Within GitHub and Microsoft CoreAI, the Copilot CLI team builds GitHub’s coding agent in the terminal, and the core agent loop that powers agentic experiences across GitHub and Microsoft. Our work spans the full software development lifecycle, with a focus on turning modern AI systems into reliable, production-grade developer tools.
We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help build a world-class coding agent CLI. This role is for engineers who care deeply about product quality, end-to-end ownership, and the details that separate promising tools from ones developers trust and adopt daily.
Our work sits at the intersection of agentic AI systems and high-performance developer tooling. We are particularly interested in candidates with strength in one or more of the following areas:
Building, evaluating, and iterating on agentic systems, including tool design, agent loops, benchmarking, and quality optimization
Building delightful, high-performance terminal experiences, including terminal UIs, low-level primitives, and systems that feel fast, predictable, and polished
Engineers on this team operate with high autonomy and a strong product mindset. You will own large surface areas end-to-end, partner closely with product and design, and push to continuously raise the quality bar for both the CLI and the underlying agent platform used across GitHub and Microsoft.
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As part of GitHub and CoreAI, we build developer tools that materially improve how software is written, reviewed, and shipped, while maintaining a culture of ownership, rigor, and technical excellence.
Responsibilities
Take ownership of critical product and platform areas of the Copilot CLI and shared agent runtime
Set a high technical and quality bar for agentic systems and developer-facing tooling
Design and ship performant, reliable terminal experiences that developers depend on for daily work
Use data, benchmarks, and direct user feedback to guide iteration and investment
Collaborate across org boundaries to enable other teams to build agentic products on top of a shared foundation
Influence architecture, technical direction, and engineering standards beyond your immediate team
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
Preferred 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.
Hands-on experience building and operating generative AI or agentic systems in production, with direct ownership over quality, reliability, and iteration
5+ years of experience building and shipping customer-facing developer products, with depth across platform/foundation systems and user-facing experiences
Strong product mindset with a track record of owning ambiguous problem spaces and driving them to high-quality outcomes
Solid engineering fundamentals, including systems design, performance, and debugging in complex production environments
Experience designing, running, and optimizing evaluations for agentic systems, including tools, prompts, and agent loops
Experience building terminal user interfaces (TUIs) or working with low-level terminal primitives is a strong plus
Experience contributing to or leading open-source projects at scale is a plus
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
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 related technical field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience 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 (Microsoft Cloud Background Check required upon hire/transfer and every two years)
- Ownership of product and platform areas, delivering high-quality production software and collaborating across teams
- Experience building and shipping customer-facing developer products and platform/foundation systems
- Hands-on experience building and operating generative AI or agentic systems in production
- Experience designing, running, and optimizing evaluations for agentic systems (tools, prompts, agent loops)
- Experience building terminal user interfaces (TUIs) or working with low-level terminal primitives
- Experience contributing to or leading open-source projects at scale
- Strong engineering fundamentals including systems design, performance, and debugging in complex production environments
- Strong product mindset with a track record of owning ambiguous problem spaces to high-quality outcomes
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.
