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 and Honeywell Aerospace. Scan the live roles below and apply to whichever ones fit.
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Showing 5 of 80+ Principal Software Engineer jobs
We’re not just training and applying models — we’re building intelligent systems that run them. This is your chance to engineer the critical infrastructure, platforms, and features that power the Microsoft Copilot — with a direct impact on how the world works. Recent launches like Analyst Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft Community Hub showcase the breadth and depth of the impact you’ll help drive across the stack.
The Microsoft Turing team is an innovative engineering and research team working on state-of-the-art deep learning models to power end user experiences across the company. Software Engineers and Applied Scientists in the Turing team work together to push the boundaries of large-scale deep learning models on the Microsoft 365 Core world-class distributed training infrastructure.
As a Principal Software Engineer in the Turing team, you will leverage your skills and experience to help build the platform that powers enterprise Microsoft’s Copilots. You will work closely with applied scientists and engineers on building and designing both backend platform capabilities as well as core copilot scenarios aimed at delighting our customers. You will be responsible for building scalable, performant, and cutting-edge features. This involves defining the architecture, implementation plan, ensuring everything is tested and robust, and improving processes to contribute to our best practices.
We’re solving some of the most technically demanding problems in distributed systems, language models, and production-scale AI. Whether you're passionate about finding innovative uses to apply AI, systems design, intelligent orchestration and reasoning systems, or building resilient services — this is the team where engineers thrive.
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
Leads design discussions: Facilitates design meetings, creates design documents, and ensures alignment with project goals.
Ensures system architecture: Designs system architecture that meets security, compliance, and scalability requirements.
Engineering Excellence
Enhances and reuses developer tools: Develops and maintains tools that support code creation, testing, and deployment.
Stays current with new trends: Continuously learns and adapts to new technologies and methodologies to improve product performance.
Implementation
Mentors others: Guides team members to produce extensible and maintainable code through code reviews and pair programming.
Leads implementation and deployment: Oversees the implementation and deployment of solutions, ensuring they meet quality standards.
Breaks down project vision: Translates project vision into actionable milestones and guides the team in project estimation and planning.
Reliability and Supportability
Acts as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI): Monitors systems, responds to incidents, and restores services to ensure reliability.
Leads efforts to reduce incident volume: Analyzes incident patterns and implements broad resolutions to minimize future incidents.
Understand User Requirements
Partners with stakeholders: Collaborates with stakeholders to gather and understand user requirements and expectations.
Incorporates continuous feedback: Uses feedback from users and stakeholders to iteratively improve designs and solutions.
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:
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field with 8+ years of relevant industry experience, or a bachelor’s degree with 10+ years of relevant industry experience.
- Demonstrated experience designing and shipping AI-powered products or platforms, including experience with large language models, agentic systems, retrieval, or related technologies.
- Proven software engineering judgment, with the ability to translate emerging AI capabilities into reliable, maintainable, and scalable product experiences.
- Experience architecting and operating large-scale cloud or distributed systems, with a focus on reliability, performance, security, observability, and operational excellence.
- Proven ability to shape technical strategy, influence architectural decisions across organizational boundaries, mentor engineers, and deliver measurable customer outcomes in fast-moving and ambiguous environments.
#CAP #Copilot #msturing
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.
We’re not just training and applying models — we’re building intelligent systems that run them. This is your chance to engineer the critical infrastructure, platforms, and features that power the Microsoft Copilot — with a direct impact on how the world works. Recent launches like Analyst Agent in Microsoft 365 Copilot | Microsoft Community Hub showcase the breadth and depth of the impact you’ll help drive across the stack.
The Microsoft Turing team is an innovative engineering and research team working on state-of-the-art deep learning models to power end user experiences across the company. Software Engineers and Applied Scientists in the Turing team work together to push the boundaries of large-scale deep learning models on the Microsoft 365 Core world-class distributed training infrastructure.
As a Principal Software Engineer in the Turing team, you will leverage your skills and experience to help build the platform that powers enterprise Microsoft’s Copilots. You will work closely with applied scientists and engineers on building and designing both backend platform capabilities as well as core copilot scenarios aimed at delighting our customers. You will be responsible for building scalable, performant, and cutting-edge features. This involves defining the architecture, implementation plan, ensuring everything is tested and robust, and improving processes to contribute to our best practices.
We’re solving some of the most technically demanding problems in distributed systems, language models, and production-scale AI. Whether you're passionate about finding innovative uses to apply AI, systems design, intelligent orchestration and reasoning systems, or building resilient services — this is the team where engineers thrive.
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
Leads design discussions: Facilitates design meetings, creates design documents, and ensures alignment with project goals.
Ensures system architecture: Designs system architecture that meets security, compliance, and scalability requirements.
Engineering Excellence
Enhances and reuses developer tools: Develops and maintains tools that support code creation, testing, and deployment.
Stays current with new trends: Continuously learns and adapts to new technologies and methodologies to improve product performance.
Implementation
Mentors others: Guides team members to produce extensible and maintainable code through code reviews and pair programming.
Leads implementation and deployment: Oversees the implementation and deployment of solutions, ensuring they meet quality standards.
Breaks down project vision: Translates project vision into actionable milestones and guides the team in project estimation and planning.
Reliability and Supportability
Acts as a Designated Responsible Individual (DRI): Monitors systems, responds to incidents, and restores services to ensure reliability.
Leads efforts to reduce incident volume: Analyzes incident patterns and implements broad resolutions to minimize future incidents.
Understand User Requirements
Partners with stakeholders: Collaborates with stakeholders to gather and understand user requirements and expectations.
Incorporates continuous feedback: Uses feedback from users and stakeholders to iteratively improve designs and solutions.
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:
- Master’s degree in Computer Science, Engineering, Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, or a related field with 8+ years of relevant industry experience, or a bachelor’s degree with 10+ years of relevant industry experience.
- Demonstrated experience designing and shipping AI-powered products or platforms, including experience with large language models, agentic systems, retrieval, or related technologies.
- Proven software engineering judgment, with the ability to translate emerging AI capabilities into reliable, maintainable, and scalable product experiences.
- Experience architecting and operating large-scale cloud or distributed systems, with a focus on reliability, performance, security, observability, and operational excellence.
- Proven ability to shape technical strategy, influence architectural decisions across organizational boundaries, mentor engineers, and deliver measurable customer outcomes in fast-moving and ambiguous environments.
#CAP #Copilot #msturing
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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Who's Hiring
Top Industries Hiring
- Technology & Software
- Artificial Intelligence
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 and Honeywell Aerospace, based on current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 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 September 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 and Artificial Intelligence, per current listings on Migrate Mate as of September 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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