New

Principal Software Engineer

Microsoft
$139,900.00 - $274,800.00 / yr
United States, California, Mountain View
Mar 28, 2026
Overview The CoreAI Apps & Agents team as a part of CoreAI is responsible forbuilding the next generation of AIpowered developer tools, spanning GitHub Copilot and Visual Studio/VS Code experiences. As aPrincipal Software Engineer, you will play a critical technical leadership role in shapingAI development systems that help developers understand, navigate, build and evolve large realworld codebases. In addition to deep engineering ownership, this role uniquely blendscustomerfacing technical engagementwith platform design. You will work directly withcloud native and AI first startups to enterprise customers to deploy, customize, and operationalize AI development tools in complex environments-using firsthand customer insight to guide product architecture, feature design, and adoption strategy. 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 positivelyimpactour culture every day. Responsibilities Enterprise deployment & customer engagement: Engage directly witha broad spectrum of customers to understand their development environments, constraints, and adoption barriers for AIassisted development. Partner with customers todeploy, customize, and validate AI developer tools in production settings, including brownfield and regulated codebases. Translate customer feedback into concrete technical requirements, design tradeoffs, and roadmap adjustments and disseminate learnings across internal engineering, product, and customerfacing teams. AI developer tooling & platform contribution: Contribute to the architecture and handson development ofAIenabled developer tools delivered through GitHub Copilot and Copilot client experiences. Design frameworks, APIs, and extensibility mechanisms that enableAI coding agents to reason over existing codebases, perform multistep tasks, and integrate into developer workflows. Advance stateoftheart developer experiences across CLI, IDE and editor integrations, web clients, and backend AI services. Customer empathy & discovery Practice deep customer empathy bylistening, asking clarifying questions, and observing how developers actually work, rather than how tools are assumed to be used. Identify gaps between product intent and realworld usage, and drive improvements based on observed friction points. Balance longterm architectural vision with pragmatic, customerdriven iteration. Qualifications Required/Minimum 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. 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/Additional Qualifications: 10+ years of professional software development experience with 5+ years inJavaScript, withTypeScriptpreferred for largescale, production codebases 2+ years of practical experience building or integrating generative AI systems, including AI assistants oragentbased coding tools Proven ability to design and deliverproductiongrade developer tools or platforms used at scale Hands-on experience with prompt orchestration, tool calling, evaluation, and iterative refinement of AIpowered workflows Experienced with AI models and tooling regardless of whether they originate from Microsoft or external ecosystems Experience engaging directly with customers in technical or solutionengineering contexts Demonstrated ability to translate ambiguous customer needs into concrete technical solutions Customer empathy, curiosity, and adaptability, especially in unfamiliar or evolving problem spaces 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. 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.