Principal Software Engineering Manager - Databases

Overview

Microsoft is a company where passionate innovators come to collaborate, envision what can be and take their careers further. This is a world of more possibilities, more innovation, more openness, and the sky is the limit thinking in a cloud-enabled world.

Microsoft’s Azure Data engineering team is leading the transformation of analytics in the world of data with products like databases, data integration, big data analytics, messaging & real-time analytics, and business intelligence. The products our portfolio include Microsoft Fabric, Azure SQL DB, Azure Cosmos DB, Azure PostgreSQL, Azure Data Factory, Azure Synapse Analytics, Azure Service Bus, Azure Event Grid, and Power BI. Our mission is to build the data platform for the age of AI, powering a new class of data-first applications and driving a data culture.

Within Azure Data, the databases team builds and maintains Microsoft's operational Database systems. We store and manage data in a structured way to enable multitude of applications across various industries. We are on a journey to enable developer friendly, mission-critical, AI enabled operational Databases across relational, non-relational and OSS offerings.

The Azure Postgres team is hiring a Principal Engineering Manager to lead teams building and scaling Azure Database for PostgreSQL, a globally distributed, fully managed database service. In this role, you will lead the Engine and PostgreSQL Extensions team, owning core database engine capabilities and PostgreSQL extensions development and integration, while driving strong engagement with the open-source PostgreSQL community and working closely with upstream PostgreSQL committers and contributors. You will set technical strategy, ensure high reliability and performance, and grow a high-impact engineering team through disciplined execution and operational excellence. This position is ideal for leaders with deep PostgreSQL, database engine, or distributed systems experience and a proven track record of delivering large-scale cloud platforms.

We do not just value differences or different perspectives. We seek them out and invite them in so we can tap into the collective power of everyone in the company. As a result, our customers are better served.

Responsibilities

• Leadership & Strategy: Define and evolve the long-term Fundamentals charter across engineering systems, reliability, security, observability, lifecycle, and AI-driven automation. Build a multi-year roadmap for service health, live‑site maturity, reliability KPIs, and standardization of platforms across Azure Data.
• People Management: Lead, coach, and grow a high-performing engineering team with strong fundamentals in distributed systems, observability, security, and reliability. Drive clarity, purpose, inclusion, and manager excellence; sustain high team trust and effectiveness scores and deliver to the team’s charter and roadmap.
• Technical Execution:
• Own and deliver end‑to‑end features across the full engineering lifecycle, including architecture, implementation, testing, debugging, production rollout, and live‑site support
• Mentor and coach engineers through design reviews, code reviews, and operational learnings, raising engineering standards and on‑call readiness
• Incorporate customer requirements, usage patterns, and live‑site signals into engineering decisions to improve reliability, scale, and usability
• Drive an automation‑first engineering approach by leveraging AI across the engineering lifecycle—including design assistance, code quality improvements, test and validation automation, and migration tooling—while modernizing service telemetry, observability, and core service infrastructure.
  
  

Embody our culture and values

Qualifications

Required/Minimum Qualifications

12+ years of engineering experience in distributed systems, databases, platform engineering and cloud services.

• 4+ years leading engineering teams delivering highly available cloud services and infrastructure.
• Experience with large scale services architectures and technologies
• Experience building solutions with Azure is a plus
• Demonstrated experience leading cross-org technical initiatives.
  
  

Job Requirements: Other & Additional

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/Additional Qualifications

Industry experience building and maintaining open-source software (OSS) and working with PostgreSQL

Proven track record of leading design and implementation of complex systems and delivering them to production

Proficient analytical skills with systematic and structured approaches to software design

Equal Opportunity Employer (EOP)

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 reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form (Accessibility | Microsoft Careers).

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

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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.

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