Overview
Overview
AI Knowledge (AI Search) is dedicated to building large-scale, developer-focused cloud search services that seamlessly integrate search, AI, and distributed systems. At the heart of this sophisticated distributed system lies the core engine, which the AI Search team continually innovates to ensure it remains a reliable and scalable retrieval partner in the evolving AI landscape.
Role & Impact
As a Principal Software Engineer in the AI Knowledge Search Backend team, you will play a pivotal role in driving Core Engine initiatives as a strong individual contributor leader. You will provide strategic innovation and thought leadership to both the core engine and serverless teams, leveraging deep expertise in open-source search technologies such as OpenSearch, Lucene, Elasticsearch, and Solr. Your proven history of contributions across search and database systems, and your track record of developing highly scalable and reliable distributed systems, will be central to the growth of the service and the enablement of advanced AI applications.
IC Leadership & Collaboration
- Serve as a technical role model, driving complex initiatives and solutions with independence and strategic vision.
- Build technical consensus among highly skilled engineers, fostering a culture of open dialogue, rigorous debate, and evidence-based decision-making.
- Collaborate cross-functionally with product, research, and engineering teams, as well as external stakeholders, to align technical direction and deliver impactful solutions.
- Influence the roadmap and planning across multiple teams and versions, ensuring that foundational search capabilities support both current and future AI workloads.
- Mentor and inspire peers, championing best practices in distributed systems, cloud architecture, and search technologies.
Responsibilities
Responsibilities
- Lead the design and delivery of ultra-scalable, AI-powered search engines, driving continuous improvements in throughput, latency, and fault tolerance.
- Architect dynamic sharding and partitioning strategies for seamless workload distribution across billions of queries.
- Enable generative AI and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) scenarios by building solutions that empower intelligent applications to efficiently access and process information.
- Champion serverless infrastructure and elasticity, ensuring adaptive performance and cost efficiency.
- Engage with customers and stakeholders to understand scenarios, resolve issues, and ensure the product evolves with real-world needs.
Qualifications
Qualifications
- 15+ years of engineering experience with a strong track record in distributed systems, cloud platforms, and open-source search/database technologies.
- Demonstrated expertise in Lucene, OpenSearch, Elasticsearch, or Solr.
- Proven ability to build consensus and drive technical direction in cross-team environments.
- Strong problem-solving, troubleshooting, and communication skills.
- Experience building and shipping production-grade cloud services, including telemetry and monitoring solutions.
- Bachelor’s degree in computer science or engineering, or equivalent experience.
Team & Culture
The AI Search team values diversity, customer obsession, and collaborative excellence. You’ll join a group committed to building foundational technology for intelligent applications, supporting each other, and celebrating team successes.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.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.
