Principal Software Engineering Manager

Microsoft Microsoft · Big Tech · Hyderabad, TS, IN +1 · Software Engineering

The Principal Software Engineering Manager will lead teams building and scaling Azure Database for PostgreSQL, a globally distributed, fully managed database service. This role involves owning core database engine capabilities and PostgreSQL extensions development, driving engagement with the open-source PostgreSQL community, and setting technical strategy for reliability and performance. The role also emphasizes driving an automation-first engineering approach by leveraging AI across the engineering lifecycle, including design assistance, code quality improvements, test and validation automation, and migration tooling, while modernizing service telemetry, observability, and core service infrastructure.

What you'd actually do

  1. Define and evolve the long-term Fundamentals charter across engineering systems, reliability, security, observability, lifecycle, and AI-driven automation.
  2. Build a multi-year roadmap for service health, live‑site maturity, reliability KPIs, and standardization of platforms across Azure Data.
  3. Lead, coach, and grow a high-performing engineering team with strong fundamentals in distributed systems, observability, security, and reliability.
  4. Own and deliver end‑to‑end features across the full engineering lifecycle, including architecture, implementation, testing, debugging, production rollout, and live‑site support
  5. Drive an automation‑first engineering approach by leveraging AI across the engineering lifecycle—including design assistance, code quality improvements, test and validation automation, and migration tooling—while modernizing service telemetry, observability, and core service infrastructure.

Skills

Required

  • 12+ years of engineering experience in distributed systems, databases, platform engineering and cloud services.
  • 4+ years leading engineering teams delivering highly available cloud services and infrastructure.
  • Experience with large scale services architectures and technologies
  • Demonstrated experience leading cross-org technical initiatives.

Nice to have

  • Experience building solutions with Azure is a plus
  • Industry experience building and maintaining open-source software (OSS) and working with PostgreSQL
  • Proven track record of leading design and implementation of complex systems and delivering them to production
  • Proficient analytical skills with systematic and structured approaches to software design

What the JD emphasized

  • AI-driven automation
  • automation-first engineering approach
  • modernizing service telemetry, observability, and core service infrastructure