Overview

Join the Microsoft Location Service Team and Lead the Future of Location-Based Experiences

As location becomes increasingly central to personalized, intelligent experiences, the Microsoft Location Service team is on a mission to significantly elevate the quality, reliability, and impact of location signals across Microsoft. Our platform powers some of Microsoft's most visible and high-impact products, including Bing, Copilot, Xbox, Ads, Content Feeds, Azure Maps and more, enabling relevant, trustworthy, and personalized experiences at global scale.

We are seeking a Principal Software Engineering Manager to provide technical and organizational leadership in advancing location inference, large-scale location graphs, and next-generation geolocation capabilities. In this role, you will lead and grow high-performing engineering team, set technical and execution direction, and partner cross-functionally to deliver durable, high-quality solutions that move key Microsoft scenarios forward.

This is a hands-on leadership role for a technically solid manager who thrives at the intersection of deep engineering, people leadership, and strategic impact. You will shape long-term roadmaps, influence platform-level decisions, and drive execution across complex, cross-team initiatives, while developing engineers and leaders.

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.

Responsibilities

• Lead, coach, and grow a team of engineers and scientists, fostering a culture of technical excellence, accountability, and continuous learning.
• Set and communicate a clear technical vision and execution strategy for core location services and inference platforms, aligning team priorities with broader organizational goals.
• Enable teams to adopt AI‑assisted and agentic coding practices to improve engineering velocity, code quality, and long‑term maintainability.
• Drive delivery of large-scale, highly reliable systems, balancing innovation with operational excellence across availability, reliability, performance, and cost.
• Partner with product, applied science, data, and partner teams to translate ambiguous problem spaces into clear, high-impact solutions.
• Lead identification of cross-team dependencies and drive the creation and review of design documents for complex products, services, and platforms.
• Influence org-level architecture, quality standards, and investment decisions across Microsoft's location ecosystem.
• Serve as a role model for Microsoft values by creating a psychologically safe and inclusive environment where diverse perspectives thrive.

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.
• Demonstrated professional experience in software engineering, including designing, building, and operating large‑scale, complex, and data‑intensive systems.
• Demonstrated experience in an engineering management role, including leading, coaching, and scaling engineering teams responsible for delivering high‑quality, reliable software.
• Solid technical background in distributed systems, data platforms, or machine learning-enabled services, with experience participating in architecture reviews and technical decision‑making.
• Proven ability to lead multi‑team initiatives, operate effectively in ambiguous problem spaces, and influence outcomes across organizational boundaries.
• Demonstrated track record of developing engineers and leaders, and of fostering inclusive, high‑performing engineering cultures focused on quality, ownership, and continuous improvement.

Other Requirements:
Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required for this role. These requirements include but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check: This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with location services, maps, search, inference systems, or large‑scale data platforms.

#MicrosoftAI

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.

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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,requesting accommodations.