Principal Software Engineering Manager

The Microsoft Windows & Devices (W+D) team is on a journey to deliver iconic experiences across hardware, software, and services that people love and use every day. A core part of the W+D strategy is delivering devices with excellent Fundamentals and delightful AI experiences that blend the power of the Edge with the scale of the cloud. 

As a Principal Software Engineer Manager in W+D Silicon and Fundamentals Team you will set technical and execution direction along with building and growing a high performing team in the areas of AI, silicon and software. We remain laser-focused on establishing Fundamentals as a delighter for the Copilot+ PC brand. If you love the pursuit of excellence and are inspired by the challenge of driving innovations that impact how the world lives, works and plays, then we invite you to an exciting opportunity to innovate, influence, transform, inspire and grow within the W+D Silicon and Fundamentals Team. 

This role carries end‑to‑end ownership across people, technology, and delivery, with an explicit mandate to drive AI‑forward engineering practices at scale to improve productivity, quality, and developer effectiveness. 

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.

This role focuses on leading teams that design, build, validate and operate scalable software solutions in the areas of AI, silicon and software with laser-focus on establishing great Fundamentals. As a Principal Software Engineer Manager, focuses on people leadership, technical direction, and delivery outcomes across teams. 

In this role, you are expected to: 

• Lead, coach, and support a team of Software Engineers by providing clear expectations, regular feedback, and career guidance through one-on-one connections, mentoring, and performance discussions. 
• Set and align technical direction and execution plans by partnering with Product Managers and cross-functional stakeholders to translate customer needs and business priorities into engineering plans. 
• Support operational excellence and delivery consistency by reinforcing engineering fundamentals, planning practices, and coordinated response to incidents and live-site issues. 
• Leverage customer feedback, telemetry, and product usage data to identify improvement opportunities, prioritize investments, and guide teams toward long term Windows Fundamentals enhancements. 
• Establish and reinforce engineering practices for design reviews, code reviews, testing, and continuous integration to support secure, maintainable, and scalable solutions. 
• Provide technical guidance and escalation support by working with engineers on complex diagnostics using debugging tools, performance analysis, and code-level investigation, and representing the team in cross-organization discussions. 
• Foster a customer-focused and inclusive team environment where engineers understand customer impact, collaborate across teams, and take shared ownership of outcomes that matter to customers. 

AI‑Forward Engineering 

• Champion AI‑assisted and agentic engineering workflows across the org; set standards and expectations so teams use AI to move faster without compromising security or quality. 
• Establish guardrails and best practices for responsible use of AI tools—ensuring correctness, security, privacy, and compliance. 
• Encourage teams to use AI to:  
  • Accelerate root‑cause analysis and debugging.
  • Improve test coverage and validation.
  • Reduce toil through automation and repeatable workflows.
  • Partner with AI‑forward initiatives across Windows to scale learnings, patterns, and reusable assets. 

Required/Minimum Qualifications:

• 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.
• 4+ years of people management experience, including hiring and developing engineering teams.
• Solid technical background in systems, platform, on-device AI experiences with the ability to guide architecture and technical decisions.  
• Proven ability to drive execution across complex, cross‑team dependencies in a global environment. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience shipping operating system or platform‑level functionality and supporting customers at scale. 
• Familiarity with Windows architecture, OS fundamentals, and On Device AI concepts. 
• Familiarity with scripting or automation to support operational efficiency and repeatable processes. 
• Demonstrated ability to create clarity, energy, and cohesion across organizations and teams. 
• Ability to influence and drive initiatives across groups.

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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. 

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.