Overview
Would you like to work on the team that powers the most popular operating system – Windows – and impact over a billion people globally with your day-to-day work? If yes, come join us! We are the Windows Platform and Developer Experiences team, and we build the platform that 1st and 3rd party developers use to build the most engaging apps for Windows. This includes search, AI, Agentic OS, and UI platform components. We are looking for an WinPD India Architect to join the team for taking the platform forward in its evolution. As a Principal Architect, you will be responsible for designing and developing high-quality software components and libraries for Windows Developers. You will be exposing the capabilities via APIs which need to follow consistent patterns, are scalable, extensible and maintainable. You will also play a key role in open-ended explorations, prototyping and identifying opportunities for our developers. You will have the amazing opportunity learn and grow by working closely with the architects, senior engineers, Program Managers, and AI/ML scientists who contribute to the overall technical vision and strategy of the “architectural how” of how we build a scalable architecture with great fundamentals (such as performance, power, reliability). And you may need to interact with our amazing open-source community developers via GitHub. 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

- Technical Leadership for the Engineering Director Team. You will be seen as and will be playing the technical leadership role at the Director level where you will be setting up, reviewing, signing off and contributing to the technical and architectural decisions made by various GEM teams across the reporting Director.

You will act as driver, consultant, bouncing board, and champion for such technical choices and directions. You will be expected to represent the Director and its projects at Director or Windows level communities to be able to align and bring back the cohesiveness in the technical and architectural stream. 

- Contributing to the Architecture Community. Great ideas come from everywhere. Our goal is for every group to have architecture representation, ensuring that everyone gets their feedback heard and the design help they need. All will be welcome to participate in review forums, documents, and the other work of the architects with a particular focus on building strength in our EIC community. 

You will also be responsible to be deeply connected with the other Principal IC community within Windows and being deeply involved with the top issues they are helping with and bring new issues to that group for Windows India that will most benefit from their expertise.  - Writing it Down & Building Infrastructure. The cumulative decisions we all make on an individual level, in combination, form our overall system architecture.

  You will drive and contribute to producing documents that support easy offline sharing, commenting and reviewing the important points of any significant choice.

To reduce process, we will look at you to drive and contribute to defining templates to make quick-specs through TSD-scale multi-organizational architectures that ensure consistent detail and review flow. 

  - Review Forums. You will be here to help, supporting from one-pager reviews to get early design insights and coaching, all the way through any needed reviews. This individual will set up forums for review of their team’s work. They also will know when to bring in others from around Windows India or Windows overall so we’re all working together.  

- Planning and Strategy. While we encourage teams to dream the future of Windows unrestricted by technical realities, we also understand that technical realities exist that make some efforts more costly or difficult to achieve than others.  Identifying these “big rocks,” up leveling the visibility of our hardest problems and building a multi-release approach for addressing them will be a key role facilitated by the individual in this position. 

- Leadership Team Participation.  This role reports to the Engineering Director and as such you are a key member of the Director’s Leadership Team.  You will participate in a wide variety of decision-making discussions and will need to bring your unique viewpoint to the table, share, and help us make the best decisions.  Similarly, you work on a wide variety of group-impacting activities whether it is D&I initiatives, training, communications, etc. 

- IC Mentor and Confidant.  As an approachable member of the leadership community with a role most similar to the ICs in the org, you will need to devote some of your focus to mentoring and growing others and having your pulse on the IC community. You will need to bring that back to the leadership and ensure we make changes to make the IC employee experience as great as possible.  Many people will see you as a path to the Architect and Principal Engineer, so you will need to represent the Director and their LT in the way they would. 

Qualifications

Required Qualifications: - Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python - OR equivalent experience.

- Deep technical experience including leading others. - Researching (and perhaps building prototypes and beyond) some new ways of doing something

- Demonstrates a mastery of communication and data presentation and storytelling skills. - Exhibits a growth mindset and humility, while working through high stakes scenarios.

- Proven experiences as an ally who can further a more open, diverse, and inclusive workplace with a goal of everyone feeling like they belong. - Demonstrated hypothesis-driven, problem-solving orientation.

- Solid technical and analytical skills, and a passion for customers.

- Solid design, coding, debugging, teamwork, and communication skills

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 Qualifications:

- Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12+ 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 15+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python - OR equivalent experience.

- 6+ years people management experience.

- Experience working on Open-Source projects in GitHub.

- Experience with Windows development tools and technologies, including Visual Studio and the Windows SDK. XAML familiarity is a plus.

- Win32 application and systems programming experience will be a bonus.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form. Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

#WINPDINDIA #W+DINDIA #W+D

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.

Principal Architect, Windows Platform & Developers