Principal Software Engineer - Networking

Imagine working at the forefront of the cloud industry, redefining where Kubernetes can run. The AKS Flex team is building the next generation of Azure Kubernetes Service: a single AKS control plane that can manage worker nodes running anywhere, whether in other Azure regions, on-premises data centers, bare-metal fleets, edge sites, or other clouds.

We are hiring a Principal Software Engineer to build the networking that makes this possible. You will design the multi-site connectivity behind flex nodes for AKS and Unbounded, our open-source project for joining any Linux machine to a Kubernetes cluster across sites and networks, so that pods and nodes in any location behave as part of one cluster. You will also bring high-performance fabrics to GPU and AI workloads running across this distributed footprint.

You will solve deeply technical problems in overlay and underlay networking, routing, dataplane performance, secure connectivity, and reliable production operations at global scale. Your work will directly unlock capacity for GPU-hungry AI workloads, data-residency-constrained customers, and organizations that want one operating model for all of their compute.

This is a unique opportunity to define the networking architecture of a new product area from its early days, represent Microsoft in the open-source community, and shape what hyperscale managed Kubernetes looks like without boundaries.

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

• Own the networking architecture for flex nodes and Unbounded, and help define the multi-year technical roadmap for AKS Flex in partnership with product and engineering leadership.
• Lead cross-organization design efforts spanning AKS, Azure networking, compute, and identity, driving alignment on interfaces, tradeoffs, and sequencing.
• Build multi-site networking that gives pods transparent connectivity across sites, using encrypted overlays (e.g., WireGuard), tunneling (GENEVE, VXLAN, IPIP), direct L3 routing, BGP, and eBPF dataplanes.
• Design networking for nodes that live far from their control plane, handling high and variable latency, intermittent connectivity, partial partitions, NAT traversal, and secure communication with the API server.
• Drive the performance, scale, and reliability of the networking dataplane and control plane across a global fleet, including throughput, latency, encryption overhead, and route and policy scale.
• Integrate high-performance fabrics such as InfiniBand and RDMA for distributed AI training and inference across heterogeneous and remote hardware.
• Participate in production operations and on-call rotations, turning operational learnings into durable engineering improvements.
• Partner across AKS and Azure teams to deliver secure, compliant, and resilient infrastructure.

Qualifications

Required 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, Go, Rust, C, C++, C#, Java, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience

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 related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Go, Rust, C, C++, C#, Java, 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, Go, Rust, C, C++, C#, Java, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience
• Experience with Linux or similar Unix-like server environments
  • OR equivalent experience
• Experience leading the architecture, design, and delivery of large-scale networking or distributed systems
  • OR equivalent experience
• Deep understanding of networking across data center, overlay, and high-performance fabrics, such as InfiniBand, RDMA and MRC, ESUN, VXLAN, GENEVE, WireGuard, BGP, and eBPF-based dataplanes (e.g., Cilium)
• Deep understanding of the Linux networking stack, including routing, netfilter/nftables, XDP, and kernel networking performance
• Experience with Containers, Kubernetes, or other cloud-native technologies, including building controllers and CRDs
• Recognized maintainer or leadership role in Kubernetes, Cilium, or other CNCF or networking open-source projects
• Experience with CI/CD tools and processes, including but not limited to GitHub, Azure DevOps, or GitLab

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:

https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay

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.