Principal Software Engineer (AI / Agentic Developer Productivity) at Microsoft Corporation
Redmond, WA
$142,800–$274,800from the description
Jul 21, 2026
Redmond, WA
Jul 23, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role sits on an internal platform team responsible for building and evolving an agentic AI development platform used by engineers across Microsoft. Day-to-day work involves designing and shipping features for AI-powered developer tooling — including orchestration of large language models, multi-step reasoning workflows, and human-in-the-loop automation — while also actively using those tools in personal coding practice. It suits an experienced software engineer with hands-on background in agentic AI frameworks and large-scale production systems.
Senior level · 6+ years · Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA · Full-time
“or” means any one of them counts — you don't need all of them.
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 8,400 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 6,300–10,900
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 role is internally leveled as IC5 (Individual Contributor 5), which at Microsoft corresponds to a Senior Software Engineer — consistent with the 6+ years experience gate and the scope described.
The title 'Software Engineer' carries no explicit seniority modifier, so the title states no level; the IC5 label and 6+ years requirement support a Senior classification.
The degree requirement states 'Bachelor's Degree … AND 6+ years … OR equivalent experience', making the degree substitutable — the degree requirement is set to None.
A second pay range applies to San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metro locations: USD $188,000–$304,200/year. The primary (nationwide) range is reported here.
The Microsoft Cloud Background Check is a standard employment screening, not a US government security clearance — the clearance requirement is None.
All AI tooling (LangChain, Semantic Kernel, AutoGen, LlamaIndex, GitHub Copilot, Claude Code, Cursor, RAG, etc.) appears exclusively under 'Preferred Qualifications'.
The coding languages (C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python) are listed as examples under the required qualifications with 'including, but not limited to' language; they are grouped as a single interchangeable gate on coding proficiency.
Read the full posting
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