Senior Software Engineer - Input Platform

Senior Software Engineer - Windows (Input/Graphics)

Overview
Job Title: Senior Software Engineer - Input Platform Would you like to work on the team that powers the most popular operating system – Windows – and impact over a billion people globally with your day-to-day work? If yes, come join us! We are the Windows Developer Platform team, and we build the platform that developers use to build the most engaging apps for Windows. We are building the foundational input platform of Windows UI platform — handling keyboard, mouse, touch, pen, gesture, and emerging input modalities. This role defines how users interact with Windows at the lowest levels, balancing latency, correctness, accessibility, and extensibility.

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

• Design and implement core input processing, routing, and state management components.
• Optimize for low-latency, high-reliability input handling across multiple device classes.
• Collaborate closely with UI, Shell, Accessibility, Graphics, and Hardware teams.
• Debug complex issues spanning input, rendering, hardware, OS, and application layers.
• Contribute to input routing and event flow within the Windows message pipeline (e.g., WM_* / pointer messages).
• Work with rendering and composition pipelines to ensure smooth input-to-display interaction.
• Analyze and improve system performance using CPU/GPU profiling and debugging tools.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's degree in computer science or related technical field AND 7+ years of technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, C, C++, C#, Java, JavaScript, or Python. OR equivalent experience.
• Strong C++ and/or C# skills with experience in asynchronous/event-driven systems.
• Solid understanding of concurrency, threading, and memory management.
• Excellent debugging and cross-layer reasoning skills.

Preferred Qualifications:

• 7+ years of professional software development experience.
• Experience with Windows input APIs, HID, or accessibility/input automation scenarios.
• Exposure to graphics/rendering systems (e.g., DirectX, GPU pipelines, composition, or frame scheduling).
• Familiarity with Win32 APIs and Windows platform internals.
• Experience with performance profiling tools (e.g., WinDbg, ETW, GPUView, PIX).

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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.

Experience Level

Senior Level