The Principal Software Engineer will be part of the AKS Flex team, focusing on scaling the Azure Kubernetes Service control plane to manage diverse and geographically distributed node fleets. This role involves solving complex distributed-systems challenges related to performance, consistency, and security. The engineer will lead architectural decisions and contribute to the Unbounded open-source project, enhancing Kubernetes capabilities. This position offers a unique opportunity to shape the future of managed Kubernetes without boundaries.

• 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, Go, Rust, C++, C#, Java, or Python.
• Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements.
• Deep understanding of etcd internals and experience operating etcd at scale.
• Experience with Kubernetes control plane internals and performance engineering.

• Own the architecture for control plane scalability and the flex nodes and Unbounded platform.
• Lead cross-organization design efforts spanning AKS, Azure compute, storage, networking, and identity.
• Push the limits of cluster scale by improving the performance, reliability, and efficiency of etcd and the Kubernetes API server.
• Design and build systems that let worker nodes securely join an AKS cluster and behave as standard node pools.
• Contribute to and help lead the Unbounded open-source project, including design discussions and community engagement.

• Employees at Microsoft are often offered comprehensive, “world-class” benefits—including health and mental-wellness programs, competitive pay with bonuses and stock awards, and retirement/savings options. Time-off and flexibility are common, with generous vacation and holidays, parental and caregiver leave, and flexible work schedules, alongside learning support, employee resource groups, product discounts, and matching-gifts/volunteering programs. Specific benefits can vary by region.