Principal Software Engineer - CoreAI

Microsoft is a company where passionate innovators come to collaborate, envision what can be and take their careers further. This is a world of more possibilities, more innovation, more openness, and the sky is the limit thinking in a cloud-enabled world.

The CoreAI organization at Microsoft builds the end-to-end Azure AI stack/PaaS and is core to Azure's innovation and differentiation. We are the team building the global Azure AI infrastructure for running the largest AI workloads on the planet.

We do not just value differences or different perspectives, we seek them out and invite them in so we can tap into the collective power of everyone in the company. As a result, our customers are better served.

Within CoreAI, the Azure AI Knowledge team powers rich search experiences for apps of all kinds, also serving as a knowledge service for LLMs. Integrates the best of Microsoft AI for content understanding, search relevance and more.The rapid evolution of generative Artificial Intelligence (AI) has sparked a revolution in the need for advanced retrieval systems. These systems are the backbone of Copilot-style applications, seamlessly blending large language models with external data to drive unparalleled user experiences.

Within Azure, our team stands at the vanguard, pioneering the development of cutting-edge retrieval systems through Azure AI Search. We are on the lookout for an experienced Principal Software Engineer - CoreAI to join us in this exciting journey. This role presents a rare opportunity to lead the charge in developing pivotal features for an Azure service situated at the epicenter of the AI innovation wave.

Operating at the dynamic intersection of AI, Information Retrieval, and Cloud Services, our team thrives on pushing the boundaries of what's possible. This is more than just a job; it's an invitation to shape the future of AI-driven applications and cloud infrastructure.

By joining us at this pivotal moment, you'll play a pivotal role in driving the next wave of accelerated growth for our business. Embrace the opportunity to innovate within our core cloud service infrastructure, and together, let's chart the course for the future of AI-powered retrieval.

• Lead architecture design, testing, and security compliance for products.
• Create design documents, oversee team efforts, and ensure test coverage, automation, and quality assurance.
• Address system dependencies and enable cross-team collaboration.
• Collaborate with stakeholders to identify user requirements, incorporate continuous feedback, and define critical metrics for product improvement and customer value.
• Mentor others in producing high-quality, maintainable code.
• Optimize, debug, and establish best practices.
• Conduct code reviews to ensure adherence to standards and resolve issues proactively using telemetry and diagnostics.
• Drive project planning, experimentation, and solution deployment.
• Optimize implementations to meet business objectives and ensure safe deployments while considering broader system impacts.
• Manage live service operations, resolve complex incidents, and create playbooks for issue resolution.
• Implement telemetry and data analytics to monitor and improve system performance, reliability, and scalability.
• Promote the use of developer tools and automation to enhance production and deployment processes.
• Maintain compliance with security, privacy, and accessibility standards.
• Stay updated on industry trends and regulations while fostering collaboration across teams to meet customer and partner needs.

Required/Minimum 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.

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/Additional Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 10+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
• 10+ years of experience in programming languages such as C#, C++, Java, or Python.
• 5+ years building large distributed systems in a cloud environment.
• Prior experience dealing with search engine (Elasticsearch, Opensearch).
• Passionate about improving operational tools and operational footprint of services.

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $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.