Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, WA
$142,800–$274,800from the description
Jul 25, 2026
Redmond, WA
Jul 26, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This principal-level engineering role sits within Microsoft's Security Response Center, focused on hardening the internal systems and workflows used to manage vulnerability intelligence. Day-to-day work involves writing and refactoring code, implementing security controls such as MFA and Zero Trust, improving monitoring and incident response, and optimizing the performance of LLM inference pipelines. It suits an experienced software engineer with a background in both security engineering and high-performance computing.
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 3 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 5,700 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 4,250–7,400
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 coding language requirement (C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python) is framed as an 'including, but not limited to' list — any one of these satisfies the gate; they are listed as alternatives of each other rather than all being independently required.
The role is genuinely split between two missions: (1) securing MSRC's vulnerability management platform (Zero Trust, MFA, IcM, information protection) and (2) LLM/AI inference performance optimization (GPU profiling, HPC). This is an unusual hybrid; the security-platform work edges it toward 15-1212, but the primary framing is software engineering (IC5 level, code creation/optimization), so 15-1252 is the primary classification.
Advertised as 'Principal Software Engineer' (IC5 at Microsoft), but the required qualifications gate at 6+ years — consistent with a Senior IC rather than a true Principal/IC6. The advertised seniority reflects the title; the assessed seniority reflects the minimum requirements.
The degree requirement is Bachelors because the JD states 'Bachelor's Degree … AND 6+ years … OR equivalent experience.' The 'or equivalent experience' clause would normally yield None, but the preferred qualifications escalate to Master's + 12 years or Bachelor's + 15 years, suggesting the Bachelor's is a real gate for the base path. Treated as Bachelors given the primary required path explicitly names it without a standalone experience-only alternative.
The San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metro pay range is USD $188,000–$304,200/year; the general US range ($142,800–$274,800) is reported in the compensation fields.
A Microsoft Cloud Background Check is required post-hire, but this is an internal screening process, not a US government security clearance — the clearance requirement is set to None.
GPU profiling, LLMs, Zero Trust, and IcM appear in the responsibilities narrative or preferred qualifications and are marked preferred accordingly.
Read the full posting
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