Principal Software Engineer

Join Microsoft AI’s Copilot Discover Engineering Team as a Principal Software Engineer, serving as a senior technical architect to play a central role in the technical direction and long‑range architecture of Copilot Discover. This is a role emphasizing true end‑to‑end responsibility: setting the architectural vision, shaping the platform for AI‑forward discovery experiences, and steering the evolution of product experiences that sit at the heart of how users engage with the intersection of knowledge, content, and personalization on surfaces on which Copilot shows up.

You will design and drive the systems that power the Copilot Discover feed at scale. You’ll work on foundational platforms that ingest, enrich, rank, personalize, and serve content across web, mobile, and partner surfaces and lead architectural strategy for how we unify signals, models, and data into coherent, trustworthy experiences; modernize our ranking and personalization stack; and build the AI-forward infrastructure that makes Copilot Discover feel intelligent, anticipatory, and personalized for every user. The key is an end-to-end focus on outcomes, across a broad technical space.

You’ll be expected to influence platform direction across multiple teams and adjacent organizations. You will ensure that the MSN and Copilot Discover systems are robust, scalable, privacy‑respecting, and engineered for long-term adaptation. High product sense is a success factor – how you drive product and architectural convergence across today’s fragmented surfaces, reduce complexity, and shape a consistent platform model is key to the success of the product and this role.

Copilot Discover sits at the intersection of content, signals, and user intent. Our ambition is to make it a durable, strategic layer that powers intelligent, personalized, and trusted discovery experiences across a broad array of surfaces where Microsoft engages consumers in their journeys. If you are passionate about building high-scale, AI-driven systems that combine solid architectural rigor with meaningful user value, this is the role for you.

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

• Own the technical direction for Copilot Discover platforms, setting end-to-end architectural strategy.
• Partner with product, design, data science, and engineering leaders to translate business and user needs into executable architectural plans, well-documented designs, and multi-year roadmaps
• Set and govern architectural decisions across multiple services and teams, ensuring systems are scalable, secure, reliable, cost-efficient, and grounded in data, telemetry and operational excellence.
• Raise the technical bar across the organization by establishing flasifible principles, reviewing critical designs, and helping to develop technical leaders within the team.
• Establish and evolve quality and reliability standards, including test strategies, CI/CD practices, monitoring, alerting, and live-site health.
• Shape the adoption of AI/ML techniques for content understanding, personalization, summarization, and safety, in close collaboration with MAI and partner teams.
• Serve as a cross-org technical leader, aligning MSN architecture with Bing, Copilot, Ads, Privacy, Trust, and other Microsoft platforms.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelors 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 equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Masters 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 Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience.
• Experience in ML/AI systems, especially in content understanding, ranking, or personalization.
• Proven experience designing and operating large-scale distributed systems, including data pipelines, microservices, APIs, and storage systems.
• Experience with content platforms, personalization systems, or consumer-facing services at scale.
• Experience with technologies such as Apache Spark, Kafka, columnar storage, data modeling, and schema evolution.
• Demonstrated success as a technical lead or architect, influencing across teams without direct authority.
• Solid understanding of system architecture, performance tuning, telemetry design, and operational excellence.
• Experience in ML/AI systems, especially in content understanding, ranking, or personalization.
• Excellent analytical and communication skills, with the ability to clearly articulate complex technical concepts.
• Solid cross-organizational collaboration skills and the ability to influence senior stakeholders.

Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $163,000 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 per year.