The Outlook Platform team builds the services that power email and collaboration for hundreds of millions of people worldwide. We own core backend services and APIs that connect Outlook experiences to the Microsoft 365 platform, helping people communicate, stay organized, and get things done.
We solve distributed systems problems where reliability, performance, scalability, and security directly shape the customer experience. Our work spans delivering new capabilities, modernizing foundational services, and making the platform simpler to build on and more resilient to operate. We bring a product mindset to platform engineering, connecting technical decisions to meaningful improvements for our customers and partners.
We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer who enjoy solving complex problems, collaborating across teams, and owning what they build, from design and implementation through deployment and production operations. You will work on services built on Microsoft 365 Substrate, partnering with engineers across Outlook and Microsoft 365 to evolve the platform and enable new experiences.
We value curiosity, accountability, and an inclusive culture where everyone can contribute, learn, and grow. We use data, experimentation, and customer feedback to guide decisions, balancing rapid delivery with building services customers can trust.
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, build, and evolve services and APIs that power Outlook experiences at global scale.
Solve distributed systems challenges across reliability, performance, scalability, and fault tolerance.
Own features and services end to end, including technical design, implementation, testing, safe rollout, monitoring, and ongoing improvement.
Write maintainable, well-tested code and modernize existing systems through thoughtful architectural improvements.
Use telemetry, experimentation, and customer feedback to identify problems, prioritize investments, and measure customer impact.
Build security, privacy, and compliance into service design and implementation.
Participate in production operations and incident response, diagnose issues across service boundaries, and drive improvements that prevent recurrence.
Partner with teams across Outlook and Microsoft 365 to define API contracts, manage dependencies, and deliver cohesive customer experiences.
Improve engineering productivity through automation, better tooling, and simpler development processes.
Contribute to an inclusive engineering culture through constructive design discussions, code reviews, and knowledge sharing.
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.
Preferred Qualifications:
- 5+ years of software engineering experience designing, implementing, and shipping production software.
- Experience developing backend services using C# or another object-oriented programming language.
- Experience building distributed systems, cloud services, or web services.
- Solid communication and cross-team collaboration skills, with the ability to connect technical decisions to customer needs.
- Experience operating large-scale production services, including monitoring, incident response, and reliability improvements.
- Experience designing APIs and improving service latency, throughput, scalability, and resource efficiency.
- Experience modernizing established systems while maintaining compatibility and service continuity.
- Familiarity with secure development practices, automated testing, and safe deployment strategies.
- Ability to bring clarity to ambiguous problems, make pragmatic technical tradeoffs, and drive work across team boundaries.
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 a related technical field, or equivalent experience
- 4+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
- 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
- 5+ years of software engineering experience designing, implementing, and shipping production software
- Experience developing backend services using C# or another object-oriented programming language
- Experience building distributed systems, cloud services, or web services
- Strong communication and cross-team collaboration skills
- Experience operating large-scale production services, including monitoring, incident response, and reliability improvements
- Experience designing APIs and improving latency, throughput, scalability, and resource efficiency
- Experience modernizing established systems while maintaining compatibility and service continuity
- Familiarity with secure development practices, automated testing, and safe deployment strategies
- Ability to clarify ambiguous problems, make pragmatic technical tradeoffs, and drive work across team boundaries
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.
