Principal Engineer Jobs
Principal Engineer jobs are open across technology, fintech, healthtech, defense, and enterprise software, from senior engineer to staff and distinguished-level roles, with specializations in platform engineering, distributed systems, and infrastructure architecture. Find a role that fits from the openings below and apply directly.
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Microsoft is a company where passionate innovators come to collaborate, envision what can be and take their careers to levels they cannot achieve anywhere else. This is a world of more possibilities, more innovation, more openness in an AI-enabled world. The Experiences and Devices group is a rapidly growing organization at the heart of how users interact with and experience copilots.
We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to join our team!
The AI FinOps team in E+D is building Microsoft’s next-generation monetization platform for AI, powering the shift from seat-based licensing to real-time, consumption-based billing. Our team defines how high-value Copilot and agentic experiences translate into scalable revenue, making it a critical, high-visibility effort at the center of M365’s AI-driven growth.
Our team designs, implements, and supports AI monetization models, with a long-term vision of becoming the unified licensing, usage, and ROI platform for all of the Copilot AI ecosystem.
We are looking for an experienced engineer with a proven track record in delivering high-scale, low-latency services. This role operates at the nexus of AI FinOps Platform, Core Services, Modern Commerce, and Data Engineering, requiring both deep technical expertise and strong leadership capabilities. Success in this position demands the ability to collaborate seamlessly across multiple partner teams in a fast-paced, high-expectation environment.
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate to empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.
Responsibilities
- Design, develop, and maintain high-scale, low-latency services that meet the needs of our diverse user base.
- Hands-on engineer who delivers high-quality code that is maintainable, performant, testable and used in cross products
- Conduct efficient design and architectural discussions, ensuring that solutions are secure, reliable and maintainable. Lead and facilitate technical discussions, encouraging contributions from all team members and fostering an inclusive environment where ideas can be shared without judgment.
- Collaborate closely with multiple partner teams to ensure seamless integration and delivery of complex projects.
- Drive effective project management and delivery within a fast-paced, results-oriented environment.
Qualifications
Required 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#, Java, JavaScript, 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:
- Experience with application usage telemetry insights, modern licensing and payment systems is a plus.
- Experience in C# and .Net is a plus.
- AIFinOpsJobs
- Experience in Spark, Python, data engineering and data modelling.
- Proven ability to conduct efficient design and architectural discussions.
#AIFinOpsJobs
Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $142,800 - $274,800 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $188,000 - $304,200 per year.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process.
Principal Engineer Jobs by Experience Level
Top Cities Hiring Principal Engineers
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Find Principal Engineer JobsPrincipal Engineer Job Market
Who's Hiring
- Northrop Grumman835N
- CVS Health290

- Raytheon130R
- Collins Aerospace107C
- Oracle69

Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software107
- Insurance46
- Electronics & Hardware27
- Banking & Financial Services15
- Manufacturing11
What Employers Look For
The qualifications that appear most often in principal engineer jobs.
- 10 or more years of software engineering experience with 3 or more years in a senior technical leadership role
- Deep expertise in distributed systems, microservices architecture, or large-scale platform design
- Proficiency in at least one primary language such as Java, Python, Go, or C++ at production scale
- Experience defining technical roadmaps, engineering standards, and cross-team architectural direction
- Strong background in cloud infrastructure on AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud including networking and reliability patterns
- Bachelor's or master's degree in computer science, software engineering, or a closely related field
Tips for Your Principal Engineer Job Search
Reframe your resume around influence
Principal engineer resumes stall when they read like senior engineer resumes. Replace task-based bullet points with outcomes you drove at org scale: architecture decisions adopted company-wide, engineering standards you authored, or systems that unblocked multiple teams.
Apply early to roles that fit
Migrate Mate lists principal engineer openings from across the United States in one place, so you can find roles that match and apply directly to each listing.
Target companies at the right growth stage
Principal engineer roles are most clearly defined at companies large enough to have distinct staff and senior staff tiers. Series B and later startups, and enterprises mid-migration, hire most actively because architectural debt is acute and technical leadership is underdeveloped.
Prepare a system design narrative in advance
Most principal-level loops include at least one deep system design session. Walk in with two or three real examples you can detail end to end, covering the tradeoffs you rejected and why. Generic designs drawn from textbooks fail at this level.
Negotiate scope before negotiating compensation
At the principal level, the title can mean staff engineer, principal engineer, or distinguished engineer depending on the company ladder. Before discussing pay, clarify reporting structure, decision authority, and whether the role is individual contributor or carries direct reports.
Follow up with a written technical take
After a final-round system design interview, send a brief follow-up note that refines one tradeoff you discussed or flags a constraint you would handle differently. It signals the depth of thinking hiring managers expect from someone at this level.
Principal Engineer Jobs: Frequently Asked Questions
Which companies are hiring the most principal engineers?
The companies hiring the most principal engineers right now include Northrop Grumman, CVS Health, and Raytheon, with the largest share of openings in California, Texas, and Massachusetts, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Demand is consistently highest at large technology companies, defense contractors, and enterprise software firms scaling platform and infrastructure teams.
How many principal engineer jobs are remote?
About 60% of principal engineer openings are fully remote or hybrid as of August 2026, making it one of the more remote-accessible senior technical roles. Platform engineering, distributed systems, and cloud architecture positions tend to offer the most location flexibility, while roles tied to hardware, embedded systems, or on-site lab environments are more likely to require in-person presence.
How do you become a principal engineer?
Becoming a principal engineer typically requires moving from senior engineer to a role where you own technical direction beyond your immediate team. The path involves leading cross-functional architecture decisions, mentoring multiple engineers, building a reputation for engineering judgment that other teams rely on, and demonstrating that your technical choices have measurable long-term impact on product reliability, scalability, or developer productivity.
Can you get hired as a principal engineer without prior principal-level experience?
Yes, candidates are hired at the principal level from strong senior engineer backgrounds when they can show scope that already matches the role. If you have owned architecture decisions that affected multiple teams, authored engineering standards adopted across an organization, or led a platform migration end to end, those contributions often carry more weight than holding a prior principal title at a smaller company.
What does the principal engineer interview process look like?
The principal engineer interview process typically runs four to six rounds and includes a recruiter screen, a hiring manager conversation focused on scope and leadership philosophy, one or two deep system design sessions, a behavioral or executive interview assessing cross-functional influence, and sometimes a technical presentation or architecture review. Loops at this level spend more time on judgment, tradeoffs, and organizational impact than on algorithmic coding problems.
Where can I find and apply to principal engineer jobs?
You can find and apply to principal engineer jobs on Migrate Mate, which lists current openings from across the United States. Search the available roles, find the ones that match your background and preferred location or remote setup, and apply directly to each listing.
See All 3,815+ Principal Engineer Jobs
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