving environments by evaluating options and determining effective resolutions.
  
• Experience balancing security and productivity and finding successful approaches to mitigating risk.
  
• Fluency in coding, rapid prototyping

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• OR equivalent experience.
• 4+ experience operating and influencing teams in a complex, matrixed organization
• Experience bringing clarity to ambiguity by defining success metrics, aligning stakeholders, and authoring strategic direction documents that drive cross-functional execution.

Other Requirements:

Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Citizenship & Citizenship Verification: This role will require access to information that is controlled for export under export control regulations, potentially under the U.S. International Traffic in Arms Regulations or Export Administration Regulations, the EU Dual Use Regulation, and/or other export control regulations.  As a condition of employment, the successful candidate will be required to provide either proof of their country of citizenship or proof of their U.S. permanent residency or other protected status (e.g., under 8 U.S.C. 1324b(a)(3)) for assessment of eligibility to access the export controlled information. To meet this legal requirement, and as a condition of employment, the successful candidate’s citizenship will be verified with a valid passport. Lawful permanent residents, refugees, and asylees may verify status using other documents, where applicable.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• OR equivalent experience.
• Experience building scaled cloud services 

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $274,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year.

Microsoft will accept applications for the role until July 28, 2025.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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