The Principal Software Engineer will focus on enhancing the reliability and observability architecture of a large-scale, globally distributed AI platform. This role involves setting technical direction and addressing complex challenges related to runtime, routing, capacity, infrastructure, and specialized hardware. The position offers an opportunity to work at the intersection of distributed systems, cloud infrastructure, and AI inference while mentoring engineers and shaping engineering practices. The ideal candidate will thrive in solving ambiguous problems and improving customer experience through foundational capabilities.

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
• Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
• Experience with AI/ML serving platforms, high-performance computing, or compute-intensive distributed systems.
• Experience with distributed tracing, capacity management, load balancing, and graceful degradation.
• Proficiency in Azure Monitoring systems in the Azure ecosystem.
• Experience designing, building, and operating large-scale distributed systems or cloud services.
• Experience with reliability engineering, observability, and production incident response.
• Strong written and verbal communication skills.

• Define and drive the architecture and technical roadmap for platform reliability and observability.
• Design unified health and telemetry capabilities that connect customer impact with various signals.
• Develop platform safeguards for overload protection and automated recovery.
• Establish engineering practices for production validation and fault testing.
• Advance end-to-end request tracing and diagnostics across distributed services.
• Lead cross-team architecture efforts and mentor engineers.

• 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.