Overview

Join Microsoft Federal—where mission, trust, and cutting-edge innovation converge.

Microsoft Federal partners with U.S. government agencies and mission owners across defense, intelligence, and civilian sectors to deliver secure, resilient, and intelligent solutions that advance national priorities.

We are seeking a Principal Cloud Solution Architect – Cloud & AI - CTJ - POLY to join our Federal organization where you will have the opportunity to apply your deep technical expertise across Azure workloads, including AI, data, applications, and infrastructure, and demonstrate a passion for helping enterprise customers solve complex challenges and accelerate their digital transformation.

You will lead strategic technical engagements in this customer-facing role, and serve as a trusted advisor to both technical and executive stakeholders. This is an excellent growth opportunity to apply your special combination of deep technical competency, the ability to technically program manage complex, multi-workstream initiatives, and the executive presence required to communicate effectively with senior leaders and decision-makers.

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

• Ensure successful project delivery by providing technical leadership and orchestration across engagements, driving high-quality execution, removing blockers, and ensuring projects are delivered on time and aligned to customer objectives.

• Build trusted relationships with IT executives and business leaders to shape their Cloud and AI strategy, acting as a technical advisor and champion for customer success.

• Lead and coordinate across Microsoft, partner, and customer technical teams to manage dependencies, technical risks, and delivery milestones across complex engagements.

• Lead architectural design sessions and guide the implementation of secure, scalable, and resilient solutions using Microsoft best practices and frameworks such as CAF and WAF.

• Drive technical excellence across Azure workloads—including AI, applications, infrastructure, and data—ensuring mission-critical workloads are optimized for performance, security, and production-scale AI readiness.

• Align technical delivery to customer success plans and consumption priorities, ensuring solutions deliver measurable business value and long-term platform adoption.

• Accelerate Azure consumption and customer outcomes by developing repeatable intellectual property (IP), resolving technical blockers, and providing delivery oversight for key engagements.

• Collaborate with internal teams and partners to design impactful delivery proposals and support execution.

• Translate complex technical concepts into clear business outcomes and executive-level messaging for senior stakeholders.

• Contribute to Microsoft’s technical community by mentoring peers, sharing insights, and serving as a spokesperson in internal and external forums.

• Maintain advanced certifications and deep technical expertise across priority workloads such as Azure AI Foundry, GitHub, App Services, Databricks, and Fabric.

• Inspire customer innovation by helping customers adopt AI at scale and guiding them through their transformation journey.

• Demonstrate a growth mindset by continuously developing technical and professional skills and contributing to a culture of learning and excellence.

• Embody our culture and values

Qualifications Required Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Liberal Arts, or related field AND 7+ years experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, information technology (IT) consulting/support, systems administration, network operations, software development/support, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting
• OR equivalent experience.

Other Requirements

Security Clearance Requirements: Candidates must be able to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements required for this role. These requirements include, but are not limited to the following specialized security screenings:

• The successful candidate must have an active U.S. Government Top Secret Clearance with access to Sensitive Compartmented Information (SCI) based on a Single Scope Background Investigation (SSBI) with Polygraph. Ability to meet Microsoft, customer and/or government security screening requirements are required pre-offer and post-hire for this role. Failure to maintain or obtain the appropriate U.S. Government clearance and/or customer screening requirements may result in employment action up to and including termination.
• Clearance Verification:

This position requires successful verification of the stated security clearance to meet federal government customer requirements. You will be asked to provide clearance verification information prior to an offer of employment.

• Microsoft Cloud Background Check:

This position will be required to pass the Microsoft Cloud background check upon hire/transfer and every two years thereafter.

• Citizenship & Citizenship Verification:

 This position requires verification of U.S. citizenship due to citizenship-based legal restrictions. Specifically, this position supports United States federal, state, and/or local United States government agency customer and is subject to certain citizenship-based restrictions where required or permitted by applicable law. To meet this legal requirement, citizenship will be verified via a valid passport, or other approved documents, or verified US government Clearance

Preferred Qualifications

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Liberal Arts, or related field AND 12+ years experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, information technology (IT) consulting/support, systems administration, network operations, software development/support, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting
• OR Master's Degree in Computer Science, Information Technology, Engineering, Business, Liberal Arts, or related field AND 8+ years experience in cloud/infrastructure technologies, technology solutions, practice development, architecture, and/or consulting
• OR equivalent experience.
• 6+ years experience working in a customer-facing role (e.g., internal and/or external).
• 6+ years experience leading technical projects.
• Technical Certification in Cloud (e.g., Azure, Amazon Web Services, Google, security certifications).
• Competitive Landscape: Knowledge of enterprise public cloud platforms and related industry/marketplace
• Partners: Understanding of partner ecosystems and the ability to leverage partner solutions to solve customer needs.

Cloud Solution Architecture IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $130,900 - $251,900 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 $165,600 - $272,300 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

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.