Senior Software Engineer
Microsoft
Imagine being at the center of shaping the future of Windows AI Agents—driving SOTA models, breakthrough infrastructure, and next-generation intelligence that will reach billions of users. The Windows AGI team is pioneering advanced AI experiences across the Windows ecosystem, and we’re looking for a Senior Software Engineer to help build the foundation that makes it all possible.
In this role, you will architect and scale data and training pipelines, lead model quantization and performance optimization, and design systems that measure real user engagement at global scale.
This opportunity is ideal for engineers who thrive on data and ML challenges and are very passionate about large-scale Agentic Windows Experiences. You’ll play a mission-critical role in ensuring our experiences are powered by high-quality, efficient models that solve real user problems in a secure, reliable way.
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.
Responsibilities
Applied AI Engineering for Session Success
- Improve session success rate for Windows experiences through advanced LLM architecture understanding, optimization, and tradeoff analysis.
- Perform ongoing quality tuning and AI feature optimization to improve reliability and user outcomes.
On-Device Performance Optimization
- Lead cold-start optimization, silicon-aware tuning, model distillation, and quantization for on-device AI models.
- Distill large models (e.g., ~300M-scale models) to reduce dynamic action latency to sub second.
- Drive continuous improvement through strong data collection, evaluation design, and iterative quality flywheels.
Agile Delivery for Native Windows Experiences
- Build and integrate native Windows applications and AI-driven features within Windows system components.
- Deliver low-latency, memory-efficient, and highly reliable user experiences across Windows surfaces.
- Collaborate across teams while navigating Windows compliance, system constraints, and productization requirements at scale.
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
- Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 4+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
Preferred Requirements:
- Possesses an understanding of LLM architectures, optimization techniques, and tradeoffs for multimodal tasks (e.g., image recognition, dynamic action models).
- Hands-on experience with model optimization such as distillation, quantization, and performance tuning for on-device or resource-constrained environments.
- Demonstrated ability to improve model efficiency in real-world agentic workflows.
- Experience building native Windows applications or system integrations with a focus on latency, memory, and reliability.
- Proficiency in data-driven development, including evaluation methodology and continuous model quality improvement.
- Experience measuring & optimizing Computer User Agent action-planning models for both latency and accuracy.
- Skilled in cross-team collaboration across large platform teams or OS-level environments.
Software Engineering IC4 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $119,800 - $234,700 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 $158,400 - $258,000 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.