Senior Software Engineer
The Operating Systems and Server team within the Microsoft 365 Core Platform is responsible for improving the reliability, security, compliance, and operational health of the infrastructure that powers Microsoft 365 services worldwide.
Our team builds intelligent systems and automation that keep one of the world’s largest cloud fleets secure, current, and resilient. We focus on operating system lifecycle management, firmware health, security and patch freshness, vulnerability remediation, fleet compliance, and safe deployment of critical platform updates across hyperscale infrastructure.
As a Senior Software Engineer, you will design, build, and operate large-scale distributed systems that analyze fleet telemetry, identify security and freshness risks, and drive automated remediation across Microsoft 365 infrastructure. You will work at the intersection of cloud engineering, operating systems, firmware, security, data platforms, and AI-assisted operations to improve the trustworthiness and reliability of the services millions of customers depend on every day.
You will partner closely with security teams, hardware and firmware engineering, Azure infrastructure and Fleet management teams, service owners, and site reliability engineers to deliver solutions that improve platform health, reduce operational risk, and ensure Microsoft 365 infrastructure remains secure, compliant, and up to date.
This role is ideal for engineers who enjoy solving complex infrastructure problems, working with large-scale telemetry, and building automation that improves security posture and operational excellence at cloud scale.
This position is based in Redmond, Washington and requires the employee be in the office a minimum of 3 days per week.
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
Design and build large-scale distributed services that improve operating system, firmware, security, and patch freshness across Microsoft 365 infrastructure.
Develop telemetry, analytics, and reporting platforms that measure fleet compliance, update readiness, vulnerability exposure, firmware health, and remediation progress.
Build intelligent services that detect freshness gaps, identify at-risk infrastructure, prioritize remediation, and forecast fleet security or compliance risk.
Create safe automation workflows for operating system updates, firmware upgrades, security patch deployment, configuration enforcement, and remediation orchestration.
Partner with security, hardware, firmware, operating system, and infrastructure teams to define and execute data-driven strategies for improving fleet health and reducing exposure.
Build AI-assisted experiences that accelerate investigation of patching failures, firmware issues, configuration drift, vulnerability exposure, and live-site incidents.
Improve operational safety through staged rollout systems, health gates, rollback mechanisms, policy enforcement, and strong observability.
Participate in architecture reviews, code reviews, design discussions, and live-site operations.
Mentor engineers and contribute to engineering excellence across the organization.
Drive projects from concept and design through production deployment, measurement, and operational ownership.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, 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 6+ 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 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
- OR equivalent experience.
- In-depth knowledge of operating system internals, with strong expertise in Windows and practical experience with Linux, including debugging and troubleshooting kernels, drivers, system services, networking stacks, crash dumps, and performance issues.
- Experience collecting, correlating, and analyzing diagnostic data at scale, including event logs, traces, performance counters, networking telemetry, driver diagnostics, and other system-level signals to identify root cause and drive remediation. Proven ability to build or leverage pipelines that aggregate and analyze this data (e.g., Kusto/Azure Data Explorer, or similar) to identify root cause, detect systemic issues, and drive remediation across the M365 Fleet.
- Demonstrated ability to diagnose complex issues involving OS crash dumps, driver failures, networking (TCP/IP, DNS, packet capture), and system performance (CPU, memory, I/O, latency) using tools such as WinDbg, Windows Performance Analyzer, ETW (Event Tracing for Windows).
- Tier 2 or Tier 3 United States Government clearance to work in secure Microsoft cloud environments.
- Experience with security patching, vulnerability management, compliance reporting, configuration management, or secure infrastructure operations.
- Experience developing automation systems for safe deployment, remediation, rollout orchestration, rollback, or fleet-wide policy enforcement.
- Experience applying data science, statistics, forecasting, anomaly detection, or machine learning to infrastructure health, security posture, or operational risk problems.
- Experience developing AI-powered operational tools, investigation assistants, or agent-based solutions.
- Demonstrated ability to independently drive complex technical projects from concept through production deployment.
- Collaboration and communication skills with the ability to influence across teams and organizations.
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Software Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $160,200 - $261,000 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.