Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Redmond, WA
Principal Software Engineer jobs in Redmond, Washington are concentrated in the Overlake, Cascade, and Downtown Redmond districts, driven by cloud computing, enterprise software, and gaming. Employers hiring right now include Microsoft, Terex Corporation, and Honeywell Aerospace. Scan the live roles below and apply to whichever ones fit.
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Showing 5 of 73+ Principal Software Engineer jobs
In the Microsoft Frontier Company Engineering team, you won’t just build software; you’ll deliver real outcomes for some of the world’s most complex organizations.
We are a global team of world-class engineers who have been working in a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) model for more than a decade, embedding directly within customer teams to solve their toughest challenges, side-by-side, and shipping production-ready solutions in days, not months.
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will bring strong software design and engineering expertise, building reliable systems and production-ready services that turn ideas and data-driven insights into scalable solutions. You’ll work in small, multidisciplinary crews alongside data scientists, product managers, and domain experts, owning the full lifecycle from design through to deployed solutions.
Our work is powered by AI, applying the mindset and tooling across the entire development lifecycle to move from idea to production in days while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and trust.
This role offers the opportunity to:
Build reliable, production-ready systems and services that turn ideas into scalable solutions
Ship engineering work that directly influences business strategy and customer outcomes
Collaborate with leading global organizations across industries
Apply the latest advancements in AI and software engineering to solve problems at scale
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
Put security first: Build and ship solutions that meet enterprise security standards (threat modeling, secure coding, privacy, and compliance) from design through production.
Translate business needs into technical solutions: Partner with stakeholders to define problem statements, success metrics, and architectural approaches that deliver measurable outcomes.
Design and lead architecture: Own end-to-end system design for cloud and AI workloads, making sound tradeoffs across reliability, performance, cost, and maintainability.
Deliver quickly without sacrificing quality: Use modern engineering practices (CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and progressive delivery) to iterate fast and reduce operational risk.
Drive customer success and adoption: Work directly with customer engineering teams to deliver production-ready solutions, unblock delivery, and ensure outcomes are adopted at scale.
Build reusable, scalable assets: Create solution accelerators, reference architectures, and code that can be reused across customers and scenarios to maximize impact.
Operate effectively in ambiguity: Continuously learn and adapt as technologies and customer priorities evolve; bring clarity, structure, and momentum to complex engagements.
Lead and mentor across disciplines: Provide technical direction, coach engineers, and collaborate with product, data, and security partners to deliver as one team.
Lead complex delivery end-to-end: Coordinate multiple workstreams, manage dependencies, and raise the bar on reliability and operational excellence for services running in production.
Model inclusive, customer-obsessed leadership: Create an environment of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement while representing the company professionally with external stakeholders.
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#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
Other Requirements
Microsoft is unable to sponsor a work visa for this role due to the nature of the role’s job duties.
Additional or Preferred Qualifications (PQs)
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#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
Experience designing, deploying, and operating AI or LLM-based solutions, including prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented approaches, model tuning, evaluation, data quality, performance monitoring, and use of cloud AI platforms
Familiarity with deploying and operating AI systems in production environments
Understanding of model evaluation, data quality, and performance monitoring
Experience using cloud AI platforms (Azure ML, OpenAI, or similar)
Enjoy travel and are comfortable with travel up to 25%
#FDE
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.
In the Microsoft Frontier Company Engineering team, you won’t just build software; you’ll deliver real outcomes for some of the world’s most complex organizations.
We are a global team of world-class engineers who have been working in a Forward Deployed Engineering (FDE) model for more than a decade, embedding directly within customer teams to solve their toughest challenges, side-by-side, and shipping production-ready solutions in days, not months.
As a Principal Software Engineer, you will bring strong software design and engineering expertise, building reliable systems and production-ready services that turn ideas and data-driven insights into scalable solutions. You’ll work in small, multidisciplinary crews alongside data scientists, product managers, and domain experts, owning the full lifecycle from design through to deployed solutions.
Our work is powered by AI, applying the mindset and tooling across the entire development lifecycle to move from idea to production in days while maintaining the highest standards of security, quality, and trust.
This role offers the opportunity to:
Build reliable, production-ready systems and services that turn ideas into scalable solutions
Ship engineering work that directly influences business strategy and customer outcomes
Collaborate with leading global organizations across industries
Apply the latest advancements in AI and software engineering to solve problems at scale
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
Put security first: Build and ship solutions that meet enterprise security standards (threat modeling, secure coding, privacy, and compliance) from design through production.
Translate business needs into technical solutions: Partner with stakeholders to define problem statements, success metrics, and architectural approaches that deliver measurable outcomes.
Design and lead architecture: Own end-to-end system design for cloud and AI workloads, making sound tradeoffs across reliability, performance, cost, and maintainability.
Deliver quickly without sacrificing quality: Use modern engineering practices (CI/CD, automated testing, observability, and progressive delivery) to iterate fast and reduce operational risk.
Drive customer success and adoption: Work directly with customer engineering teams to deliver production-ready solutions, unblock delivery, and ensure outcomes are adopted at scale.
Build reusable, scalable assets: Create solution accelerators, reference architectures, and code that can be reused across customers and scenarios to maximize impact.
Operate effectively in ambiguity: Continuously learn and adapt as technologies and customer priorities evolve; bring clarity, structure, and momentum to complex engagements.
Lead and mentor across disciplines: Provide technical direction, coach engineers, and collaborate with product, data, and security partners to deliver as one team.
Lead complex delivery end-to-end: Coordinate multiple workstreams, manage dependencies, and raise the bar on reliability and operational excellence for services running in production.
Model inclusive, customer-obsessed leadership: Create an environment of trust, accountability, and continuous improvement while representing the company professionally with external stakeholders.
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#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
Other Requirements
Microsoft is unable to sponsor a work visa for this role due to the nature of the role’s job duties.
Additional or Preferred Qualifications (PQs)
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#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
Experience designing, deploying, and operating AI or LLM-based solutions, including prompt engineering, retrieval-augmented approaches, model tuning, evaluation, data quality, performance monitoring, and use of cloud AI platforms
Familiarity with deploying and operating AI systems in production environments
Understanding of model evaluation, data quality, and performance monitoring
Experience using cloud AI platforms (Azure ML, OpenAI, or similar)
Enjoy travel and are comfortable with travel up to 25%
#FDE
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.
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Find JobsPrincipal Software Engineer Job Market in Redmond
Who's Hiring
- Microsoft67
- Terex Corporation3
- Honeywell Aerospace3
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Artificial Intelligence
- Manufacturing
Principal Software Engineer Jobs in Redmond: Frequently Asked Questions
How do I get a principal software engineer job in Redmond?
Focus your search on the large technology campuses clustered around Overlake and the Redmond Town Center corridor, where cloud infrastructure, developer tools, and gaming engineering teams concentrate. Depth in distributed systems, platform architecture, or machine learning engineering gives you an edge in this market. Candidates who can point to shipped products at scale and cross-functional technical leadership consistently stand out with Redmond's enterprise and product-led employers.
Which companies hire principal software engineers in Redmond?
Employers hiring principal software engineers in Redmond right now include Microsoft, Terex Corporation, and Honeywell Aerospace, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Redmond's employer mix leans heavily toward large technology companies and their adjacent hardware, cloud, and gaming divisions, with a smaller but active group of mid-size software firms operating nearby.
Are there remote principal software engineer jobs in Redmond?
Yes, though hybrid arrangements are more common than fully remote at this seniority level, given the cross-functional leadership these roles typically require. About 100% of principal software engineer openings tied to Redmond are remote or hybrid as of August 2026, reflecting broader flexibility across the technology sector. Systems design, architecture review, and code review work tend to be the most location-flexible components of principal roles here.
How can I get a principal software engineer job in Redmond with little or no experience?
The most realistic path into Redmond's principal-level market starts with a senior software engineer role at one of the large technology employers in Overlake or the Cascade campus corridor, building toward promotion from within. Redmond's major tech employers run structured career ladders where strong performance at the senior level regularly leads to principal tracks. Contributing to open-source projects, leading internal technical initiatives, and earning visibility through architecture decisions accelerates that progression locally.
Which industries hire the most principal software engineers in Redmond?
Most principal software engineer openings in Redmond sit in Technology & Software, Artificial Intelligence, and Manufacturing, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of August 2026. Redmond's concentration of large technology campuses, particularly in cloud services, productivity software, and interactive entertainment, drives sustained demand for senior individual contributors and technical leads across those sectors.
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