Principal Architect-UI Platforms
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Job Summary
Architect UI Platforms Windows Platform & Developer (WPD) Organization
Overview
Would you like to help shape the UI platform that powers Windows experiences used by millions of developers and customers every day The Windows Platform & Developer (WPD) Organization team builds and evolves the UI frameworks and APIs that firstandthirdpartydevelopers rely on to createhighqualitydesktop and enterprise line-of-business (LOB) applications.
We are looking for aUI Platform Architectto help guide the next phase of Windows UI Platforms evolution (including WinUI3)modernizingthe platform improving fundamentals such as performance and reliability and ensuring the developer experience meets the expectations of todays desktop and enterprise app builders. This role blends strategic thinking withhandsontechnical leadership and offers the opportunity to influence a widely used platform while staying close to real developer scenarios.
As a UI Platform Architect you will also focus on evolving WinUI into a modern AInative UI framework that remains competitive with SwiftUI while embracing a future where agents author a significant portion of application code. This requires rethinking WinUI as a declarative composable and semantically rich platformone that is easy for web and SwiftUI developers to adopt straightforward for AI agents to reason about and powerful enough to enable dynamic personalized user experiences at scale.
As an UI Platform Architectyou will focus on
AIfirst developer experience: Design WinUI to be natively consumable by AI agents with clear semantic models stable abstractions and predictable composition patterns that allow agents to author refactor and optimize UI code at scale.
Seamless migration and adoption: Use AIassisted tooling and compatibility layers to enable lowfriction migration from legacy Windows UI stacks and SwiftUI on macOS making WinUI a competitive and approachable choice for modern app developers.
Declarative dynamic UI foundation: Evolve WinUI into a truly declarative statedriven framework that supports realtime personalization adaptive layouts and agentdriven UI mutation without sacrificing performance or reliability.
Lowering the barrier for web and SwiftUI developers: Provide opinionated projections simplified APIs and familiar programming models that align with modern web and SwiftUI mental models accelerating timetoproductivity on Windows.
Futureproofing for AIgenerated code: Architect WinUI so that a majority of UI code can be safely generated and maintained by AI agentsemphasizing composability guardrails testability and runtime validation.
Responsibilities
As a Windows UI Platform Principal Architect you will provide technical leadership across the Windows UI platform and work closely with engineering program management and partner teams.
Platform architecture and technical leadership
- Define and evolve the architectural direction for WinUI and related Windows UI components ensuring designs are scalable maintainable and aligned with longterm platform goals.
- Review and guide architecture and design proposals across multiple teams helping ensure consistency and technical quality.
- Act as a trusted technical advisor and sounding board for senior engineers and leaders working across UI shell graphics input and app model areas.
Modernization and quality of fundamentals
- Drive improvements in core platform fundamentals that matter to real desktop and LOB apps including startup performance memory usage responsiveness reliability accessibility and theming.
- Help identify and address common friction points that developers encounter when building or modernizing Windows desktop applications.
Developer experience and adoption
- Influence API design patterns lifecycle models diagnostics and tooling to make the platform easier and more predictable to build on.
- Partner with PM and engineering teams to improve guidance and reduce friction for teams adopting newer UI technologies.
- Engage constructively with the developer community (including opensource communities where appropriate) to incorporate feedback and improve trust in the platform.
Mentorship and architecture culture
- Mentor senior ICs and aspiring architects raising the overall bar for technical decisionmaking and design quality.
- Promote clear written specs design reviews and thoughtful technical storytelling across the organization.
Frontier mindset and AI-powered productivity
Demonstrate a frontier-firm mindset: stay ahead of emerging UI platform trends (including AI-native UX patterns) challenge assumptions and prototype quickly to de-risk big bets.
Use modern AI tools responsibly to increase personal and team efficiency (e.g. drafting specs summarizing design discussions generating test ideas exploring API surface options) whilemaintaininghigh standardsfor correctness security and privacy.
Create reusable accelerators (prompts templates automation reference implementations) that help teams move faster without sacrificing quality reliability accessibility or maintainability.
Model a culture of learning and iteration: share best practices run lightweight demos and help the organization adopt effective AI-assisted workflows.
Qualifications
Required/Minimum Qualifications:
- Bachelors 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#
- OR equivalent experience.
- Significant handson experience building desktop or richclient applications with a strong focus on UX quality and system fundamentals.
- Depth in one or more UI frameworks for desktop or crossplatform development such as WinForms WPF WinUI SwiftUI UIKit/ MAUI Avalonia UI Qt Uno Platform Flutter or Electron in strongly desired.
- Proficiency in C and/or C# (or comparable systems languages) with the ability to reason across framework runtime and OS layers.
- Experience navigating UI architecture tradeoffs involving performance memory rendering input threading accessibility and app lifecycle.
- Demonstrated ability to influence technical direction beyond your immediate team through design reviews architectural guidance or technical leadership.
Other Requirements: 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 Qualifications:
- Masters Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 12 years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including but not limited to C C C#.
- OR Bachelors Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 15 years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including but not limited to C C C.
- OR equivalent experience.
- Experience modernizing or evolving an existing UI framework or large application platform.
- Experience designing developerfacing APIs or frameworks consumed by external teams or customers.
- Engagement with developer communities or opensource projects.
- Familiarity with Windows app models interop scenarios or graphics/composition pipelines.
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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.
Required Experience:
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