Software Engineer UX

📍 Job Overview

Job Title: Software Engineer UX

Company: Microsoft

Location: Redmond, Washington, United States

Job Type: FULL_TIME

Category: Software Engineering / UX

Date Posted: 2026-09-08T17:12:38

Experience Level: 2-5 Years

Remote Status: Hybrid (3 days in office)

🚀 Role Summary

• Design, develop, and maintain the Entra Admin Center, a critical platform for identity and access management (IAM).

• Drive the creation of secure, intuitive, and AI-powered user experiences for enterprise customers managing their digital security posture.

• Establish and enforce frontend engineering standards and contribute to shared UX libraries across the Entra ecosystem.

• Build and operate scalable, secure, and accessible cloud services that underpin identity and access solutions.

• Collaborate closely with cross-functional teams, including engineers, designers, and product managers, to deliver impactful customer value.

📝 Enhancement Note: While the title is "Software Engineer UX," the core responsibilities and team focus clearly place this role within a product development lifecycle that heavily emphasizes user experience design and implementation, particularly for administrative tools. The role requires a strong blend of software engineering proficiency and UX-centric thinking, with a significant focus on cloud services and AI integration.

📈 Primary Responsibilities

• Develop and enhance features for the Entra Admin Center, serving as the primary interface for managing identity and access solutions.

• Architect and implement secure, user-friendly, and intelligent administrative interfaces leveraging AI capabilities for enterprise customers.

• Lead frontend engineering initiatives, defining best practices and contributing to a robust set of shared UX libraries for the Entra platform.

• Build, deploy, and maintain scalable, secure, and accessible cloud-based software services and user experiences.

• Partner effectively with engineers, architects, designers, and product managers to translate customer needs into tangible product features and improvements.

• Create and integrate reusable components and AI-first functionalities to accelerate development cycles and elevate product quality.

• Foster collaboration across various Microsoft teams to ensure seamless integration and delivery of new features and platform enhancements.

📝 Enhancement Note: The responsibilities highlight a deep involvement in the entire software development lifecycle, from design and architecture to implementation and ongoing operation of cloud services. The emphasis on "AI-first experience" and "shared UX libraries" indicates a strategic focus on innovation and standardization within the Entra product suite.

🎓 Skills & Qualifications

Education:

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, or a related technical discipline, with proven experience coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python.

• OR equivalent practical experience.

• Preferred: Master's Degree in Computer Science or a related technical field. Experience:

• 2-5 years of technical engineering experience.

• Preferred: 1+ year(s) of technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, Rust, or Python.

• Experience designing, coding, and troubleshooting cloud-based software.

• Skilled in analyzing and solving problems using query languages and tools such as Kusto.

• Proficient in backend technologies and cloud-based architectures to build large-scale distributed systems.

• AI/ML experience is a plus. Required Skills:

• Proficiency in at least one core programming language (e.g., C#, JavaScript, Python).

• Foundational understanding of User Experience (UX) principles and their application in software development.

• Experience with cloud-based software development and architecture.

• Ability to analyze and solve complex technical problems.

• Strong collaboration and communication skills, with the ability to work effectively across disciplines and product teams.

• A self-starting attitude and a willingness to learn new skills quickly, particularly in ambiguous situations. Preferred Skills:

• Experience with frontend frameworks and libraries relevant to building modern web applications.

• Familiarity with Kusto Query Language (KQL) for data analysis and troubleshooting.

• Experience with AI/ML concepts and their integration into software products.

• Knowledge of Identity and Access Management (IAM) principles and best practices.

• Experience contributing to or maintaining shared component libraries or design systems.

📝 Enhancement Note: The required qualifications emphasize a strong software engineering foundation with a degree or equivalent experience. The preferred qualifications point towards candidates who can hit the ground running with cloud development, data analysis (Kusto), and potentially AI integration, making them more competitive. The "2-5 years" experience level suggests this is a mid-level role, requiring solid technical skills and some experience in cloud environments.

📊 Process & Systems Portfolio Requirements

Portfolio Essentials:

• Showcase projects demonstrating end-to-end software development, from conception to deployment, with a focus on cloud services.

• Highlight examples where UX design principles were integrated into the development process to enhance user experience and usability.

• Include case studies or project descriptions that detail the use of specific programming languages (C#, JavaScript, Python) and cloud technologies.

• Provide evidence of problem-solving capabilities, particularly in complex technical scenarios or when working with data analysis tools like Kusto. Process Documentation:

• Detail the development lifecycle followed for key projects, emphasizing iterative design, coding, testing, and deployment phases.

• Document workflows for collaborating with designers and product managers to ensure alignment on UX goals and technical implementation.

• Illustrate processes for building and maintaining reusable code components or shared libraries, including version control and contribution guidelines.

• Explain how you approach debugging and troubleshooting in cloud environments, potentially referencing specific tools or methodologies used.

📝 Enhancement Note: For a Software Engineer UX role, a portfolio is crucial for demonstrating practical application of skills. The emphasis should be on showcasing functional code, well-designed interfaces, and a clear understanding of the development process within a cloud context. Highlighting contributions to shared components or AI integration would be particularly valuable.

💵 Compensation & Benefits

Salary Range:

• The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $85,400 - $168,100 per year.

• For the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, the base pay range is USD $111,100 - $183,700 per year. Benefits:

• Comprehensive health, dental, and vision insurance.

• Retirement savings plans (e.g., 401k with company match).

• Paid time off, including vacation, sick leave, and holidays.

• Parental leave and family support programs.

• Professional development opportunities, including training, conferences, and tuition reimbursement.

• Employee stock purchase programs.

• Access to Microsoft's extensive internal resources and employee discounts. Working Hours:

• Standard full-time work week, typically 40 hours.

• Hybrid work arrangement requiring 3 days in the office, allowing for flexibility in managing work-life balance.

📝 Enhancement Note: The provided salary ranges are broad and account for regional differences. The inclusion of specific metro area ranges is a positive indicator of transparency. The benefits listed are standard for large tech companies like Microsoft and should be further detailed by the candidate during the interview process.

🎯 Team & Company Context

🏢 Company Culture

Industry: Software & Technology, Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity. Microsoft is a global leader in developing, manufacturing, licensing, and supporting a wide range of software products, services, and devices.

Company Size: Large Enterprise (Microsoft is one of the largest technology companies globally, with hundreds of thousands of employees).

Founded: 1975. Microsoft has a long history of innovation, evolving from personal computing software to cloud services, AI, and gaming.

Team Structure:

• The Entra Admin Management UX team is part of the Identity and Access Management (IAM) organization within Microsoft Security.

• This team focuses on building and maintaining the Entra Admin Center, a unified interface for managing identities and access.

• It comprises engineers, designers, and product managers dedicated to creating a high-quality, secure, and intelligent administrative experience.

• The team is also spearheading an AI-first transformation for Entra's administrative interfaces. Methodology:

• Data-driven development, leveraging analytics and customer feedback to inform product decisions and improvements.

• Agile development methodologies, emphasizing iterative development, collaboration, and rapid response to change.

• A focus on building scalable, secure, and reliable cloud services.

• Embracing a "growth mindset" culture, encouraging continuous learning, experimentation, and innovation.

• Collaboration across different engineering disciplines and product groups within Microsoft to ensure cohesive product offerings.

Company Website: https://www.microsoft.com/

📝 Enhancement Note: Microsoft's culture is characterized by its "growth mindset," focus on impact, and commitment to empowering customers. For this role, understanding how the Entra Admin Management UX team contributes to Microsoft's broader security mission and its AI-first strategy will be key.

📈 Career & Growth Analysis

Operations Career Level: Software Engineering IC2 (Individual Contributor level 2). This typically indicates a mid-level engineer with 2-5 years of relevant experience, capable of independent work on significant features and contributing to technical discussions.

Reporting Structure: This role likely reports to an Engineering Manager or Principal Engineer within the Entra Admin Management UX team. The team operates within the broader Microsoft Security organization.

Operations Impact: This role has a direct impact on the security and compliance posture of enterprise customers by enabling them to effectively manage their identities and access through intuitive and intelligent tools. Contributions to the Entra Admin Center and its AI-first capabilities directly influence customer adoption and satisfaction with Microsoft's security cloud offerings.

Growth Opportunities:

• Technical Specialization: Deepen expertise in frontend development, cloud architecture, AI/ML integration, or specific security domains within IAM.

• Leadership Development: Progress to Senior Software Engineer roles, technical lead positions, or management tracks. Opportunities to mentor junior engineers and drive technical strategy.

• Cross-Functional Mobility: Potential to move into other engineering teams within Microsoft Security or across different product areas, leveraging acquired skills and experience.

• Skill Expansion: Continuous learning opportunities through internal training, external conferences, and hands-on experience with cutting-edge technologies.

📝 Enhancement Note: The IC2 level suggests a solid foundation is expected, with significant growth potential. The emphasis on AI and cloud services indicates opportunities to develop highly in-demand skills. The career path within a company as large as Microsoft is extensive, offering diverse avenues for advancement.

🌐 Work Environment

Office Type: Hybrid. This role requires 3 days per week in the Redmond, Washington office, with the remaining days allowing for remote work.

Office Location(s): Redmond, Washington, USA. This is Microsoft's primary campus location.

Workspace Context:

• The Redmond campus offers a modern, collaborative workspace designed to foster innovation and teamwork.

• Access to state-of-the-art development tools, labs, and resources.

• Opportunities for in-person collaboration with colleagues, designers, product managers, and other engineering teams within Microsoft Security.

• A dynamic environment with a focus on cutting-edge technology, including AI and cloud computing. Work Schedule:

• A standard 40-hour work week is expected.

• The hybrid model provides flexibility, allowing engineers to balance in-office collaboration with remote work, catering to individual productivity preferences and work-life integration.

📝 Enhancement Note: The hybrid model is a common and attractive aspect of modern tech roles, balancing collaboration needs with personal flexibility. The Redmond campus is a well-established hub for tech innovation.

📄 Application & Portfolio Review Process

Interview Process:

• Initial Screening: Recruiter call to assess basic qualifications, interest, and cultural fit.

• Technical Phone Screen: Interview with an engineer focusing on core programming concepts, data structures, algorithms, and potentially system design questions.

• On-site/Virtual Loop: A series of interviews (typically 4-5) covering:

  • Coding Challenges: Live coding exercises, often on a whiteboard or shared editor, testing proficiency in languages like C# or JavaScript.
  • System Design: Designing scalable and robust systems, potentially related to cloud services, IAM, or admin interfaces.
  • Behavioral Questions: Assessing problem-solving skills, teamwork, communication, and alignment with Microsoft's values (growth mindset, integrity, respect).
  • UX/Product Sense: Discussions around user experience, design trade-offs, and how to translate user needs into technical solutions.

• Hiring Manager Interview: Final discussion about the role, team, career growth, and overall fit.

Portfolio Review Tips:

• Curate Selectively: Showcase 2-3 of your strongest projects that best align with the job description (cloud development, UX focus, relevant languages, AI/ML if applicable).

• Highlight Impact: For each project, clearly articulate the problem you solved, your specific contributions, the technologies used, and the measurable outcomes or impact.

• Demonstrate Process: Be prepared to walk through your design and development process, including how you approached challenges, made trade-offs, and collaborated with others.

• Code Quality: Ensure any code samples are clean, well-commented, and demonstrate good engineering practices.

• UX Integration: Explicitly point out where UX considerations influenced your technical decisions and how you implemented user-centric features.

Challenge Preparation:

• Coding: Practice common algorithms and data structures problems on platforms like LeetCode, focusing on languages like C# and JavaScript.

• System Design: Study common system design patterns for distributed systems, cloud applications, and scalable architectures. Consider how to design an admin interface.

• Behavioral: Prepare STAR method (Situation, Task, Action, Result) answers for common behavioral questions related to teamwork, problem-solving, leadership, and dealing with ambiguity.

• Kusto: If Kusto experience is preferred, familiarize yourself with basic KQL syntax and common query patterns for data analysis.

📝 Enhancement Note: A strong portfolio is critical for this role, especially given the "UX" in the title. Candidates should be ready to discuss their design process as much as their coding skills. The interview loop is standard for Microsoft, emphasizing both technical depth and behavioral competencies.

🛠 Tools & Technology Stack

Primary Tools:

• Programming Languages: C#, JavaScript (primary), Python, C++, Java, Rust (preferred).

• Frontend Frameworks/Libraries: Likely modern frameworks such as React, Angular, or Vue.js, or internal Microsoft frameworks.

• Cloud Platforms: Microsoft Azure is a given, with potential use of Azure services for cloud-native development, deployment, and operations.

• Version Control: Git.

Analytics & Reporting:

• Data Querying: Kusto Query Language (KQL) for analyzing logs and telemetry data.

• Telemetry/Monitoring: Azure Monitor, Application Insights, or similar tools for tracking application performance and user behavior.

• Dashboarding: Tools for visualizing data and application performance, potentially Power BI or internal dashboarding solutions.

CRM & Automation:

• Internal Microsoft Tools: Expect extensive use of Microsoft's internal development, collaboration, and project management tools.

• Identity & Access Management (IAM): Deep understanding and potential direct interaction with Entra ID (formerly Azure AD) and related services.

• CI/CD: Azure DevOps or GitHub Actions for continuous integration and continuous deployment pipelines.

📝 Enhancement Note: Proficiency in C# and JavaScript is highly probable. Experience with Azure and Kusto is a significant advantage. Familiarity with modern frontend frameworks and CI/CD tools will also be beneficial.

👥 Team Culture & Values

Operations Values:

• Growth Mindset: Embracing challenges, learning from failures, and continuously seeking self-improvement.

• Customer Focus: Prioritizing customer needs and delivering solutions that provide real value and enhance their security posture.

• Integrity & Accountability: Upholding ethical standards and taking ownership of one's work and its impact.

• Inclusion: Fostering a diverse and inclusive environment where all team members feel respected and empowered to contribute.

• Collaboration: Working effectively with others, sharing knowledge, and building strong cross-functional relationships.

Collaboration Style:

• Highly collaborative, involving close interaction with product managers, designers, and other engineers.

• Emphasis on clear communication, constructive feedback, and shared problem-solving.

• Cross-functional teamwork is essential, as the Entra Admin Center integrates with various Microsoft services.

• Openness to diverse perspectives and a willingness to iterate based on team input and customer feedback.

📝 Enhancement Note: Microsoft's core values are deeply embedded in its culture. For this role, demonstrating a proactive, collaborative, and customer-centric approach, coupled with a willingness to learn and adapt, will be key to fitting into the team's dynamic.

⚡ Challenges & Growth Opportunities

Challenges:

• Complexity of IAM: Navigating the intricate landscape of identity and access management, security protocols, and compliance requirements.

• AI Integration: Successfully implementing AI-first features that are intuitive, reliable, and genuinely enhance the administrative experience.

• Scalability & Performance: Ensuring the Entra Admin Center remains performant and scalable as the number of users and features grow.

• Cross-Team Dependencies: Managing dependencies and ensuring seamless integration with numerous other Microsoft services and teams.

• Security Requirements: Adhering to stringent security protocols and passing ongoing security screenings.

Learning & Development Opportunities:

• Cutting-Edge Tech: Gaining hands-on experience with advanced AI/ML technologies, cloud-native architectures, and modern frontend development.

• Security Domain Expertise: Developing deep knowledge in cybersecurity, identity management, and compliance regulations.

• Leadership Skills: Opportunities to take on technical leadership roles, mentor junior engineers, and influence product direction.

• Professional Development: Access to Microsoft's extensive internal learning resources, external training programs, and opportunities to attend industry conferences.

📝 Enhancement Note: The challenges presented are typical of roles in large-scale security and cloud product development. The growth opportunities are significant, leveraging Microsoft's resources and the role's position in a critical technology area.

💡 Interview Preparation

Strategy Questions:

• Technical Depth: Be prepared to discuss the trade-offs between different programming languages (e.g., C# vs. JavaScript for frontend), architectural patterns for scalable cloud services, and how you'd approach building a secure administrative interface.

• Problem Solving: Expect questions that require you to break down complex problems, analyze data (potentially using Kusto query logic), and propose solutions. For example, "How would you debug a slow-loading component in the Entra Admin Center?"

• UX/Product Thinking: Be ready to discuss how you'd prioritize features, design for accessibility, or improve the usability of an existing interface. "If you had to add an AI assistant to the Entra Admin Center, what would be its primary functions and how would you design the interaction?"

Company & Culture Questions:

• Microsoft Values: Prepare examples that demonstrate your growth mindset, how you handle ambiguity, your commitment to integrity, and your ability to collaborate effectively.

• Security Mission: Understand Microsoft's broader security mission and how the Entra Admin Management UX team contributes to it. Research the Entra product suite.

• Team Dynamics: Discuss your preferred collaboration style and how you handle feedback or disagreements within a team.

Portfolio Presentation Strategy:

• Tell a Story: For each project, clearly articulate the problem, your solution, your specific contributions, the technologies used, and the impact/results.

• Focus on UX: Explicitly highlight how UX considerations informed your technical decisions and how you implemented user-centric features.

• Demonstrate Process: Be ready to explain your development workflow, from initial design discussions to final deployment and iteration.

• Code Examples: Be prepared to discuss specific code snippets, explaining design choices and best practices.

• AI/Cloud Relevance: If applicable, highlight projects involving AI/ML or cloud-native development.

📝 Enhancement Note: Candidates should focus on demonstrating not just technical prowess but also a strong understanding of user experience and how to apply it in a complex enterprise software context. The ability to articulate thought processes and problem-solving strategies is key.

📌 Application Steps

To apply for this Software Engineer UX position:

• Submit your application through the official Microsoft Careers portal link provided.

• Portfolio Customization: Tailor your resume and portfolio to highlight experience in C#, JavaScript, cloud development (Azure), UX principles, and any relevant AI/ML or Kusto experience. Select 2-3 key projects that best showcase your skills for this specific role.

• Resume Optimization: Ensure your resume clearly articulates your accomplishments using action verbs and quantifiable results, emphasizing contributions to software development, UX design, and cloud services. Integrate keywords like "Entra," "IAM," "Cloud," "UX," and specific programming languages.

• Interview Preparation: Practice coding challenges (especially in C# and JavaScript), system design scenarios, and behavioral questions using the STAR method. Prepare to discuss your portfolio projects in detail, focusing on your technical contributions and UX design thinking.

• Company & Product Research: Familiarize yourself with Microsoft's mission, values, the Microsoft Security organization, and the Entra product suite. Understand the importance of identity and access management for enterprise customers.

⚠️ Important Notice: This enhanced job description includes AI-generated insights and operations industry-standard assumptions. All details should be verified directly with the hiring organization before making application decisions.

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