Software Engineer II
Microsoft Corporation · Redmond, WA
$102,100–$202,200from the description
Jul 21, 2026
Redmond, WA
Jul 23, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This role sits within a team building a consumption-based billing and monetization platform for AI products, including Copilot experiences. The engineer will design, develop, and maintain high-scale, low-latency backend services, contribute production-quality code, and participate in architectural discussions across partner teams. It suits someone with solid software engineering fundamentals who has an interest in data engineering, modern commerce systems, or usage telemetry.
Mid level · 2+ 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 16,800 people in the Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue, WA area plausibly meet what this posting asks for (software developers). range 12,600–21,800
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 (6)
The role is titled 'Software Engineer II', which maps to a Mid-level (IC3) band — confirmed by Microsoft's own 'Software Engineering IC3' label in the posting.
The required coding languages (C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Python) are listed as interchangeable options under the required qualifications; one skill entry captures this gate with alternatives.
The degree requirement is 'Bachelor's OR equivalent experience', so no formal degree is hard-gated.
Spark, Python, data engineering/modelling, C#, and .NET all appear under Preferred Qualifications and are marked accordingly.
A secondary CBSA note: Microsoft lists a higher pay band for the San Francisco Bay Area (CBSA 41860, USD $133,800–$219,200/yr) and New York City metro (CBSA 35620) — the primary location is assumed to be the Redmond/Seattle campus given the role's team context, but the posting does not explicitly name a city.
The alt SOC (15-1243 Database Architects) reflects the data engineering and data modelling emphasis in the preferred qualifications; however, the primary framing is high-scale service development, making 15-1252 the stronger fit.
Read the full posting
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