Microsoft 365 and Copilot run on Substrate & Work IQ (SWIQ)—the trusted data and intelligence platform powering service health, operational excellence, business insights, and AI-driven decision making across Microsoft's largest cloud services. As Microsoft 365 and Copilot continue to grow at unprecedented scale, SWIQ provides the foundational intelligence that connects product experiences, infrastructure, operations, and business outcomes, enabling teams to build, operate, and innovate with confidence.
The SWIQ Performance Team is hiring a Senior Software Engineer to improve infrastructure efficiency and build the trusted intelligence platforms that power Microsoft 365 and Copilot economics. You will design and operate systems that connect product usage, service dependencies, fleet inventory, hardware constraints, utilization, operational telemetry, and Finance-aligned cost models into a unified foundation for bare-metal COGS and efficiency. These capabilities enable engineering, finance, and business teams to understand cost drivers, reduce stranded resources, improve fleet utilization, optimize investments, and make reliable capacity decisions at cloud scale.
In this role, you will lead the design and delivery of scalable distributed systems and intelligence solutions that transform complex operational and business signals into actionable insights. You will partner across engineering, product, and business teams to improve visibility into the relationships between cost, quality, reliability, efficiency, and customer value across rapidly evolving Copilot and AI-powered experiences.
You will also help advance AI-native transformation by applying agents, intelligent automation, and machine-assisted decision making to improve operational efficiency, identify optimization opportunities, and accelerate engineering outcomes.
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 and deliver scalable platforms that connect operational telemetry, product usage, infrastructure consumption, and data into trusted intelligence and decision-support systems.
Drive architecture, implementation, and operational excellence for large-scale cloud services that power Microsoft 365 and Copilot economics insights.
Develop solutions that improve visibility into cost drivers, resource efficiency, service dependencies, and business outcomes, helping teams make data-driven decisions.
Apply AI, design agents, and intelligent automation to streamline operational workflows, identify optimization opportunities, and improve engineering productivity.
Partner across engineering, product, finance, and business teams to translate complex requirements into scalable platform capabilities and measurable business impact.
Lead technical initiatives, influence architecture decisions, and drive adoption of shared platform capabilities across multiple teams.
Improve platform reliability, observability, data quality, and operational efficiency through engineering best practices and automation.
Contribute to technical excellence, and help establish reusable patterns and capabilities that increase organizational effectiveness.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 4+ 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.
- Master'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 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.
- Experience building scalable software systems that process large volumes of data.
- Passion for AI-native engineering and automation, including applying intelligent systems to improve engineering productivity and operational effectiveness.
- Demonstrated ability to drive complex technical initiatives from design through production deployment and measurable results.
- Solid software engineering fundamentals, including distributed systems design, cloud architecture, reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.
- Experience collaborating across teams and disciplines to solve ambiguous technical problems and deliver customer and business value.
- Experience leveraging data, analytics, observability, or AI technologies to improve service performance, operational efficiency, or business decision making.
- Proven ability to contribute to a culture of technical excellence, ownership, and continuous improvement.
- Experience building and operating large-scale cloud platforms, data platforms supporting mission-critical services.
- Experience with large language models (LLMs), agent platforms.
- Experience developing data-driven insights platforms.
- Experience establishing engineering standards, operational practices, automation frameworks, or governance models for cloud-scale services.
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 and 4+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python, or equivalent experience.
- Ability to 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 6+ years of technical engineering experience, or bachelor's degree and 8+ years of experience, or equivalent experience.
- Experience building scalable software systems that process large volumes of data.
- Experience applying AI-native engineering, intelligent systems, or automation to improve engineering productivity and operational effectiveness.
- Experience driving complex technical initiatives from design through production deployment and measurable results.
- Strong software engineering fundamentals, including distributed systems design, cloud architecture, reliability, scalability, and operational excellence.
- Experience collaborating across teams and disciplines to solve ambiguous technical problems and deliver customer and business value.
- Experience using data, analytics, observability, or AI technologies to improve service performance, operational efficiency, or business decision-making.
- Experience building and operating large-scale cloud or data platforms supporting mission-critical services.
- Experience with large language models and agent platforms.
- Experience developing data-driven insights platforms.
- Experience establishing engineering standards, operational practices, automation frameworks, or governance models for cloud-scale services.
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.
