Senior Software Engineer

Overview

Windows Cloud Experiences (WCX) is developing a best-in-class virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) solution to enable millions of customers to work with physical and virtual PCs. WCX is hiring a Senior Software Engineer for the Windows 365 and Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD) organization, which is recognized as a leader in the Gartner Magic Quadrant for Desktop as a Service (DaaS) for last 3 years. With the momentum from customers transitioning to cloud-based solutions, Windows 365 and AVD have become a billion-dollar business and continue to experience rapid growth. At its core, W365 and AVD provide customers with a modern, elastic, cloud-based Windows experience that feels like local.

As a Senior Software Engineer you will help secure how users connect to their Windows PCs in the cloud using Remote Desktop Protocol and establish the next level security against cyberthreats. You'll drive and design solutions to modernize authentication protocols, establish secure-by-default practices and lead customers to adopt phishing-resistant credentials no matter where they are located.

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.

Responsibilities

• Independently uses appropriate artificial intelligence (AI) tools and practices across the software development lifecycle (SDLC) in a disciplined manner. Takes responsibility for the content of their AI-generated requirements, design documents, code, and other assets, assisting other members of the team to do the same. Uses SDLC and engineering health measures (e.g., Accelerate, SPACE framework, Engineering System Success Playbook [ESSP]) to improve processes and practices, especially those involving AI. Experiments with AI tools and practices to improve their own capabilities.
• Leads by example within the team to produce extensible, maintainable, well-tested, secure, and performant code that adheres to design specifications. Continuously improves code performance, testability, maintainability, effectiveness, and cost, while learning about and accounting for relevant trade-offs. Applies metrics to drive code quality and stability. Applies appropriate coding patterns and best practices (e.g., leveraging state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence [GenAI], approaches to source code organization, naming conventions). Identifies and escalates blockers or unknowns during the development process, communicates how they will impact timelines, and identifies strategies and/or opportunities to address them.
• Reviews product code and test code to ensure it meets team standards, contains the correct test coverage, and is appropriate for the product or solution area. Brings insight to code reviews to help improve code quality, coaching and providing feedback to develop other engineers skills. Conducts code reviews in a timely fashion that helps accelerate the pace of development on the team. Considers diagnosability, reliability, testability, and maintainability when reviewing code, and understands when code is ready to be shared or delivered. Applies and reviews for coding patterns, security risks, compliance issues, and best practices in code reviews, providing feedback on code to drive adherence to best practices. Uses automated source code analysis tools that are incorporated into the build/development process.
• Uses debugging tools, tests, logs, telemetry, and other methods to proactively verify assumptions while developing code before issues occur for products in production. Conducts incident retrospectives to identify root causes of problems, implements repair actions, and identifies mechanisms to prevent incident recurrence. Independently applies least-access principles, uses logging, telemetry, and other appropriate mechanisms to investigate issues while retaining privacy and security, and drives those practices across the team.
• Leads discussions for and owns the architecture of a products/solutions and creates proposals for architecture by testing design hypotheses and develop complex design specifications. Tests and explores various design options for a complex product/solution scenario, outlining strengths and weaknesses of each option. Independently collaborates with architects to build and modify complex products/solutions, providing feedback as needed. Owns or collaborates with other engineers on the architecture of solutions, with minimal technical oversight.
• Develops design documents that support user stories and other product requirements. Maintains awareness of the current technology landscape, and determines how to integrate these technologies within existing systems. Shares learnings and identified solutions from investigations with the team and owns for some design decisions. Ensures system architecture and individual designs meet performance, scalability, resiliency, cost of goods sold (COGS), disaster recovery, and other requirements and expectations. Upholds Microsoft standards of security, privacy, and other compliance requirements and expectations. Understands and coaches less experienced engineers on the importance of building solutions that expand upon the work of others. Drives the refinement of products through data analytics, and makes informed decisions in engineering products through data integration. Reviews designs/architectures within and across teams to provide recommendations for improvements.
• Drives efforts to ensure the correct processes are followed to achieve a high degree of security, privacy, safety, and accessibility. Creates and assures the presence of visible evidence (e.g., audit trail) to demonstrate compliance for products. Develops and maintains a deep understanding of the implications of onboarding new technologies following expectations of compliance at Microsoft. Demonstrates and maintains an up-to-date understanding of both global and local regulations for technologies and system applications to ensure regulations are followed and met.
• Acts as a designated responsible individual (DRI) and guides other engineers by developing and following the playbook, working on-call to monitor a system/product/service for degradation, downtime, or interruptions. Alerts stakeholders as to status and initiates actions to restore system/product/service for simple problems and complex problems when appropriate. Responds within service level agreement (SLA) timeframe. Drives efforts to reduce incident volume, looking globally at incidences and providing broad resolutions. Escalates issues to appropriate owners.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, or C++.
• 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 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, or C++.

• OR 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, or C++.

• OR equivalent experience.

• Experience in modern security technologies such as OpenSSL, NCrypt, OpenID, Entra, WebAuth and Yubikey.

• Experience in cyber security, responsible disclosure practices, and how to evaluate and mitigate risks.

• Experience in Windows Internals and distributed systems.

#W+DJOBS

Software Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 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.