# Principal Software Engineer--M365 Storage Team

**Company**: Microsoft
**Location**: Suzhou
**Experience**: senior
**Job type**: full-time
**Category**: Engineering
**Industry**: Technology
**Ticker**: MSFT
**Wikidata**: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2283

**Apply**: https://microsoft.ai/job/principal-software-engineer-m365-storage-team/?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply
**Canonical**: https://yubhub.co/jobs/job_5e09d163-8df

## Description

We're seeking a highly technical Principal Software Engineer to drive the next generation of AI-native architecture across critical storage, database, and distributed system components.

**System Architecture & Platform Leadership**

- Lead the architecture, design, and evolution of large-scale distributed storage, database, and data platform systems.

- Drive modernization of critical platform components to support next-generation AI and Copilot workloads.

- Re-architect legacy services and infrastructure using AI-native design principles.

- Define long-term technical strategy and architectural direction across multiple services and teams.

- Identify and eliminate architectural bottlenecks impacting scalability, reliability, performance, and operational efficiency.

**Systems Programming & Performance Engineering**

- Design and implement highly efficient systems-level software in languages such as C++, Rust, C#, Go, or similar.

- Drive end-to-end performance optimization across storage engines, networking, caching, concurrency control, and data access layers.

- Solve complex challenges involving high concurrency, low latency, throughput optimization, and resource efficiency.

- Lead root-cause analysis and resolution of difficult production issues involving distributed systems and storage infrastructure.

- Establish engineering standards and best practices for performance-critical software development.

**Storage & Database Innovation**

- Design and optimize storage engines, database architectures, replication technologies, indexing systems, and data management frameworks.

- Lead innovation in areas such as:

- High availability and disaster recovery

- Data durability and consistency

- Replication and synchronization

- Metadata management

- Query optimization

- Storage efficiency and cost optimization

- Intelligent caching and tiering

- Drive architectural improvements that enable large-scale AI and retrieval-driven workloads.

**AI-Native Transformation**

- Champion AI-native engineering practices across architecture, development, testing, and operations.

- Apply AI-assisted approaches to system design, performance analysis, reliability engineering, and operational automation.

- Identify opportunities to redesign products and platforms around emerging AI capabilities instead of incrementally enhancing legacy models.

- Build frameworks and workflows that integrate AI into engineering decision-making and operational management.

- Influence the organization’s AI transformation strategy through thought leadership and technical innovation.

**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.

- Extensive industry experience building large-scale cloud services, distributed systems, storage platforms, or database systems.

- Solid understanding of operating systems, memory management, threading, synchronization, networking, and I/O subsystems.

- Expert knowledge of distributed system design and architecture.

- Proven experience designing or operating large-scale storage and database platforms.

- Solid understanding of storage engines, database internals, replication mechanisms, transaction processing, consistency models, fault tolerance, high availability architectures, and data durability strategies.

**Preferred Qualifications**

- Master’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical 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.

- Experience building storage or database systems supporting AI, search, retrieval, vector, or large-scale analytics workloads.

- Expertise in cloud-scale platforms such as Azure, AWS, or Google Cloud.

- Experience with modern database technologies (distributed SQL, NoSQL, vector databases, or analytical engines).

- Deep familiarity with observability, telemetry, reliability engineering, and automated operations.

## Skills

### Required
- C++
- Rust
- C#
- Go
- Java
- JavaScript
- Python
- Distributed Systems
- Storage Platforms
- Database Systems
- Cloud Services
- AI-Native Architecture

### Nice to have
- Azure
- AWS
- Google Cloud
- Distributed SQL
- NoSQL
- Vector Databases
- Analytical Engines

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Source: [Apply at microsoft.ai](https://microsoft.ai/job/principal-software-engineer-m365-storage-team/?utm_source=yubhub.co&utm_medium=jobs_feed&utm_campaign=apply)