Software Engineering
Microsoft Corporation · Redmond, WA
$142,800–$274,800from the description
Jul 24, 2026
Redmond, WA
Jul 26, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A principal-level engineering role focused on the financial infrastructure behind Microsoft's advertising business — covering billing, invoicing, payments, tax, and revenue recognition at global scale. The work centers on architectural leadership: modernizing a distributed platform, improving reliability and observability, and introducing AI-driven automation for operations and incident response. Background in large-scale financial or commerce systems is strongly preferred.
Senior level · 6+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
Advertised as Principal, but the requirements read as Senior.
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
Posted 2 times — it's one opening, so apply once.
We read this from the posting text with AI. Skim the description below before ruling yourself out.
How this req sits in the market our data
Roughly 16,100 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 12,100–21,000
Applicant volume Heavy — This req sits in a large pool with little in its requirements to thin it, and auto-apply tools fire at everything in the occupation. Applying early and leading with the rare skills below is what gets read.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $170,959 (middle half $135,720–$216,519). This posting is about at that midpoint.
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Jul 28, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
The required qualification gates on a Bachelor's degree AND 6+ years of experience OR equivalent experience; because equivalent experience is explicitly accepted, the degree requirement is set to Bachelors (the stated minimum when a degree path is chosen, but the 'or equivalent' clause means it is not a strict gate — flagged here for awareness).
The coding language requirement lists C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, and Python as examples ('including, but not limited to'); C# is used as the primary name with the others as alternatives since this is a Microsoft Advertising platform role, but any of these satisfies the gate.
Distributed systems and cloud services experience appear under Preferred Qualifications ('Proven experience building large-scale distributed systems and cloud services'), so they are marked preferred.
Financial systems / payments / billing domain experience is described as 'highly desirable' under Preferred Qualifications — no concrete named technology is specified, so it is omitted per the generic-concept rule.
AI/automation is mentioned in the responsibilities narrative and preferred qualifications context but no specific AI tool or platform is named; captured as a preferred skill at a high level.
The posting is titled 'Principal Software Engineer' (IC5 at Microsoft), but the hard-required experience floor is only 6+ years with a Bachelor's — well within Senior-band norms. The actual scope (leading a platform team, architectural influence) is consistent with Senior/Staff; the 'Principal' label here reflects Microsoft's internal leveling rather than the org-wide technical authority that would warrant a Principal band classification.
Two pay ranges are given: USD $142,800–$274,800/year for most US locations, and USD $188,000–$304,200/year for the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metro. The lower (broader) range is reported in the compensation fields; the elevated range for SF/NYC is noted here.
Read the full posting
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