Principal Software Engineer

Overview

Microsoft Advertising empowers the world's largest advertisers to reach their maximum potential through digital advertising solutions on the Microsoft Advertising platform. The User Identity Graph plays a critical role in connecting requests from multiple platforms and devices to the same user, powering all MAI surfaces including Copilot while driving measurable impact in ad personalization, audience targeting, measurement, and richer user insights across MAI.

The Ads Data Management Platform team is seeking a highly skilled and experienced Principal Software Engineer to join our dynamic team to build a new modernized User Identity Graph by ingesting data across several Microsoft data sources, interface with the partner teams, build diagnostics and monitoring capabilities, analyze on the data source quality, and make the graph building pipeline robust and scalable while supporting the existing Graph pipeline. Additionally, this role enables the candidate to work closely with Applied Scientists to measure the graph quality by designing rigorous online and offline experimentation frameworks, working in a cross-functional setup to amplify graph usage, and translating complex data into actionable insights that drive business impact.

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.

Starting January 26, 2026, Microsoft AI (MAI) employees who live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. or 25-mile commute of a non-U.S., country-specific location are expected to work from the office at least four days per week. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.

Responsibilities

• Lead architecture discussions and decisions for complex products, evaluate design options, and create design documents supporting product requirements.
• Identify dependencies across teams, coordinate integration, and resolve conflicts to align delivery schedules.
• Mentor others on creating and maintaining clear test strategies and ensuring quality, including security testing.
• Apply and promote security best practices across code and production environments, including security monitoring and incident response.
• Lead automation efforts for production deployment targeting zero-touch deployment where possible.
• Stay current on new technologies, trends, and engineering principles, and share knowledge with peers.
• Partner with stakeholders to drive project planning, breaking down vision into milestones, ensuring security and compliance plans are incorporated.
• Manage safe deployment practices, including automation and rollback plans, and monitor dependencies.
• Lead experiments using feature flags and metrics analysis to drive product improvements.
• Lead telemetry integration and monitoring to improve system reliability, security, and performance.
• Serve as designated responsible individual (DRI) for live site operations, incident management, and reducing incident volume.
• Lead coding excellence by mentoring others in writing secure, maintainable, and performant code, including applying modern coding patterns and AI tools.
• Lead debugging and root cause analysis efforts, applying minimal telemetry data and privacy-preserving methods.
• Review code and tests to ensure quality, test coverage, and adherence to best practices and security standards.
• Improve AI tools and practices across the software lifecycle, embedding responsible AI practices and promoting AI-driven process improvements.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelors 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.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Masters 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 Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• OR equivalent experience.

#MicrosoftAI

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $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.

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

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.