Software Engineer 2 - Backend

Overview

Join this team in M365 Core that is building the secure identity, authorization, and privileged access platform that helps operate one of the world’s largest cloud infrastructures. Our platform enables secure and auditable operations across cloud environments through identity and access management, just-in-time and least-privilege access controls, secure remote operations, secret management, and approval-based administrative workflows.

As a member of our engineering team, you will design, build, and operate highly available distributed systems spanning cloud infrastructure, identity, security, compliance, and operational excellence. The work includes backend services, authorization systems, secure remote management, observability, and automation that power critical workflows at cloud scale.

We are modernizing the platform with an AI-first approach focused on operational safety, least-privilege architecture, scalability, developer productivity, and continuous security innovation. As a Software Engineer II, you will drive end-to-end delivery, collaborate across engineering and product teams, take design decisions, and build secure, reliable, and maintainable services with robust monitoring and operational excellence.

Our collaborative and inclusive culture empowers engineers to contribute ideas, take ownership of impactful projects, and learn from talented colleagues around the world. Guided by Microsoft’s values of respect, integrity, and accountability, we build technologies that strengthen the security, reliability, and resilience of global cloud services.

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

• Customer Requirements: Partner with stakeholders to determine user requirements, leveraging feedback channels to incorporate insights into future designs or product roadmap. Establish continuous feedback loops to measure customer value and usage patterns.
• Design: Lead discussions on product design, create and refine code plans, and propose design solutions. Provide inputs to architects and take ownership of design decisions. Mentor team members in developing design documents and User Stories, select appropriate technologies, and ensure the system architecture meets security and compliance standards.
• Coding: Lead by example in developing high-quality, reliable code that meets Microsoft’s standards and is suitable for scale. Conduct and participate in code reviews, enforce coding standards, and provide constructive feedback to ensure diagnosability, reliability, and maintainability.
• Engineering Collaboration: Communicate effectively with partners across Microsoft engineering teams, serving as a key contact for leadership. Collaborate with partner teams to achieve user experience goals and monitor project progress to align with partner expectations.
• Operate & Improve: Deploy solutions in appropriate environments, ensuring correct measures are in place. Account for the impact of build deployments on users and other services and promote safe deployment practices for code and configurations.
• Leveraging AI: Lead by example in leveraging AI in all aspects of software development, share the learning in team, influence necessary change in engg process because of adoption of Agentic approach to software engineering.

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 7+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.
  • OR equivalent experience.

Preferred Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree (or equivalent) in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C#, Java or similar OOP languages.
• Experience in handling large and geo-distributed software engineering projects, modularizing them into deliverables for the team, leading them towards quality delivery, and working closely with engineering partners across the globe.
• Experience building, delivering, and …