Principal Software Engineer -Graphics

Overview Would you like to lead the next wave of innovation for Windows and build breakthrough experiences for collaboration and productivity to delight all Windows users across all devices?

We are the Windows India team and looking for someone like you to lead one or more of such efforts. Our mission is to help empower everyone as our CEO Satya said: “Our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more”. The team would be building breakthrough solutions for Windows customers with the goal of driving undeniable end-user pull. Our mission is to make sure customers won’t just engage with what we build – they’ll love it and tell others because we’ve solved their toughest problems in surprising and delightful ways.

We are building the core Composition, Rendering, and Input stack that powers Windows UI — from how every pixel is produced and animated, to how every keyboard, mouse, touch, pen, and gesture interaction is delivered with low latency and high reliability. We are looking for a proven Engineering Leader to lead a team and evolve these foundational systems so that Windows experiences are smoother, more power efficient, more accessible, and easier for developers to extend. You will partner with teams across Windows (Shell, app frameworks, graphics, accessibility, and hardware) to design, build, and ship platform capabilities at massive scale while maintaining quality, performance, and diagnosability. It is a unique opportunity to work deep in the Windows platform and impact one of the largest customer bases in the world!

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

• Influence and align the product vision by collaborating with customers, partners, product management, and engineering teams.
• Managing a team of high-caliber Software Engineers, ensuring project and development excellence and technical leadership.
• Deliver high quality results with full ownership and take the product to next level.
• Own career development of team through active coaching.
• Create a strong team culture of engineering excellence, customer passion, collaboration, diversity and inclusion. And of course, having fun too!
• Hire and develop the best!

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.

• Solid expertise in graphics pipelines, rendering engines, or composition systems.
• Significant interest and experience with AI-powered, agentic coding tools and platforms
• Solid design, coding, debugging, teamwork, partnership and communication skills
• Experience in leading large dev teams to achieve complex goals on time and on budget.
• Proven ability to find a shippable solution given conflicting and ambiguous requirements.
• Excellent Technical skills in Driving Design, Architecture with cross product and services dependencies.
• Ability to Drive Innovation with customer obsession.
• Experience with cross group design and coordination is an advantage.
• You must be self-driven, curious to learn, proactive, and result oriented.

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 Qualification

• 12 or more years of total experience designing, building and shipping software at scale and at least 5 years of team leadership and people management.
• Experience with Windows UI internals such as composition/rendering pipelines, scene graphs, animation timing, frame scheduling, and graphics performance tooling.
• Solid systems programming background (C++ preferred) and experience debugging complex cross-layer issues spanning app, framework, OS, and GPU/driver boundaries.
• Experience with input systems (keyboard/mouse/touch/pen/gesture), event routing, latency analysis, accessibility input scenarios, or international input (IME) is a plus.
• Familiarity with graphics APIs and tooling (e.g., DirectX) and/or real-time rendering concepts is a plus.
• The more diverse our team, the more inclusive our end result. To that end, we encourage applicants from any background and with any perspective.

#W+DJOBS

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.