Principal Software engineer
Microsoft
In the Xbox Developer organization, we aim to empower game creators to realize their vision and bring their games to Xbox players across Console, PC, and Cloud Gaming. The Developer Services teams build innovative, high scale distributed systems that power Xbox and PlayFab gameplay services. We are a critical part of Xbox’s mission to empower the world’s 3 billion gamers to play the games they want, with the people they want, anywhere they want, with as little friction as possible.
We are looking for a Principal Software Engineering Lead who thrives at the intersection of engineering, platform services, and business outcomes. In this role, you will design and ship systems that measure, explain, and operationalize consumption based services, integrating deeply with Azure Modern Commerce to turn usage signals into trusted revenue, actionable growth insights, and confidence.
As a Principal Engineering Lead, you will own and drive the technical direction for PlayFab’s billing and growth platform. You will lead the architecture, delivery, and operational excellence of mission critical systems that translate product usage into auditable revenue signals, customer visible billing experiences, and strategic growth insights. This role operates at the intersection of engineering, commerce, finance, and product strategy and requires strong technical leadership, systems thinking, and cross organizational influence.
This is a high impact role with broad scope, significant autonomy, and clear accountability for correctness, quality, and trust across PlayFab’s billing and growth ecosystem.
Responsibilities
Own and drive the technical vision for PlayFab’s billing and growth platform, ensuring alignment with Azure Modern Commerce and long‑term PlayFab service strategy.
Lead the architecture, design, and delivery of mission‑critical systems that translate product usage into auditable revenue signals and customer‑visible billing experiences.
Establish and enforce engineering standards for correctness, reliability, observability, and security in billing‑critical and data‑intensive systems.
Drive execution of complex initiatives including consumption‑based monetization, legacy customer migration, and hybrid billing models with a strong focus on customer trust.
Partner closely with product, finance, data, and platform teams to balance technical design, business requirements, and operational excellence.
Lead the development of growth and usage analytics that provide trusted insights for pricing strategy, adoption analysis, and business decision‑making.
Champion AI‑accelerated engineering practices to improve development velocity, quality, testing coverage, and operational resilience.
Act as a technical leader across the organization, mentoring engineers, influencing cross‑team architecture decisions, and unblocking high‑impact, ambiguous problems.
Qualifications
Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in Computer Science or equivalent practical experience.
12+ years of professional software engineering experience building and operating production systems.
Demonstrated experience leading the architecture and delivery of complex, data intensive or platform level systems.
Strong experience with cloud based services, data pipelines, and distributed systems, with Azure experience strongly preferred.
Proven ability to operate in highly regulated or correctness critical domains where data accuracy and trust are essential.
Ability to influence across organizational boundaries and partner effectively with product, finance, and platform teams
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.