Microsoft Research is working to transform the future of artificial intelligence by bridging the gap between cutting-edge general AI and the specialized, real-world applications that drive meaningful impact. To pursue this mission, we’re building world-class AI infrastructure that not only powers our models on large GPU clusters, but also accelerates our research lifecycle through agentic development.
Our team has a global scope, powering the work of every Microsoft Research lab around the world. We’re looking for a Principal Software Engineer to help our research teams go from “what if” to “what’s next” faster and more elegantly than ever before.
You will play a leading role in developing our infrastructure, platform, and systems’ architecture, strategy, and roadmap. You will wear multiple hats and work on engineering, research, and everything in between. Your contributions will span the full stack of design and development of supercomputer GPU clusters, workload optimization, researcher tools, agentic workflows, and many other exciting topics at the cutting edge of AI.
If you're passionate about pushing the boundaries of AI and want to be part of a team that’s shaping the future of intelligent systems, we invite you to explore opportunities with us.
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
Design, test and maintain large scale research platforms that drive our compute clusters, optimizing uptime and performance across diverse hardware.
Develop end to end systems, libraries, and tools that accelerate the pace of research (including agentic development).
Gather data and insights to develop the AI Infrastructure (compute and engineering systems) roadmap, identifying long-term investments and emerging technologies that will supercharge our systems.
Provide vision, expertise, mentorship, and technical leadership to other team members.
Collaborate closely cross-discipline with service engineers, product managers, and research and science teams to build better solutions together.
Embody our culture and values
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.
- Master'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 Bachelor'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 equivalent experience.
- Experience with distributed computing.
- Demonstrated experience designing/delivering platforms from concept to production.
- Experience building infrastructure for large-scale machine learning or generative AI workloads (including expertise in one or more of: Kubernetes, Docker, Volcano, SLURM, or similar).
- Experience building agentic workflows to automate AI developer inner and outer-loops.
- Experience in leading technical projects and supporting architectural decisions with data.
- Proven ability to profile, benchmark, and optimize large performance-critical systems.
- Track record of contributing to high-performance computing or large-scale AI infrastructure projects.
- Experience with GPU programming (CUDA, NCCL) and frameworks such as PyTorch.
- Deep expertise in networking (InfiniBand, NVLink), storage systems, or distributed training parallelisms.
#Research #MSRR
Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $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.
Skills Required
- Bachelor's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field, or equivalent experience
- 6+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, or similar languages
- Master's degree in Computer Science or a related technical field and 8+ years of technical engineering experience, or bachelor's degree and 12+ years of experience, or equivalent experience
- Experience with distributed computing
- Experience designing and delivering platforms from concept to production
- Experience building infrastructure for large-scale machine learning or generative AI workloads
- Expertise with Kubernetes, Docker, Volcano, SLURM, or similar technologies
- Experience building agentic workflows to automate AI developer inner and outer loops
- Experience leading technical projects and supporting architectural decisions with data
- Experience profiling, benchmarking, and optimizing large performance-critical systems
- Experience contributing to high-performance computing or large-scale AI infrastructure projects
- Experience with GPU programming, including CUDA and NCCL, and frameworks such as PyTorch
- Deep expertise in networking, storage systems, or distributed training parallelisms, including technologies such as InfiniBand or NVLink
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.
