**Windows 365 Cloud PC (W365)** and **Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)** have consistently been recognized as leaders in the Gartner Magic Quadrant™ for Desktop as a Service (DaaS).  At its core, W365 and AVD provide business customers a modern, elastic, cloud-based Windows experience, and the ability to stay current in a simplistic and scalable manner. The **Windows Cloud Engineering** group is looking for a **Principal Software Engineer/Architect** who will help take the Windows Cloud platform to the next level. As a **Principal Software Engineer/Architect** on the Cloud Platform team, you will get to demonstrate leadership at both the business and technology level. You will get to consistently extend your knowledge of cloud compute, hypervisors, desktop virtualization, streaming technologies, and other technical areas including cloud-based management suites. You will be part of a team designing new platform capabilities involving virtualized compute, storage, networking, GPUs, and streaming protocols (such as RDP) for our core products to enhance the value to our customer base. You will also be a part of an agile team working with experienced engineers and product managers that behave more like a technology startup. 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** + Lead the technical direction and vision for the architecture, design, and the implementation of cloud platform that scales to provision, manage, and monitor health of millions of cloud-based virtual devices. + Mentor and grow a team of talented, diverse software engineers. + Work across organizations, collaborating with internal partner teams such as Azure Compute, Core OS, Microsoft Security and Identity team, and others. + Provide strong leadership for the architecture of secure, distributed, scalable, and resilient micro-services using modern technologies. + Raise the technical bar, maintain a data and results driven culture, and nurture a high-performance team to build world-class experiences for W365 and AVD end users, ITPros, partners, and operations teams. **Qualifications** **Required Qualifications** + Bachelor'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 equivalent experience. + 8+ years of experience as a software engineer/leader designing, implementing, and shipping cloud services or software products. + 8+ years of experience designing and building Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI) technologies. + 5+ years of experience driving and managing technical and architectural dependencies and with distributed systems delivering large-scale, secure, and resilient cloud services. **Preferred Qualifications** + Exceptional software development design, debugging and troubleshooting and problem-solving skills. + Ability to generate clarity in ambiguous situations.  + Experience with Devops models and agile methodologies. + Experience with the Microsoft Azure or similar cloud platforms. Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $161,600 - $286,200 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 $209,600 - $314,400 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 Microsoft will accept applications for the role until February 13, 2025 Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. Consistent with applicable law, 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 and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations (https://careers.microsoft.com/v2/global/en/accessibility.html) .