The Job

Principal Software Engineer

Technology, Data & Digital · Software & Web Development · Software Engineering

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In short

Microsoft is seeking a Principal Software Engineer for their Zurich office to lead the evolution of Visual Studio Code and GitHub Copilot. This hybrid role involves hands-on technical leadership, tackling complex product and platform challenges, and mentoring engineers.

Responsibilities

  • Identify significant product opportunities and systemic engineering problems; set technical direction.
  • Prove approaches through prototypes, critical implementation, testing, and debugging.
  • Lead cross-team delivery across Microsoft and GitHub, resolving architectural disagreements and clarifying ownership.
  • Own outcomes beyond release, using adoption, quality signals, and user feedback to guide investment.
  • Improve engineering effectiveness through testing strategies, performance work, and shared design patterns.
  • Lead technical discussions in the open, investigate community-reported issues, and work directly with developers.
  • Mentor experienced engineers and technical leaders, helping them develop judgment.

Requirements

  • Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
  • Demonstrated technical leadership across multiple teams, including setting direction and building alignment.
  • Solid hands-on coding and design skills, with the ability to become productive in large TypeScript and Rust codebases.
  • Experience designing shared platforms, APIs, or large application architectures.
  • Solid product judgment, including identifying opportunities and setting priorities amid ambiguity.
  • A track record of mentoring experienced engineers and improving team effectiveness.
  • Clear communication skills, including explaining complex technical decisions and navigating tradeoffs.

Desired Qualifications

  • Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including 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 C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
  • Experience with TypeScript, JavaScript and Rust.
  • Experience evolving interactive products with attention to usability and accessibility.
  • Experience guiding cross-platform architecture, performance improvements, or major migrations in a large application.
  • Experience establishing experimentation and feedback practices that connect engineering decisions to user outcomes.
  • Practical familiarity with AI coding tools and sound judgment about their impact on development workflows.
  • Experience providing technical leadership on AI-powered products, open-source projects, or extensible applications.

Benefits

  • The typical base pay range for this role across Switzerland is CHF 183,800.00 - CHF 309,700.00 per year.
  • Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation.
  • Equal opportunity employer.
  • Consideration for employment without regard to protected characteristics.
#software#developer#engineering#typescript#rust#ai#machine learning#architecture
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Company

Microsoft

Job Posted

2 days ago

Employment Type

Full Time

WorkMode

Hybrid

Experience Level

Executive

Locations

Zurich, Switzerland

Qualification

Bachelor, Master

Applicants

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