Principal Software Engineer

Delivering hyperscale cloud technologies into these environments introduces unique engineering challenges across resource management, infrastructure orchestration, networking, compute, storage, security and lifecycle management.We are looking for a Principal Engineering Manager who combines strong technical leadership, people leadership and execution excellence. ResponsibilitiesAs a Principal Engineering Manager, you will own the technical direction, engineering execution and people leadership of a team delivering critical Azure Local capabilities. You will work across organizational boundaries to translate product strategy into engineering plans and drive complex initiatives from architecture through production deployment and operations.You will: Lead, grow and develop a high-performing engineering team through technical direction, coaching, career development and a culture of engineering excellence. Own engineering strategy and execution for key areas of Azure Local, translating customer and business requirements into architecture, technical investments and measurable outcomes. Drive complex initiatives from ideation to production, including architecture, implementation, integration, validation, rollout and operational readiness. Provide strong technical leadership across distributed systems and cloud infrastructure, driving architecture and design decisions for scalable, reliable, secure and maintainable solutions. Partner with Product Management and engineering teams across Azure to make technical trade-offs, manage cross-team dependencies, resolve blockers and deliver end-to-end solutions. Partner with multiple stakeholders geographically distributed, contribute to design, planning, execution and influence overall outcomes with your team. Drive engineering and operational excellence across development, testing, automation, CI/CD, observability, security, live-site operations and service reliability. Develop technical leaders within the team through mentoring, delegation and ownership of increasingly complex initiatives. Partner with customers and field teams to understand real-world scenarios and translate feedback into engineering priorities and product improvements. Champion data-driven engineering and responsible adoption of AI-assisted development practices to improve engineering productivity and quality. Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C#, .NET, Go, Java or Python. 12+ years of experience in commercial software development and 3+ years of experience managing engineering teams. Experience designing, building, shipping and operating reliable, large-scale distributed systems. Experience with cloud-native technologies, microservices, Kubernetes and containers. Experience with Azure or another major public cloud platform. Experience on Azure platform, key platform services on Azure is a definite plus. Experience with site reliability engineering, observability and operational readiness practices. Understanding of networking fundamentals; data center networking experience is an added advantage. Knowledge of security and compliance requirements for public cloud services. Strong problem-solving, collaboration and stakeholder management skills, with demonstrated ability to deliver through influence. Advanced technical degree (MS/PhD) is a plus.