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Microsoft Principal Engineer Jobs (NOW HIRING)

Job Summary: The Principal Mechanical Engineer serves as the senior technical authority for ... Proficient in the Microsoft 365 suite-including Word, Excel, Project, PowerPoint, and Teams-with ...

Job Summary: The Principal Mechanical Engineer serves as the senior technical authority for ... Proficient in the Microsoft 365 suite--including Word, Excel, Project, PowerPoint, and Teams--with ...

Job Summary: The Principal Mechanical Engineer serves as the senior technical authority for ... Proficient in the Microsoft 365 suite--including Word, Excel, Project, PowerPoint, and Teams--with ...

Description The Principal Engineer role offers the opportunity to lead complex transformer design ... Proficiency with Microsoft Office (Excel, Word, PowerPoint) and AutoCAD. * Ability to read drawings ...

Overview Microsoft Silicon, Cloud Hardware, and Infrastructure Engineering (SCHIE) is the team ... Principal PCIe Architect responsible for defining next-generation PCIe/CXL architecture for ...

Overview CoreAI is at the forefront of Microsoft's mission to redefine how software is built and ... As a Principal Engineer on the team, you'll shape the architecture and strategy on how customers ...

Principal Engineers are oftentimes sought out by BCI to serve as Subject Matter Experts in their ... Two (2) years' experience with Microsoft Office Suite applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) is ...

A principal-level engineer and technical leader responsible for the architectural integrity and ... Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Fabric, Snowflake, AWS, and various integration partners and ...

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Microsoft Principal Engineer information

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$74K

$147.2K

$212.5K

How much do microsoft principal engineer jobs pay per year?

As of Jun 23, 2026, the average yearly pay for microsoft principal engineer in the United States is $147,220.00, according to ZipRecruiter salary data. Most workers in this role earn between $118,500.00 and $173,000.00 per year, depending on experience, location, and employer.

How much does a principal engineer at Microsoft make?

A Microsoft Principal Engineer typically earns between $150,000 and $250,000 annually, with total compensation often including bonuses, stock options, and other benefits. Salaries vary based on experience, location, and specific technical expertise.

What are the key skills and qualifications needed to thrive as a Microsoft Principal Engineer, and why are they important?

To thrive as a Microsoft Principal Engineer, you need advanced expertise in software engineering, architecture design, and a deep understanding of computer science principles, often supported by a relevant degree and extensive experience. Proficiency with Microsoft technologies such as Azure, .NET, Visual Studio, and familiarity with DevOps tools and cloud platforms is essential, and certifications like Microsoft Certified: Azure Solutions Architect are highly valued. Strong leadership, communication, and strategic thinking enable you to mentor teams and drive complex projects. These skills ensure you can deliver innovative solutions at scale, lead technical direction, and contribute to Microsoft's engineering excellence.

What engineers make $300,000 a year?

Senior engineers in high-demand fields such as software development, especially at large tech companies like Microsoft, can earn $300,000 or more annually, often including bonuses, stock options, and other benefits. Roles like Principal Engineer or Lead Engineer with extensive experience, specialized skills, and leadership responsibilities are most likely to reach this compensation level.

What are Microsoft Principal Engineers?

Microsoft Principal Engineers are highly experienced technical leaders responsible for designing complex systems, providing architectural guidance, and driving innovation within the company. They often serve as technical mentors to other engineers, lead cross-functional projects, and help set technical direction for their teams or divisions. Principal Engineers have deep expertise in their fields and play a key role in shaping Microsoft's products and engineering culture. Their responsibilities also include collaborating with stakeholders across the organization and ensuring that solutions align with business goals.

What are some common challenges faced by a Microsoft Principal Engineer when leading cross-functional projects?

As a Microsoft Principal Engineer, one common challenge is aligning diverse technical and business teams toward a shared vision, especially in large-scale, cross-functional projects. You’ll often need to balance immediate project needs with long-term architectural goals, while ensuring effective communication across teams with varying priorities and expertise. Navigating organizational complexity and influencing without direct authority are key aspects of the role. Success relies on strong leadership, stakeholder management, and the ability to drive consensus among senior engineers, product managers, and other stakeholders.

What is the difference between Microsoft Principal Engineer vs Microsoft Senior Engineer?

CriteriaMicrosoft Principal EngineerMicrosoft Senior Engineer
Required CredentialsBachelor's or higher in CS or related field; extensive experienceBachelor's or higher in CS or related field; significant experience
Work EnvironmentLeadership in technical projects, cross-team collaborationIndividual contributor, focused on project execution
Employer & Industry UsageUsed across Microsoft for senior technical leadership rolesCommonly used for experienced technical contributors
Search & Comparison IntentUnderstanding senior technical roles at MicrosoftDistinguishing levels of seniority within Microsoft engineering

The Microsoft Principal Engineer is a senior technical leadership role focused on guiding large projects and influencing technical strategy, often leading multiple teams. In contrast, the Microsoft Senior Engineer is an experienced individual contributor primarily responsible for executing complex technical tasks. Both roles require strong technical credentials, but the Principal Engineer emphasizes leadership and strategic impact, while the Senior Engineer concentrates on technical expertise and project delivery.

What is level 69 at Microsoft?

Level 69 at Microsoft typically corresponds to a senior technical or engineering role, often involving advanced expertise and leadership responsibilities. It is part of Microsoft's internal leveling system used to define job seniority, compensation, and expectations, with levels generally increasing with experience and impact. Specific roles and requirements can vary depending on the team and job function.

What engineers make $500,000?

Senior engineers at top technology companies, including roles like Principal Engineer or Distinguished Engineer, can earn $500,000 or more annually, especially with bonuses, stock options, and other incentives. These positions typically require extensive experience, advanced technical skills, and often involve leadership responsibilities or specialized expertise in areas like cloud computing, AI, or software architecture.
More about Microsoft Principal Engineer jobs
What cities are hiring for Microsoft Principal Engineer jobs? Cities with the most Microsoft Principal Engineer job openings:
Infographic showing various Microsoft Principal Engineer job openings in the United States as of June 2026, with employment types broken down into 75% Full Time, 20% Part Time, and 5% Contract. Highlights an 87% Physical, 5% Hybrid, and 8% Remote job distribution, with an average salary of $147,220 per year, or $70.8 per hour.
Microsoft 365 Principal Engineer

Microsoft 365 Principal Engineer

Wells Fargo

Charlotte, NC • On-site

Full-time

Posted 11 days ago


Wells Fargo rating

7.8

Company rating: 7.8 out of 10

Based on 687 frontline employees who took The Breakroom Quiz

65th of 141 rated banks


Job description

About this role:

Wells Fargo is seeking a Principal Engineer to provide deep technical leadership for AI capabilities across Microsoft 365 and OS platforms, with a focus on the design and delivery of agentic AI solutions and workflows built on Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Copilot Cowork. As the most senior individual contributor on the team, you will define how agents, skills, and plug-ins are built, secured, and scaled across the enterprise - turning the Copilot platform into intelligent, autonomous experiences for the workforce.


In this role, you will:

  • Act as the principal technical authority for agentic AI across Microsoft 365 (Teams, Outlook, SharePoint, Graph, Copilot) and OS platforms (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android), defining architecture and engineering standards for agents, skills, plug-ins, and AI-driven workflows
  • Design and build end-to-end agentic solutions on the Microsoft 365 Copilot platform - declarative and custom agents, skills composition, plug-in/tool calling, grounding over enterprise data via Microsoft Graph, and multi-step autonomous workflows
  • Lead delivery of agents and automations in Copilot Studio and Copilot Cowork, establishing reusable patterns, skills libraries, and plug-in frameworks that other teams build on
  • Define how Copilot Cowork agents are extended with custom skills and plug-ins to automate complex, cross-application workplace workflows securely and reliably
  • Drive the most complex, highest-risk technical initiatives across teams, resolving ambiguous architecture and integration challenges spanning the Copilot platform, Microsoft Graph, and OS extensibility points
  • Set and enforce engineering best practices for agentic AI delivery - agent and skill evaluation, prompt and skill versioning, observability, latency and cost optimization, CI/CD, and automated testing for non-deterministic AI systems
  • Embed responsible AI into the engineering foundation: grounding, safety, guardrails, data privacy, model governance, and explainability built into agents, skills, and plug-ins by design
  • Partner with architects and engineering leadership to shape the next generation domain architecture and target-state roadmap for the Microsoft 365 Copilot ecosystem and OS platform AI
  • Conduct deep technical design reviews and peer code reviews, evaluating solution quality and alignment to technical direction, and personally contribute hands-on in the codebase to the most critical components
  • Serve as the technical representative for the product in cross-team planning and collaborative efforts, influencing technology requirements, priorities, and the engineering roadmap
  • Identify and drive escalated resolution of the most difficult technology roadblocks across code, build, deployment, and platform integration
  • Mentor and grow senior and experienced engineers, raising the team's depth in Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility, Copilot Studio, Cowork, and OS platform engineering
  • Interact directly with Microsoft and other technology partners to advance Copilot platform and AI capabilities
  • Interpret, develop, and ensure the security, stability, and scalability of AI capabilities, and identify, manage, and mitigate AI-related technology and enterprise risk
  • Provide principal-level technical leadership for the design and delivery of agentic AI solutions, skills, and plug-ins on Microsoft 365 Copilot, Copilot Studio, and Cowork
  • Set the engineering standards, patterns, and reusable frameworks that enable teams to build secure, scalable agents and plug-ins across the Copilot platform
  • Personally drive resolution of the hardest technical problems and remain hands-on in the codebase for the most critical work
  • Embed responsible AI, evaluation, observability, and governance into the engineering foundation and definition of done
  • Influence architecture, roadmap, and technology strategy across teams and partner with leadership on target-state direction for the Microsoft 365 Copilot ecosystem
  • Mentor and elevate the technical depth of the engineering organization in Copilot extensibility, agentic AI, and platform engineering


Required Qualifications:

  • 7+ years of Engineering experience, or equivalent demonstrated through one or a combination of the following: work experience, training, military experience, education


Desired Qualifications:

  • Demonstrated experience designing and delivering generative AI or agentic AI systems in production at enterprise scale - agents, skills, plug-ins, tool calling, orchestration, and autonomous or human-in-the-loop workflows
  • Deep, hands-on expertise with the Microsoft 365 Copilot extensibility model - declarative and custom engine agents, skills, plug-ins, message extensions, and Microsoft Graph connectors
  • Hands-on experience building and shipping agents and automations in Copilot Studio and Copilot Cowork, including custom skills and plug-in development
  • Strong experience building AI-powered capabilities across OS platforms (Windows, macOS, iOS, Android) in a large enterprise environment
  • Expertise grounding agents over enterprise data through Microsoft Graph, including retrieval, security trimming, and data governance
  • Proficiency with engineering fundamentals that underpin agentic AI delivery: API and microservices design, containerization (Docker, Kubernetes), CI/CD, DevSecOps, and automated testing/evaluation for non-deterministic systems
  • Demonstrated application of responsible AI principles - model governance, grounding, safety, bias mitigation, data privacy, and explainability - in a regulated industry
  • Experience as the senior-most technical leader on complex initiatives, influencing architecture and engineering direction across multiple teams without direct authority
  • Experience delivering AI capabilities in a regulated financial services or other highly regulated environment, with awareness of enterprise risk, security, and compliance frameworks for AI

Posting End Date:

18 Jun 2026

*Job posting may come down early due to volume of applicants.

We Value Equal Opportunity

Wells Fargo is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability, status as a protected veteran, or any other legally protected characteristic.

Employees support our focus on building strong customer relationships balanced with a strong risk mitigating and compliance-driven culture which firmly establishes those disciplines as critical to the success of our customers and company. They are accountable for execution of all applicable risk programs (Credit, Market, Financial Crimes, Operational, Regulatory Compliance), which includes effectively following and adhering to applicable Wells Fargo policies and procedures, appropriately fulfilling risk and compliance obligations, timely and effective escalation and remediation of issues, and making sound risk decisions. There is emphasis on proactive monitoring, governance, risk identification and escalation, as well as making sound risk decisions commensurate with the business unit's risk appetite and all risk and compliance program requirements.

Candidates applying to job openings posted in Canada: Applications for employment are encouraged from all qualified candidates, including women, persons with disabilities, aboriginal peoples and visible minorities. Accommodation for applicants with disabilities is available upon request in connection with the recruitment process.

Applicants with Disabilities

To request a medical accommodation during the application or interview process, visitDisability Inclusion at Wells Fargo.

Drug and Alcohol Policy

Wells Fargo maintains a drug free workplace. Please see our Drug and Alcohol Policy to learn more.

Wells Fargo Recruitment and Hiring Requirements:

a. Third-Party recordings are prohibited unless authorized by Wells Fargo.

b. Wells Fargo requires you to directly represent your own experiences during the recruiting and hiring process.

#DNP-IND

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About Wells Fargo

Sourced by ZipRecruiter

Wells Fargo & Company (NYSE: WFC) is a leading financial services company that has approximately $1.9 trillion in assets, proudly serves one in three U.S. households and more than 10% of small businesses in the U.S., and is a leading middle market banking provider in the U.S. We provide a diversified set of banking, investment and mortgage products and services, as well as consumer and commercial finance, through our four reportable operating segments: Consumer Banking and Lending, Commercial Banking, Corporate and Investment Banking, and Wealth & Investment Management. Wells Fargo ranked No. 41 on Fortune's 2022 rankings of America's largest corporations. In the communities we serve, the company focuses its social impact on building a sustainable, inclusive future for all by supporting housing affordability, small business growth, financial health and a low-carbon economy.

Industry

Finance and insurance

Company size

10,000+ Employees

Headquarters location

San Francisco, CA, US

Year founded

1852

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