Software Engineer II

Overview

Join the Windows Ecosystem & Commercial Engagement (WECE) Quality, Reliability, and Telemetry (QRT) team and help reinvent how Windows is tested, validated, and proven across the broader hardware ecosystem. Our charter is to ensure Windows builds and updates land safely, predictably, and at scale across a growing set of third-party OEM, silicon, firmware, driver, and software configurations.

We are looking for a Software Engineer II to own automation components and deepen Windows platform quality in the Customer Experience Review (CER) Lab. You will design, build, and operate parts of a productized validation capability used by Microsoft labs and third-party partners, including station automation, packaged test collateral, device orchestration, diagnostics, and consistent result reporting.

You will work independently on well-scoped features and collaborate with senior engineers on larger designs. You will investigate Windows, driver, firmware, deployment, power, performance, and reliability failures; identify root causes; and improve the platform so recurring classes of failure are easier to detect, explain, and prevent.

Equally important, you will partner with data engineering, data science, and analytics teams to build telemetry, logging, and tracing that complements test failures. You will apply generative AI, agents, and Model Context Protocol (MCP)-based tools responsibly to accelerate development, test authoring, analysis, documentation, and operational workflows while preserving deterministic test execution.

You will own and contribute to end-to-end Windows validation across the third-party ecosystem, including:

• Packaged test features and OEM self-assessment components that can be versioned, deployed, and supported across approved environments.
• Automation components for harnesses, runners, scheduling, device control, environment setup, and result aggregation.
• Diagnostics for Windows system behavior, drivers, firmware, deployment, power, performance, reliability, and cross-layer failures.
• Telemetry and result pipelines that produce comparable, actionable evidence for engineers and program stakeholders.
• AI-assisted workflows that reduce repetitive effort, expand coverage, and shorten investigation time with appropriate review.
• This role combines hands-on feature ownership with growing design influence and operational responsibility for validation capabilities used every day.
• We optimize for early signal, clear ownership, and fast learning.
• We build tools and test products that reduce friction for lab operators and partners.
• We expect Software Engineer II's to own scoped features end-to-end, make sound technical decisions, and communicate risks early.
• We are AI-forward and use acceleration tools with appropriate security, review, and validation.
• We value pragmatic engineering: simple where possible, robust where required, and observable in operation.

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

• Design, implement, test, document, and operate scoped features of the CER Lab's packaged Windows validation product.
• Build and evolve harness components, runners, scheduling, device orchestration, environment management, and result processing.
• Investigate test failures using logs, traces, crash data, Windows debugging tools, and structured experiments; drive assigned issues to root cause and mitigation.
• Produce clear component designs, write secure and maintainable code, participate in design and code reviews, and improve engineering practices through feedback.
• Add telemetry, logging, tracing, health checks, and error handling so automation is observable, supportable, and actionable.
• Improve test reliability and operational maturity by addressing flaky execution, environmental variance, performance bottlenecks, and recurring failure patterns.
• Apply approved AI-assisted engineering tools to test authoring, failure classification, log analysis, bug filing, development, and documentation while validating results.
• Collaborate with software engineers, data engineers, data scientists, lab operators, program managers, Windows teams, and OEM partners on requirements and integration.
• Support less-experienced engineers through code review, technical guidance, shared debugging, and examples of solid ownership.
• Contribute estimates, risks, technical options, and measurable outcomes to planning for assigned workstreams.

Required Qualifications

• 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.

Preferred Qualifications

• Experience owning and operating production-quality test automation, developer tooling, lab infrastructure, distributed services, or continuous integration capabilities.
• Experience with Windows debugging, operating system fundamentals, system internals, drivers, deployment, power, performance, reliability, or hardware/software integration.
• Experience designing harnesses, runners, device or lab orchestration, telemetry, logging, tracing, and result aggregation.
• Experience diagnosing complex failures, reducing flaky tests, improving observability, and driving issues through mitigation and verification.
• Recent hands-on use of generative AI models and agents for development, testing, diagnosis, process acceleration, or productivity, with appropriate validation and guardrails.
• Verbal and written communication, sound engineering judgment, and the ability to collaborate across disciplines and teams.
• Demonstrated focus on customer needs, quality, team culture, continuous learning, and end-to-end ownership.

• #W+DJOBS
• #WINDOWS

Pay and benefits

Software Engineering IC3 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $102,100 - $202,200 per year. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $133,800 - $219,200 per year.

Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:

This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.