Principal Software Engineer (AI)

TL;DR

Principal Software Engineer (AI): Designing and building an agentic auto-bidding platform that leverages AI, machine learning, and large-scale distributed systems to bid on behalf of millions of advertisers. Focus on enabling AI agents to monitor marketplace signals, interpret user behavior, and optimize bidding strategies autonomously.

Location: Must live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S.

Salary: USD $139,900 – $274,800 per year.

Company

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.

What you will do

• Collaborate with data scientists, ML engineers, and product teams to define requirements for AI-driven bidding capabilities.
• Architect and implement the next-generation agentic bidding platform.
• Build large-scale data validation and quality frameworks.
• Drive operational excellence, incident management, and on-call readiness for bidding services.
• Develop experimentation and simulation frameworks to validate agent behavior.
• Mentor engineers, and foster a culture of high-quality execution, innovation, and accountability.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in 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.
• Microsoft Cloud Background Check required.

Nice to have

• Master’s Degree in Computer Science or related field AND 8+ 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 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
• 5+ years of experience developing and deploying large-scale distributed systems in production environments.
• 5+ years of hands-on experience in machine learning operations (MLOps), including pipeline automation, monitoring, and lifecycle management.
• 3+ years of hands-on experience with large-scale streaming platforms such as Apache Spark or Flink.
• Experience building real-world applications using AI techniques.

Culture & Benefits

• Growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize shared goals.
• Values of respect, integrity, and accountability.
• Create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.