Microsoft Corporation is actively seeking an exceptional professional to join our organization as a Software Engineer II- CTJ- POLY within the Software Engineering division. Positioned at the core of Microsoft’s technological innovation, this role offers direct involvement in mission-critical engineering initiatives, planetary-scale cloud services, and next-generation product architectures.

Role Overview & Strategic Impact

As a Software Engineer II- CTJ- POLY based in Reston, Virginia, United States, you will play an integral role in architecting, engineering, and delivering transformative technology solutions. Operating within Microsoft’s Software Engineering practice, your efforts will directly shape the scalability, performance, and security of software systems and platforms trusted by billions of users worldwide.

Microsoft’s enduring mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Team members thrive within an inclusive culture grounded in a growth mindset, cross-team empathy, and uncompromising customer focus. In this position, you will collaborate with industry-leading engineers, researchers, and product leaders to solve complex technical problems at unprecedented scale.

Technical Domain: Hyperscale Cloud Architecture & Frontier AI Integration

Operating at the nexus of planetary-scale cloud infrastructure, Microsoft Azure powers the foundation for enterprise digital transformation and generative AI breakthroughs. Engineers and architects in this domain design, deploy, and optimize highly resilient, multi-region cloud services, intelligent API pipelines, and secure data topologies. Leveraging deep integrations with Azure OpenAI, foundational LLMs, and distributed microservices, team members accelerate production-grade intelligence while upholding strict standards for reliability, zero-trust security, and operational latency.

Professionals in this specialization combine strong computer science fundamentals with practical, real-world systems engineering. Whether delivering distributed microservices, designing custom silicon interconnects, managing physical datacenter infrastructure, or scaling AI-powered customer workflows, you will operate within a mature engineering ecosystem supported by Microsoft’s global technical community.

Key Responsibilities & Scope of Work

In this capacity, your daily priorities and core technical contributions will center on the following key operational deliverables:

• Uses appropriate artificial intelligence (AI) tools and practices across the software development lifecycle (SDLC) in a disciplined manner. Takes responsibility for the content of their AI-generated changes to artifacts, reviewing all changes and applying appropriate tooling and processes with minimal guidance.
• Supports efforts to use debugging, tests, tools, logs, telemetry, and other methods to proactively verify assumptions before issues occur for product features in production. Conducts incident retrospectives to identify root causes of problems, implements repair actions, and identifies mechanisms to prevent incident recurrence with minimal supervision. Under minimal guidance, applies least-access principles, and uses logging, telemetry, and other appropriate mechanisms to investigate issues while retaining privacy and security.
• Reviews product feature code and test code to ensure it meets team standards, contains the correct test coverage, and is appropriate for the product feature. Contributes to bringing insight to code reviews to help improve code quality, coaching and providing feedback to develop other engineers’ skills with minimal guidance. Contributes to code reviews in a timely fashion that helps accelerate the pace of development on the team. Considers diagnosability, reliability, testability, and maintainability when reviewing code and understands when code is ready to be shared or delivered. Applies and reviews for coding patterns, security risks, compliance issues, and best practices in code reviews. Uses automated source code analysis tools that are incorporated into the build/development process with minimal supervision.
• Creates and implements code for a product, service, or feature, reusing code as applicable with minimal supervision. Writes and learns to create code that is extensible and maintainable. Considers diagnosability, reliability, and maintainability with few defects, and understands when the code is ready to be shared and delivered. Applies coding patterns and best practices to write code (e.g., leveraging state-of-the-art generative artificial intelligence [GenAI], approaches to source code organization, naming conventions). Escalates identified blockers or unknowns during the development process, communicates how they will impact timelines, and contributes to identifying strategies and/or opportunities to address them with minimal supervision.
• Understands and provides feedback for proposals for architecture, with technical leadership from others. With minimal supervision, tests and explores various design options for a product/solution feature, outlining strengths and weaknesses of each option. Collaborates with architects with minimal supervision to build and modify a product/solution feature, providing feedback as needed. Begins to own or collaborate with other engineers on the architecture of solutions, following technical leadership as applicable. Contributes to the development of design documents that support user stories and other product requirements with oversight. Develops an awareness of the current technology landscape. Escalates and shares findings from investigations with the team and owns some design decisions. Helps to ensure system architecture and individual designs meet performance, scalability, resiliency, cost of goods sold (COGS), and other requirements and expectations. Upholds Microsoft standards of security, privacy, and other compliance requirements and expectations. Understands the importance of building solutions that expand upon the work of others. Contributes to the refinement of product features by escalating findings from analyses to inform decisions regarding the engineering of products.
• Creates a clear test strategy that ensures solution quality, prevents regression from being introduced into existing code with minimal supervision. Executes test plans that incorporate security testing to validate security invariants (including negative cases) with minimal supervision. Adds new tests to cover gaps, deleting or fixing broken tests, improving the speed, reliability, and defect localization of tests in the feature area. Builds testable code and considers testability during design for a set of features with minimal guidance. Understands the different types of tests that can be done on a particular system (e.g., unit tests), and maintains up-to-date understanding of testing architectures used both across Microsoft and across the industry. Leverages artificial intelligence (AI) tools for test automation with minimal supervision.
• Contributes to identifying dependencies, and incorporates them into the development of design documents for a product area with little oversight. Helps to actively identify other teams and technologies to leverage, how they interact, and where their own system or team can support others. Understands downstream interactions between systems. Contributes to collaborating with other teams to reach common goals where dependencies and validation concerns overlap.
• Maintain rigorous code quality, comprehensive automated test coverage, and security compliance throughout all phases of software delivery.
• Participate actively in technical design reviews, operational post-mortems, and architectural discussions across global engineering cohorts.

Candidate Profile & Experience Requirements

Candidates for the Software Engineer II- CTJ- POLY position are evaluated based on their practical experience, technical depth, and demonstrated track record of problem-solving:

• Professional Background: Minimum of 2 years (24 months) of verified experience directly relevant to software engineering or related technical specializations.
• Contributes to efforts to ensure the correct processes are followed to achieve a high degree of security, privacy, safety, and accessibility. Checks for visible evidence (e.g., audit trail) to demonstrate compliance for product areas. Develops and holds an understanding of the implications of onboarding new technologies following expectations of compliance at Microsoft. Demonstrates and maintains an up-to-date understanding of both global and local regulations for technologies and system applications to ensure regulations are met.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 2+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python    OR equivalent experience.
• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 2+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python    OR equivalent experience.
• Master’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 3+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python OR equivalent experience.
• OR Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 5+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python
• Technical Competence: Demonstrated mastery of programming environments, distributed systems, modern cloud infrastructure, or specialized analytical methodologies relevant to the domain.
• Cross-Functional Leadership: Strong written and verbal communication skills, with an established ability to articulate complex technical architectures clearly to engineering peers and executive stakeholders.
• Culture & Values: Demonstrated alignment with Microsoft’s core values of respect, integrity, and accountability, alongside a proactive dedication to diversity and inclusion.

Work Environment, Workplace Schedule & Location Structure

This position is designated with an official location in Reston, Virginia, United States. Work arrangements for this role are structured as Onsite Model with Hybrid Work Flexibility (Reston, Virginia). Microsoft provides modern, accessible work environments equipped with state-of-the-art developer tooling, ergonomic facilities, and collaborative hybrid infrastructure.

Compensation, Total Rewards & Comprehensive Benefits

Microsoft offers a comprehensive, highly competitive total rewards framework designed to support employees’ personal, professional, and financial well-being:

• Legally Disclosed Base Salary Range: USD $102,100 – USD $202,200 per annum across typical US geographic zones (regional geographic differentials apply for high-cost zones such as the San Francisco Bay Area and New York City metropolitan areas).
• Incentive & Equity Rewards: Eligibility for annual performance-based cash bonuses and Microsoft restricted stock units (RSUs).
• Comprehensive Healthcare: Premium medical, dental, and vision coverage, including mental health support programs and wellness reimbursements.
• Retirement & Financial Security: Robust 401(k) / national retirement savings plans with generous company matching contributions, alongside financial planning resources.
• Time Off & Work-Life Harmony: Generous paid time off, comprehensive parental leave programs, public holiday allowances, and caregiver leave support.
• Growth & Learning: Unlimited access to Microsoft Learn, internal technical conferences, tuition assistance, and structured career mobility pathways across worldwide business units.

Application Process & Requisition Reference

This position is actively open and monitored by Microsoft Talent Acquisition. In alignment with corporate hiring policies, applications are accepted on an ongoing basis with no rigid pre-determined closing deadline until a qualified candidate is formally selected (Open Until Filled).

To submit your application, select the Apply Now button on this listing to navigate directly to the official Microsoft Careers requisition portal. When submitting your candidacy, reference Requisition ID 200055886. Ensure your resume and supporting documentation highlight your relevant technical deliverables, system achievements, and professional qualifications.