Principal Software Engineer--M365 Storage Team

Overview

We are seeking a highly technical Principal Software Engineer to drive the next generation of AI-native architecture across critical storage, database, and distributed system components. This role will lead the modernization and transformation of foundational platform technologies that power large-scale cloud services and AI workloads.

The ideal candidate possesses deep expertise in systems programming, storage architecture, distributed databases, and high-performance service design. They combine strong critical thinking with an AI-native mindset, leveraging AI not only as a productivity tool, but as a catalyst to fundamentally rethink system architecture, engineering workflows, performance optimization, reliability, and operational excellence.

This role requires both hands-on technical depth and strategic influence, shaping technologies that operate at hyperscale while delivering industry-leading reliability, scalability, efficiency, and latency characteristics.

Responsibilities

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, and storage efficiency and cost optimization.
• 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

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...