Software Engineer

Role overview

Join the Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) Node Lifecycle team to help operate and improve the Kubernetes node platform that powers AKS. The team focuses on keeping customer nodes current, secure, compliant, and aligned with the latest Azure and Kubernetes capabilities. In this role, you will help provide access to multiple operating system distributions, accelerate support for new upstream Kubernetes releases, and bring the latest container runtime and node-level enhancements to customers. You will also contribute to enabling access to advanced AI hardware through AKS so customers can build their own training environments. This is a chance to deepen your Kubernetes knowledge, work on cloud-native infrastructure, and help influence the future of AI on AKS at Microsoft.

Microsoft’s broader mission is to help every person and every organization achieve more. The company emphasizes a growth mindset, innovation, collaboration, respect, integrity, and accountability, with a culture designed to help everyone thrive.

Key responsibilities

• Build, maintain, and improve operating system images for AKS nodes using tools such as Packer.
• Own CI/CD workflows used to create, validate, and publish VHD images.
• Support GPU and network driver installation, setup, debugging, and ongoing maintenance across different GPU variants on AKS.
• Tune node provisioning performance and investigate provisioning failures or bottlenecks.
• Apply security controls and ensure the platform follows required security and compliance standards.
• Work closely with partner teams and keep technical processes and configuration details well documented.
• Watch service health, handle incidents, perform root-cause analysis, and contribute to long-term reliability improvements.

Required qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or another relevant technical field, plus hands-on coding experience in Golang, C++, C#, Python, or similar; or equivalent practical experience.
• At least 1 year of experience in two or more of the following: Linux or Unix-like server environments, Windows Server environments, container technologies such as Kubernetes, or cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure.
• Must be able to meet Microsoft, customer, and/or government security screening requirements.
• Successful completion of the Microsoft Cloud Background Check is required on hire or transfer and then every two years afterward.

Preferred qualifications

• A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science or a related field with at least 1 year of technical engineering experience in one of the listed programming languages, or a master’s degree in a related technical field with equivalent coding experience, or equivalent practical experience.
• At least 1 year of experience using CI/CD platforms and workflows such as Azure DevOps, GitHub, or GitLab.
• At least 1 year of experience contributing to medium-to-large software systems that are actively developed by several engineers.

Additional information

This role will remain open for a minimum of 5 days and applications will continue to be accepted until the position is filled.

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will be considered without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex, pregnancy, sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws and regulations. Applicants with criminal histories may also be considered where legally permitted. Reasonable accommodations can be requested for disabilities or religious needs during the hiring process.