Principal Software Engineer

About the role

Microsoft Rewards is Microsoft’s loyalty platform that powers engagement experiences across Bing, Edge, Xbox, Microsoft Store, and other Microsoft products. We are seeking a Principal Software Engineer to lead the design, development, and evolution of full-stack experiences and platform capabilities that serve millions of customers worldwide. In this role, you will drive the technical strategy and execution of highly scalable customer-facing applications, backend services, APIs, and supporting platform infrastructure. You will partner closely with product, design, and engineering teams to deliver innovative experiences that increase customer engagement, improve operational efficiency, and accelerate business growth. As a Senior Technical Leader, you will own complex cross-organizational initiatives end-to-end, influence architectural direction across multiple systems, and establish engineering excellence through technical leadership, mentorship, and operational rigor.

Responsibilities

• Architect and deliver end-to-end solutions across frontend, backend, APIs, and cloud platforms.
• Lead the development of highly scalable, reliable, secure, and accessible customer experiences.
• Drive technical strategy and architecture for complex, cross-team initiatives.
• Partner with product, design, and data teams to translate business goals into technical solutions.
• Improve engineering velocity, service reliability, observability, and operational excellence.
• Mentor engineers and raise the technical bar across the organization.
• Champion modern engineering practices, security, privacy, accessibility, and AI-powered development.
• Use experimentation and data insights to optimize customer engagement and product outcomes.

Qualifications

Required 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.
• 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 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

• 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 OR equivalent experience.
• Deep expertise in modern web technologies (React, TypeScript, Next.js or comparable frameworks).
• Solid backend and distributed systems experience using cloud-native architectures.
• Experience building large-scale consumer-facing products and services.
• Proven ability to lead complex cross-organizational initiatives from concept through delivery.
• Solid technical leadership, communication, and stakeholder management skills.

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