Principal Engineering Lead – Gaming AI

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Are you an experienced game development leader who thrives at the intersection of technical leadership, hands-on engineering, and people management?

At Xbox Gaming AI, we are exploring emerging technology trends to craft the next era of gaming. We are venturing beyond the horizon and charting a course forward with players and creators at the center. Our goal is to define the future of Xbox by advancing our mission of bringing joy and community to every player on the planet. If you value dynamic and agile teams that are proactively advocating for a diverse workforce, we have a great role for you.

We’re looking for a Principal Engineering Lead to guide a cross-functional team building foundational systems for future creative tools and interactive experiences. This team spans the full technology stack from services and player-facing applications. You’ll be responsible for setting technical direction, nurturing team health, and staying actively engaged in the code and architecture alongside your team.

This is a unique opportunity to help define new categories of play and build experiences that blend creativity, technology, and community.

We Value

• Growth Mindset: You’re open to feedback and eager to learn—for yourself and your team.
• Be Brave. Be Bold: You embrace ambiguity and are energized by solving new problems.
• Collaborate: You foster connection, trust, and shared ownership across functions.
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion: You lead with empathy and help create an environment where all voices are welcomed and respected.

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.

• Required/Minimum Qualifications (RQs/MQs)

  • 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, TypeScript, JavaScript, or Python
    • OR equivalent experience.
  • 4+ years of experience leading engineering teams
  • 2+ years of experience in game development, including experience in areas such as client architecture, engine systems, or services.
  • 1+ years of experience guiding small teams through early-stage product development and thoughtful scaling.

  Preferred Qualifications

  • Proven ability to lead people and projects while remaining engaged in the technical foundation.
  • Track record of shipping games, creative tools, or developer platforms.
  • Familiarity with mobile or web game development, hybrid engines, or cross-platform tech.
  • Experience integrating or working with AI-driven systems or workflows.
  • Background in building real-time collaboration, scripting environments, or extensible toolchains.
  • A passion for empowering creators and advancing new models of game development.

    Software Engineering IC6 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $163,000 - $296,400 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 $220,800 - $331,200 per year.
    
    Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here: https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-corporate-pay
    
    Microsoft will accept applications for the role until July 11, 2025

• Lead and grow a multi-disciplinary engineering team across systems, tools, client, and services.
• Stay hands-on with architectural decisions, code quality, and product evolution.
• Mentor and support engineers at all levels, cultivating a collaborative and inclusive team culture.
• Work closely with product, design, and research to shape vision, execution, and user impact.
• Drive engineering excellence across quality, scalability, and developer productivity.
• Contribute to long-term roadmap planning and cross-functional alignment.
• Help recruit and scale the team while maintaining clarity, velocity, and innovation.