Join a rapidly growing, world-class team at Microsoft working on a product utilized by millions globally. This Principal Software Engineer role focuses on high-scale, geo-distributed platforms, with significant investment in performance and reliability for Office applications, including new Copilot features. If you are passionate about designing, building, and re-architecting applications that make a substantial global impact, this is your opportunity. Microsoft is committed to empowering individuals and organizations to achieve more, fostering a culture of growth, innovation, respect, integrity, and accountability.

Drive the creation of new designs and architectures, influencing performance improvements for Office applications like Word, Excel, and PowerPoint through architectural enhancements. Contribute secure, reliable, scalable, and maintainable code, along with comprehensive test cases for feature development. Identify modernization opportunities, conduct rapid Proofs of Concept (POCs), demonstrate value, and gain partner alignment for platform/product success. Define new components, understanding interdependencies and limitations. Collaborate effectively with diverse product development and engineering teams. Demonstrate self-drive, a curious learning attitude, proactivity, result orientation, and thought leadership, coupled with strong communication and influencing skills. Explore and leverage AI to boost organizational productivity and help cultivate a culture of Engineering Excellence.

A Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or a related technical field is required, alongside a minimum of 6 years of technical engineering experience, including proficiency in languages such as C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python, or equivalent experience. Preferred qualifications include a Bachelor’s degree in computer science, Engineering, or equivalent, with 12+ years of professional software engineering experience, ideally in cloud infrastructure management or web development. Expertise in web development languages like C#, Java, Python, or JavaScript/TypeScript is highly valued. A strong understanding of performance, scalability, enterprise system architecture, and engineering best practices, including object-oriented design, test-driven development, and agile methodologies, is essential. Experience with cloud platforms (Azure, AWS, Google Cloud) and a keen interest in AI, machine learning, or data science are preferred. Excellent communication, collaboration, and problem-solving skills are a must, as is the ability to work both independently and within a team in a fast-paced environment. A passion for continuous learning and knowledge sharing is encouraged. Candidates must meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements, including a Microsoft Cloud background check.