We are hiring a Senior Software Engineer to develop the core OS diagnostics and telemetry capabilities. You’ll work at the intersection of Windows internals and cloud-scale operations—building OS diagnostics components and instrumentation technologies that help engineers and customers detect, triage, and resolve issues across Windows clients and the Azure fleets.
This role is hands-on: designing event schemas and collection strategies, ensuring signal quality and cost control, debugging hard production issues, and partnering across teams to land durable, privacy-compliant solutions. Core areas include Event Tracing for Windows (ETW), Windows Performance Counters, Telemetry Clients, and pipelines that turn raw signals into actionable diagnostics.
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, implement, and ship OS diagnostics components that support tracing, logging, and telemetry.
- Define end-to-end diagnostics workflows: from on-device signal generation → collection/forwarding → backend ingestion/analysis (Kusto/Geneva/Watson or equivalent) → actionable triage and mitigation.
- Investigate production issues using traces, counters, and logs; perform root-cause analysis; and implement durable fixes with appropriate guardrails and safe rollout strategies.
- Drive engineering best practices (code reviews, CI/CD, automated testing, documentation) and collaborate across partner teams to align on requirements and integration points.
Qualifications
Required/Minimum 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.
Preferred Qualifications:
- 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 debugging production issues using system-level signals (dumps, traces, metrics) and applying root-cause analysis to land durable fixes.
- Experience developing for Windows or Linux OS with attention to performance, reliability, and security.
- Knowledge of modern software engineering practices and tools (version control, CI/CD, automated testing, code reviews.
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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
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 (or equivalent experience)
- Proficiency coding in C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
- Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements and pass the Microsoft Cloud Background Check
- Master's Degree in Computer Science and 6+ years experience OR Bachelor's Degree and 8+ years experience (or equivalent)
- Experience debugging production issues using system-level signals (dumps, traces, metrics) and applying root-cause analysis
- Experience developing for Windows or Linux OS with attention to performance, reliability, and security
- Knowledge of modern software engineering practices and tools (version control, CI/CD, automated testing, code reviews)
- Experience building OS diagnostics, ETW, Windows Performance Counters, telemetry clients, and telemetry ingestion pipelines (Kusto/Geneva/Watson or equivalent)
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.
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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.
