Principal Software Engineer (AI)

TL;DR

Principal Software Engineer (AI): Defining and building AI-native platforms for Bing Image Search, combining multimodal understanding, large language models, and high-performance distributed systems to deliver rich, adaptive visual experiences. with an accent on system architecture, core services, and experience-level intelligence. Focus on enabling new ways for users to search, explore, and interact with visual information, and setting technical direction for AI-powered image search at a global scale.

Location: Redmond, United States. Starting January 26, 2026, employees who live within a 50-mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. (or 25-mile commute of a non-U.S. location) are expected to work from the office at least four days per week.

Salary: USD $139,900 – $274,800 per year (general U.S. range); USD $188,000 – $304,200 per year (San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metropolitan area).

Company

hirify.global shapes the next generation of AI-powered visual discovery, helping people explore and understand information through images at a global scale.

What you will do

• Set technical direction for AI-powered image search, shaping intelligent systems to understand user intent and deliver visual experiences.
• Own high-impact product and platform areas end to end, translating user needs into durable system designs and production-ready solutions.
• Apply large language models and multimodal AI in production, integrating reasoning and grounding capabilities to improve relevance and experience quality.
• Design and operate scalable platforms, driving high standards for performance, reliability, and efficiency under real-world workloads.
• Define success metrics and experimentation strategies, using data and user feedback to inform long-term technical direction.
• Influence across teams and raise the engineering bar, partnering with product, design, data science, and platform teams, mentoring engineers.

Requirements

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding (C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python) OR equivalent experience.
• Experience building search, recommendation, or large-scale information retrieval systems.
• Hands-on experience with LLMs, multimodal AI, or AI-driven reasoning systems in production.
• Deep expertise in distributed systems, backend services, and cloud-based architectures, including performance optimization and reliability at scale.
• Proven ability to lead and influence service architecture beyond a single team, while remaining hands-on in critical areas.
• Demonstrated ownership of high-impact technical problem spaces, from problem definition through delivery and long-term evolution.

Nice to have

• Master’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience OR Bachelor’s Degree AND 12+ years experience.
• Experience designing evaluation, experimentation, and quality metrics for AI-powered systems.
• Background in image processing, computer vision, or content understanding pipelines.
• Track record of mentoring engineers and driving engineering best practices at scale.
• Solid product intuition and ability to balance user value, system complexity, and operational constraints.

Culture & Benefits

• Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more.
• Employees come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize shared goals.
• Values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive.
• Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.