Senior Software Engineer - Microservices & Windows Imaging

Overview

Windows is one of the largest codebases in the world, running on more than a billion devices. Windows + Devices powers experiences for users worldwide, building the platforms and products that create meaningful experiences across Microsoft and leading the Windows and Surface products through deep partnership across the company and with OEM partners. The Windows Engineering System is the backbone that lets Windows engineers design, code, build, validate, and ship at massive scale, securely and with high quality.

As part of the Windows Build Team, the Media Creation Service operates an Azure-enabled, microservices-based platform which orchestrates more than 300k discrete compute jobs every day. Our services operate with near 100% uptime to enable and empower Windows developers to deliver industry leading experiences as well as enabling business-critical and time-sensitive workflows related to testing, flighting, shipping, and servicing Windows.

Successful solutions in this domain require solid systems thinking to navigate a complex engineering ecosystem, support legacy products and workflows, and evolve the platform to enable cutting-edge Windows experiences. We are looking for a Senior Software Engineer who combines deep technical judgment with practical execution to lead significant improvements to our tools, processes, and microservices. You will strengthen reliability, quality, efficiency, security, and developer productivity while modernizing the platform without disrupting critical workflows.

You will join a collaborative team that values engineering fundamentals, curiosity, inclusive design, modernization, and learning from production. We explore AI-assisted engineering tools and advanced models to improve how we investigate, build, review, and operate software, pairing experimentation with rigorous validation, responsible use, and sound engineering judgment. Team members support one another through design and code reviews, mentoring, incident response, and shared ownership of outcomes.

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

• Lead the design and delivery of multi-quarter initiatives that modernize tools, services, and workflows.
• Set technical direction for improvements to platform reliability, performance, security, maintainability, and developer experience.
• Partner with product teams and Engineering Systems organizations to integrate new workflows while protecting compatibility, scale, and operational continuity.
• Establish measurable success criteria, telemetry, and operational signals that make regressions and customer impact visible.
• Develop and improve AI-assisted engineering workflows for investigation, implementation, review, and operational response while maintaining solid validation and engineering judgment.
• Diagnose complex failures across source, build orchestration, toolchains, infrastructure, dependencies, and artifact production, driving root-cause fixes rather than recurring mitigations.
• Advance secure software-supply-chain practices, including dependency governance, provenance, artifact integrity, and compliance automation.
• Mentor engineers through design reviews, code reviews, debugging, and project leadership, raising the technical capability of the broader team.
• Lead incident response for high-impact build failures and convert operational learning into systemic reliability improvements.
• Participate in an on-call rotation and respond to incidents that affect service availability or critical business workflows.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum 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.

Additional or preferred qualifications

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:

• Master's Degree in Computer Science or a related technical field and 6+ years of technical engineering experience; or Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or a related technical field and 8+ years of technical engineering experience; or equivalent experience.
• Experience with developer infrastructure, build systems, compilers, CI/CD platforms, dependency management, or large-scale distributed services.
• Hands-on experience with Azure DevOps pipelines, GitHub Actions, or similar CI/CD automation.
• Experience with Microsoft Azure cloud infrastructure.
• Experience with large-scale telemetry and query systems such as Kusto/KQL, Azure Data Explorer, Application Insights, or similar technologies for diagnosing service and pipeline health.
• Track record of measurably improving engineering-system throughput, reliability, cost efficiency, or developer productivity for a large engineering organization.
• Experience modernizing long-lived systems while preserving compatibility for existing customers and workflows.
• Knowledge of secure-development-lifecycle practices and software-supply-chain security.
• Experience mentoring engineers and creating clarity across ambiguous, multi-stakeholder efforts.
• Self-driven and passionate about developer productivity, with excellent communication skills and customer-oriented problem-solving abilities.
• Experience applying AI-assisted development tools responsibly to improve engineering quality and productivity.
• Experience designing, building, and operating software at significant scale.
• Experience designing and operating highly available, cloud-based microservices.
• Demonstrated success leading technically complex projects across team or organizational boundaries.
• Solid debugging and systems problem-solving skills across unfamiliar codebases and layered infrastructure.
• Ability to communicate technical strategy, tradeoffs, risks, and decisions clearly to engineering and partner audiences.

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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:

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.