Senior Principal Software Engineer at Microsoft
Redmond, WA
—
Aug 18, 2026
Redmond, WA
Sep 25, 2026
What this job asks for AI summary
This is a senior architecture role defining the end-to-end technical vision for compliant data computation and storage services within the Bing Search ecosystem. The work centers on designing petabyte-scale distributed storage and data processing platforms while translating privacy, security, and regulatory requirements into scalable infrastructure. The role requires cross-organizational influence, executive communication, and multi-year roadmap ownership — suited to a seasoned principal architect with hyperscale cloud and data platform experience.
Principal level · 8+ years · Bachelor's required · 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
Rare in this occupation — lead with these, and say what you built with them.
Most people in this occupation already list these. Still required — just not what gets you shortlisted.
What the occupation pays Median $119,144 (middle half $81,115–$160,963).
Estimated from BLS employment for this occupation and area, per-skill prevalence across our listing corpus, and published wage benchmarks — as of Aug 20, 2026. It is a model, not a headcount.
Why we read it this way (7)
No work location is stated in the posting; CBSA and state fields are left blank. This is likely a Microsoft role (Bing Search) based in the Seattle/Redmond area, but that is not confirmed in the text.
The role's primary day-to-day work is enterprise-scale data/storage architecture with a compliance and governance focus — it sits between 15-1299 (Computer Occupations, All Other / Enterprise Architect) and 15-1243 (Database Architects). Neither code is a perfect fit; 15-1299 was chosen as the broader catch-all for a platform/enterprise architect role.
The experience requirement is tiered: Bachelor's + 8 years, Master's + 12 years, or Bachelor's + 15 years. The minimum (8 years with a Master's pathway) is used for the overall years minimum, but the practical floor for this scope is much higher.
The posting names C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, and Python as interchangeable coding language options under a single requirement; they are captured as one skill with alternatives.
The scope — defining org-wide architecture vision, multi-year roadmaps, mentoring senior engineers and architects, and influencing executive decisions across multiple organizations — clearly supports a Principal-level classification despite the title carrying no explicit level word.
No compensation, benefits, or remote-work policy is mentioned in the posting.
Ignored 1 non-technology phrase(s) as skills (responsibilities/concepts, not named tools): data lifecycle management.
Read the full posting
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