Principal Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, WA
$165,600–$296,400from the description
Jul 25, 2026
Redmond, WA
Jul 26, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
A people-management role leading an engineering team that builds the agentic and autonomous infrastructure underpinning a large-scale Kubernetes compute platform. Day-to-day work spans defining technical strategy, overseeing development of AI agent systems for deployment, capacity, resiliency, and recovery workflows, and establishing the evaluation and learning mechanisms that keep those systems safe and effective. Suited to an experienced engineering manager with a strong distributed-systems or cloud-infrastructure background.
Principal level · 8+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Bachelor's required · Full-time
“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 290 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (computer and information systems managers). range 220–380
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 $219,401 (middle half $175,322–$306,147). 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 role is titled 'Principal Software Engineering Manager' and carries explicit people-management responsibilities (lead and grow a team, 6+ years people management preferred), making 11-3021 the primary SOC. 15-1252 is noted as a runner-up because the JD also emphasizes hands-on technical strategy and building platform systems.
The degree requirement states 'Bachelor's Degree … AND 8+ years … OR equivalent experience.' Because equivalent experience is explicitly accepted in lieu of the degree, the degree requirement is set to None per policy — however, the posting does name a Bachelor's as the baseline credential, so this is a borderline call.
The coding-language requirement (C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python) is listed as a hard gate under Required Qualifications. The alternatives field captures the interchangeable options the JD itself lists.
Kubernetes appears throughout the role description as the fleet technology the team operates, but is never listed under a formal requirements section — treated as preferred stack context.
The preferred qualifications call for 12–15+ years of engineering experience and 6+ years of people management; these are preferred, not hard gates.
Compensation figures for the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metro are higher (USD $220,800–$331,200/year); the standard U.S. range ($165,600–$296,400/year) is reported here as the role is based in Redmond, WA.
The role is hybrid (3 days on-site in Redmond, 2 days remote) — not fully remote.
Read the full posting
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