Software Engineer II

Build the platform that helps every engineering team work better

We're hiring a Software Engineer II who has a solid grounding in distributed systems and is excited about applying AI to engineering problems. You'll help build the next generation of our platform. Our goal is to make building and running software much simpler. That means turning complex infrastructure into capabilities that are easy to use, making reliability and security the default, and using AI to remove the work that slows engineers down.

Your work will matter beyond a single service or feature. The components you build will help teams across the organization ship better products faster and with more confidence. You'll work on real problems in scalability, performance, observability, and developer experience. You'll also explore how intelligent automation can improve the way the platform is built and run.

This is a hands-on engineering role. You'll design, build, and operate production features, own well-defined parts of the platform, and work closely with senior engineers and partner teams. You'll help take ideas from prototype to production, and you'll grow your technical depth and scope over time. We want someone who is curious, asks why things are done a certain way, looks for chances to automate repetitive work, and cares about building reliable systems. If you want to build technology that makes other engineers more productive, and grow your career in platform engineering in an AI-enabled world, this role is for you.

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

Build core platform features. Design, implement, test, and ship platform components that meet the needs of engineering teams, with guidance from senior engineers on larger architectural decisions.

• Apply AI to real engineering problems. Help build AI-assisted and agent-based features for workflows like troubleshooting, testing, migrations, and operational analysis. Help evaluate them so engineers can trust the results.
• Understand your customers. Work with partner teams to learn where they get stuck, gather feedback on solutions, and help turn common problems into self-service features.
• Make safe delivery easier. Contribute to automated validation, progressive rollout, observability, and recovery tools that let teams move fast without adding risk to production.
• Own your features. Deliver well-scoped features from design through implementation, deployment, and ongoing operation, including on-call support and resolving production issues.
• Collaborate and communicate. Work with engineers on your team and partner teams to clarify requirements, discuss technical tradeoffs, and raise risks early.
• Keep learning and contributing. Write clean, well-tested code, take part in code and design reviews, share what you learn, and help build a culture of curiosity, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 2+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
  • OR equivalent experience.

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 3+ 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 5+ 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 and operating services or distributed systems in production.
• Experience building or contributing to internal platforms, shared services, or developer tools used by other teams.
• Hands-on experience integrating large language models or agents into applications or engineering workflows.
• Familiarity with designing APIs or workflows that both human developers and AI agents can use.
• Experience in at least one platform area, such as service frameworks, data infrastructure, observability, CI/CD, experimentation, configuration management, or cloud infrastructure.
• Experience using telemetry, profiling, or production debugging to find and fix performance or reliability issues.
• Experience contributing to migrations or modernizing existing systems.
• Experience turning a prototype or proof of concept into a production feature.
• Interest in applying AI to engineering work, with the ability to use AI tools well and think critically about their correctness, security, and reliability.
• A record of delivering features from design through production, working well within a team.
• Ability to break down loosely defined problems into clear, practical technical tasks.
• Good communication and collaboration skills, including explaining your technical choices and being open to feedback.

Software Engineering IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $102,100 - $202,200 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 $133,800 - $219,200 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.