Jobs and Careers

Principal Software Engineer Manager- Windows Serving & Delivery

United Statesfull_timeVerifiedPosted 16 Jun 2026

💰 $304,200/yr($142,800/yr – $304,200/yr)

About the role

Overview

We are expanding our team with a Principal Software Engineering Manager to support the delivery and reliability of Microsoft solutions for commercial and enterprise customers.

In this role, you will guide a team of software engineers working on complex technical challenges across Windows client, Windows Update, and Windows reliability. The role focuses on shaping technical direction, maintaining operational quality, and supporting consistent, high-quality customer experiences.

This position combines people leadership, technical engagement, and business impact. You will support engineers through regular connections, feedback, and career development discussions, while fostering a team environment centered on accountability, learning, and continuous improvement. You will also help coordinate team response to live-site issues, incidents, and customer escalations.

Work in close partnership with product managers and engineering teams across Windows to improve product quality, reliability, and supportability at scale.

The team uses diagnostic tools, telemetry, and customer insights to identify opportunities to improve system performance, reliability, and user experience. The including partnering with engineers who build Windows to investigate issues and support long-term improvements.

Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. We work with a growth mindset, collaborate across teams, and focus on delivering meaningful outcomes for our customers. Our culture is grounded in respect, integrity, and accountability, creating an environment where everyone can contribute and grow.

Responsibilities

This role focuses on leading teams that design, build, and operate scalable software solutions that improve the reliability, performance, and customer experience of Windows. As a Principal Software Engineering Manager, focuses on people leadership, technical direction, and delivery outcomes across teams.

In this role, you are expected to:

Lead, coach, and support a team of Software Engineers by providing clear expectations, regular feedback, and career guidance through one-on-one connections, mentoring, and performance discussions.
Set and align technical direction and execution plans by partnering with Product Managers and cross-functional stakeholders to translate customer needs and business priorities into engineering plans.
Support operational excellence and delivery consistency by reinforcing engineering fundamentals, planning practices, and coordinated response to incidents and live-site issues.
Use customer feedback, telemetry, and product usage data to identify areas for improvement, prioritize investments, and guide teams toward long-term enhancements in Windows reliability, performance, and supportability.
Establish and reinforce engineering practices for design reviews, code reviews, testing, and continuous integration to support secure, maintainable, and scalable solutions.
Provide technical guidance and escalation support by working with engineers on complex diagnostics using debugging tools, performance analysis, and code-level investigation, and representing the team in cross-organization discussions.
Foster a customer-focused and inclusive team environment where engineers understand customer impact, collaborate across teams, and take shared ownership of outcomes that matter to enterprise and commercial customers.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications:

Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C# or Python.
- OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements: Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications:

Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, or Python
- OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, bu