{"id":2109796,"url":"https://alion.io/job/microsoft-principal-software-engineer-windows-app-and-windows-platform","title":"Principal Software Engineer - Windows App and Windows Platform","company":{"id":18,"name":"Microsoft","domain":"microsoft.com","url":"https://alion.io/company/microsoft","size_band":"5000+","is_staffing_agency":false,"employer_type":"direct","is_intermediary":false,"listed_via":null,"ats_vendor":"Eightfold","truth_index":{"grade":"B","score":75,"open_postings":85,"ghost_share":0,"stale_share":1,"repost_share":0,"time_to_fill_p50_days":null,"computed_at":"2026-10-10T05:45:15Z"}},"role":"Backend","role_family":"Backend","seniority":"lead","employment_type":null,"work_mode":"on_site","remote_scope":null,"remote_scope_basis":null,"remote_working_hours":null,"hiring_geo_confidence":"structured","locations":["Redmond, United States"],"countries":["US"],"hiring_countries":[],"hiring_countries_total":0,"salary":{"min":142800,"max":274800,"currency":"USD","period":"year","gross":null,"usd_annual":274800},"salary_estimate":null,"experience_years_min":6,"visa_sponsorship":false,"relocation_package":false,"has_equity":false,"technologies":[{"name":"Azure","optional":false},{"name":"C#","optional":false},{"name":"C++","optional":false},{"name":"JavaScript","optional":false},{"name":"Platform Engineering","optional":false},{"name":"Python","optional":false},{"name":"Windows","optional":false},{"name":"Microsoft Entra ID","optional":true},{"name":"VMWare","optional":true}],"status":"live","first_seen_at":"2026-08-06T21:55:40Z","employer_posted_date":"2026-10-08","last_verified_at":"2026-10-11T22:47:09Z","board_verified":true,"closed_at":null,"days_open":66,"trust":{"level":"ok","repost_count":null,"flags":[],"days_open":66},"description":"OverviewThe Windows Cloud Experiences team builds the Windows App, the unified client for connecting to Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, and remote PCs. We create secure, reliable, and high-performance client experiences that bring together native Windows capabilities and cloud-powered services across devices and form factors.\nWe are looking for a principal engineer who combines deep Windows systems expertise with broad architectural leadership. You will turn complex operating-system, networking, identity, remoting, performance, and reliability challenges into a coherent technical strategy for Windows App. This role is centered on native Windows client and platform engineering, with impact that spans multiple teams and partner organizations.\nAs aPrincipal Software Engineer on Windows App, you will set the technical direction for critical areas of the native Windows client and lead architecture from customer scenarios through implementation, release, and live-site operation. You will work across application, platform, and service boundaries to make remote Windows experiences secure, responsive, dependable, and deeply integrated with the operating system.\nYou will operate as a technical leader across teams, creating clarity in ambiguous problem spaces, aligning engineering investments with the product vision, and guiding durable decisions in complex codebases. You will grow other technical leaders through design guidance, architecture reviews, debugging support, and mentoring.\nResponsibilities\nDefine and drive the long-term architecture and technical strategy for major areas of Windows App and its native Windows platform, using modern C++ and C# where appropriate and integrating deeply with Win32, WinRT, COM, Windows services, and operating-system APIs.\nLead the design and delivery of high-impact, cross-cutting scenarios spanning connection setup, session lifecycle, authentication, OS integration, reliability, performance, and security.\nArchitect secure, scalable, and maintainable systems that span processes, threads, services, client applications, SDK boundaries, and cloud-backed experiences.\nLead investigations of the most complex engineering issues using debuggers, dumps, traces, logs, and telemetry, including problems involving concurrency, memory, networking, latency, compatibility, and operating-system integration.\nDrive multi-team execution from customer and business outcomes through architecture, design, implementation, validation, deployment, experimentation, monitoring, and live-site response; identify risks and make clear technical tradeoffs.\nBuild alignment across Windows, Windows 365, Azure Virtual Desktop, identity, security, design, and product teams, influencing partner roadmaps, interfaces, and end-to-end engineering decisions.\nEstablish and evolve engineering standards for performance, reliability, accessibility, security, testability, operational excellence, and long-term maintainability across the client platform.\nDevelop technical leaders, mentor senior engineers, lead architecture and design reviews, and create clarity in ambiguous or cross-organization problem spaces.\nQualifications\nRequired/Minimum Qualifications:\nBachelor'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.\n\nOther 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:\nMicrosoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter. \nPreferred Qualifications:\nDeep expertise in Windows systems technologies such as Win32, WinRT, COM, RPC, Windows services, inter-process communication, and core Windows APIs.\n\nExpertise in remote desktop, virtualization, or virtual desktop infrastructure technologies such as RDP, Azure Virtual Desktop, Windows 365, Citrix, VMware Horizon, HDX, or ICA.\n\nExperience setting architecture for networking, authentication, and identity in Windows clients, including Microsoft Entra ID, MSAL, or Web Account Manager.\n\nExperience leading the design and debugging of multi-process, multi-threaded, performance-critical native systems, including memory, concurrency, latency, compatibility, and reliability concerns.\n\nExperience influencing the architecture of Windows App SDK, WinUI, XAML, WebView2, MSIX, or related Windows client technologies.\n\nExperience building and operating secure, accessible client software at enterprise scale, using telemetry and live-site insights to guide architectural investments.\n\nExperience with device, input, display, audio/video, or peripheral integration for remote or virtualized scenarios.\n\nExperience using AI-assisted engineering tools responsibly to improve development, testing, debugging, or engineering productivity.\n\n#W+DJOBS\nSoftware 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.\nCertain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:\nhttps://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay\nThis position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.\nMicrosoft 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.","description_format":"text","description_chars":6497,"description_truncated":false,"requirements":{"experience_years_min":6,"management_years_min":null,"team_size_min":null,"manages_managers":false,"education":{"level":"bachelor","optional":false},"security_clearance":false,"languages":[]},"benefits":[],"hiring_locations":[],"hiring_excludes":[],"relocation_offered":false,"industries":["Console Games","Cloud Platforms (IaaS & PaaS)","Gaming Consoles","Developer Tools"],"lifecycle":[{"event":"open","at":"2026-10-08T21:43:32Z"}],"visa":[],"liveness":{"score":11,"band":"cold","label":"Long shot","p_open":1,"p_active":0.38,"p_room":0.28,"age_days":64,"expected_fill_days":20,"reasons":["conf:1","stale_co","velocity","win:tail","crowd:brand"],"computed_at":"2026-10-10T05:45:15Z"},"pay":{"stated_usd_annual":274800,"is_top_pay":true},"html_url":"https://alion.io/job/microsoft-principal-software-engineer-windows-app-and-windows-platform","json_url":"https://alion.io/job/microsoft-principal-software-engineer-windows-app-and-windows-platform.json","meta":{"generated_at":"2026-10-11T23:38:51Z","cache_seconds":300,"methodology":"https://alion.io/methodology","terms":"https://alion.io/terms","contact":"https://alion.io/contact","api":"https://alion.io/developers","about":"Alion is a live layer of people, companies and AI agents: who they are, whether they are real and active right now, what they do and how to work with them, readable by people and by agents and paid per call.","catalog":"https://alion.io/catalog.json","usage":{"tier":"crawler_verified","counted_by":"address","units_charged":1,"used_today":14787,"day_limit":null,"remaining_today":null,"minute_limit":300,"resets_at":"2026-10-12T00:00:00Z"}},"offers":[{"id":"company.slices","title":"One company in depth, by slice","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002,"plus_per_slice":{"credits":0.05,"usd":0.005}},"unit":"per company, plus each slice with data","note":"the employer in depth","call":{"mcp_tool":"get_company","arguments":{"id":18},"rest":"https://alion.io/mcp/rest/get_company?id=18"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.slices&for=job%2Fmicrosoft-principal-software-engineer-windows-app-and-windows-platform"},{"id":"market.stats","title":"A market slice: pay, demand and time to fill","status":"live","price":{"credits":1,"usd":0.1},"unit":"per slice","note":"pay, demand and time to fill for this role and place","call":{"mcp_tool":"market_stats"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=market.stats&for=job%2Fmicrosoft-principal-software-engineer-windows-app-and-windows-platform"},{"id":"job.search","title":"Open jobs by role, technology, place, pay and visa","status":"live","price":{"credits":0.02,"usd":0.002},"unit":"per posting in a list","note":"similar open postings","call":{"mcp_tool":"search_jobs"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=job.search&for=job%2Fmicrosoft-principal-software-engineer-windows-app-and-windows-platform"},{"id":"company.verify","title":"Is this company real and active right now","status":"pilot","price":null,"unit":"per company","request":{"url":"https://alion.io/catalog/request","method":"POST","body":"{\"offer\": \"company.verify\", \"for\": \"job/microsoft-principal-software-engineer-windows-app-and-windows-platform\", \"note\": \"what you need it for\"}"},"human":"https://alion.io/catalog?offer=company.verify&for=job%2Fmicrosoft-principal-software-engineer-windows-app-and-windows-platform"}]}