Overview
Are you interested in building hyper-scale distributed systems and scaling them even further?
At the Web Data Platform Team, we build the global web scale Index and the platform that supports it. We are looking for a Principal Software Engineer to help us further scale our platform in Web Crawler team that is fundamental to all Search and Recommendation scenarios.
Today we crawl tens of Billions URLs/day. This is the go-to service for all web crawling needs across Microsoft, both for consumer and enterprise needs. We are on a journey to containerize the service and build the next version of crawler, which can increase the throughput, reach every URL on the web and is deployed in every region of the world, while being intelligent about minimizing the load on websites being crawled.
The system is expected to maintain a fine balance with discovering the latest pages on the web, maintaining freshness of documents in the Index, while avoiding inundating the web servers with crawl requests. It is a distributed platform scalable with Machine Learning (ML) models aiding effective resource usage. With the advent of Large Language Models (LLMs), web scale data has become critical for training needs, in addition to serving use cases.
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.
Starting January 26, 2026, Microsoft AI (MAI) employees who live within a 50- mile commute of a designated Microsoft office in the U.S. or 25-mile commute of a non-U.S., country-specific location are expected to work from the office at least four days per week. This expectation is subject to local law and may vary by jurisdiction.
At Microsoft, our mission—to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more—guides how we partner with customers to deliver trusted, impactful solutions. With a growth mindset culture, we innovate responsibly and measure success by shared progress—people, teams, and customers. Join us to do meaningful work that changes the world and helps shape what’s next for everyone.
Responsibilities
- Collaborate with and guide stakeholders to confirm requirements for products or solutions.
- Lead architectural discussions and own the architecture.
- Create and test architectural proposals and develop detailed design specifications.
- Develop a clear testing strategy to ensure quality and prevent regression in the product.
- Identify dependencies and incorporate them into design documentation.
- Produce extensible, maintainable, well-tested, secure, and performant code adhering to design specifications.
- Use various tools like debugging, testing, logging, telemetry, and AI to verify assumptions and improve product quality.
- Review code and test code to ensure they meet team standards, have proper test coverage, and are appropriate for the product.
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.
Preferred Qualifications:
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.
#MicrosoftAI
Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $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, read more about **requesting accommodations.**