Principal Software Engineer

Overview

Microsoft AI Experiences Monetization is building the next generation of advertising measurement and conversion systems. As digital advertising evolves, advertisers need accurate, privacy-safe ways to capture conversion signals, attribute outcomes to advertising interactions, understand performance, and optimize spend. Our Measurements Engineering team builds scalable, reliable technology for conversion tracking, attribution, reporting, and campaign optimization while protecting user trust.

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

• Architect and build highly scalable backend services and data pipelines that power conversion tracking, attribution, reporting, and campaign optimization.
• Design end-to-end conversion workflows across online and offline signals, including conversion goals, event ingestion, identity matching, deduplication, attribution windows, and value processing.
• Lead engineering direction for high-reliability ingestion and processing systems with clear SLOs, solid resiliency, data quality controls, and top-tier operational excellence.
• Drive integrations with advertisers and external measurement partners, designing stable interfaces, schema governance patterns, consent-aware data handling, and robust validation.
• Improve conversion accuracy, freshness, coverage, and explainability through diagnostics, reconciliation, experimentation, and automated monitoring.
• Champion engineering quality through design reviews, automated testing, monitoring and alerting, and production readiness.
• Mentor and guide engineers across the team, strengthening system design depth, architectural thinking, and execution rigor.
• Collaborate closely with product, data science, privacy, security, reporting, and bidding teams to translate advertiser measurement needs into scalable platform capabilities.
• Lead the engineering team in applying best practices and AI development tools across the software development lifecycle.

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.

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.

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.

• 7+ years of experience building and operating large‑scale distributed systems, backend services, or data platforms.

• Solid skills in C#, Java, Go, or Python, and experience with SQL or data-processing frameworks.

• Expertise in cloud infrastructure (Azure, AWS, or GCP), including service design, storage, compute, networking, and CI/CD pipelines.

• Demonstrated leadership driving technical architecture, cross‑team execution, and mentoring senior engineers.

• Experience with conversion tracking, attribution systems, event processing, identity signals, data quality, or privacy-aware advertising measurement.

• Background in advertising, marketing technology, conversion measurement, attribution, reporting, or large-scale analytics.

• Experience with web, app, or offline conversion signals, conversion goals, attribution models, optimization signals, or measurement diagnostics.

• Experience integrating third-party measurement platforms, identity systems, advertiser data sources, or consent-aware event pipelines.

#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.