Copilot Tuning is a new AI product that adapts based on tenant data, enabling customer-specific agents and solutions. We are a small, nimble team advancing the state of the art of models in M365 Copilot and helping transform the large language model experience in the enterprise.
The mission of the Copilot Tuning team is to ensure that AI can be easily adapted and tuned to enable critical, high-value applications, including entirely new productivity tools. Our work leverages novel training and post-training algorithms, AI architecture, agentic innovations, customer-specific data, and domain expert feedback to enable end-to-end fine-tuning and adaptation within the M365 Copilot platform.
We are seeking a Principal Architect to lead architecture strategy for systems efficiency and cost-of-goods-sold improvements across the Copilot Tuning and Frontier Tuning stack. This role will drive platform-wide efficiency across training, post-training, inference, serving, orchestration, evaluation, data pipelines, and infrastructure utilization. The ideal candidate is a deep systems thinker who can connect model architecture, platform design, infrastructure, product requirements, and business outcomes to deliver measurable efficiency gains at frontier AI scale.
This position is a part-time role - 3 days week, and based in Redmond, Washington and requires the employee be in the office a minimum of 3 days per week.
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
Define and drive the end-to-end architecture strategy for improving systems efficiency and reducing COGS across Copilot Tuning and Frontier Tuning.
Lead cross-stack architectural investments spanning model training, post-training, inference, serving, orchestration, data movement, evaluation, capacity planning, and infrastructure utilization.
Identify architectural simplifications, reusable platform capabilities, and systems optimizations that improve scalability, reliability, performance, and cost efficiency.
Partner with research, engineering, product, finance, capacity, and infrastructure teams to make quantitative tradeoffs across cost, latency, quality, reliability, and customer impact.
Establish metrics, mechanisms, and governance for measuring efficiency gains, COGS impact, platform leverage, and operational sustainability.
Drive technical direction across multiple teams and organizations, influencing roadmap decisions and aligning stakeholders around durable architectural investments.
Translate ambiguous business and technical goals into clear architecture plans, execution milestones, and measurable outcomes.
Document and share architecture patterns, best practices, and efficiency mechanisms across the organization.
Mentor and grow senior technical talent; model technical excellence, inclusive collaboration, and high standards for system design.
Embody Microsoft’s culture and values.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor's 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.
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:
- Master's 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 Bachelor's 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 designing, building, or operating cloud-scale systems with measurable impact on performance, reliability, scalability, or cost efficiency.
- Experience with AI/ML systems, large-scale data systems, model serving, inference platforms, training infrastructure, or distributed compute systems.
- Deep experience optimizing cost, latency, throughput, reliability, and infrastructure utilization in production systems.
- Experience with large language models, generative AI, model training, post-training, fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, inference optimization, or model serving.
- Experience with GPU/accelerator-based systems, capacity planning, distributed training, high-throughput inference, or AI infrastructure efficiency.
- Experience building platform capabilities that reduce operational burden and enable many teams or customers to scale efficiently.
- Demonstrated ability to reason quantitatively about architectural tradeoffs, including COGS, quality, performance, reliability, and customer value.
- Proven ability to influence senior technical leaders and align organizations around long-term architecture strategy.
- Experience working at the intersection of research, product, engineering, and infrastructure teams.
- Written and verbal communication skills, with the ability to explain complex architecture decisions to technical and non-technical stakeholders.
Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $165,600 - $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.
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.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience
- 8+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python, or equivalent experience
- Ability to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements
- Pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check upon hire or transfer and every two years thereafter
- Master's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field and 12+ years of technical engineering experience, or bachelor's degree and 15+ years of experience, or equivalent experience
- Experience designing, building, or operating cloud-scale systems
- Experience with AI/ML systems, large-scale data systems, model serving, inference platforms, training infrastructure, or distributed compute systems
- Experience optimizing cost, latency, throughput, reliability, and infrastructure utilization in production systems
- Experience with large language models, generative AI, model training, post-training, fine-tuning, reinforcement learning, inference optimization, or model serving
- Experience with GPU or accelerator-based systems, capacity planning, distributed training, high-throughput inference, or AI infrastructure efficiency
- Experience building platform capabilities that reduce operational burden and support efficient scaling
- Ability to reason quantitatively about architectural tradeoffs involving COGS, quality, performance, reliability, and customer value
- Ability to influence senior technical leaders and align organizations around long-term architecture strategy
- Experience working across research, product, engineering, and infrastructure teams
- Strong written and verbal communication skills for explaining complex architecture decisions
Microsoft Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Microsoft and has not been reviewed or approved by Microsoft.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is presented as broadly competitive overall, with clear role/level/location variation and an emphasis on using posted ranges and band information for apples-to-apples comparisons.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are described as a standout, highlighted by a strong 401(k) match structure and immediate vesting, plus additional plan features for tax-advantaged saving.
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Parental & Family Support — Family-oriented benefits are portrayed as a meaningful strength, with substantial paid parental leave and added supports like back-up care and adoption/surrogacy assistance.
Microsoft Insights
What We Do
At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is grounded in both the world in which we live and the future we strive to create. Today, we live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and the transformation we are driving across our businesses is designed to enable Microsoft and our customers to thrive in this world.
