James Croft
Senior Software Engineer at Microsoft
England, United Kingdom
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolJames Croft is a Senior Software Engineer with over a decade of experience building cloud-native and cross-platform systems, currently optimising hardware utilisation and efficiency across Microsoft’s M365 Core organisation. He combines hands-on engineering—authoring popular .NET, Python, and TypeScript SDKs used by millions and contributing UI controls to the Windows Community Toolkit—with strategic customer-facing roles that scale Azure and AI reliability. James has led engineering teams to deliver generative AI platforms and RAG solutions that generated seven-figure revenue, and he champions modern SDLC practices like InnerSource, automated testing, and trunk-based development. Comfortable across .NET, Python, TypeScript, WinUI, MAUI and mobile, he also has deep experience in automated UI testing (Legerity) and device-level integrations such as OCR and biometrics. Notably, his open-source work on the Windows Community Toolkit’s SearchBox improved accessibility and cross-SDK portability, reflecting a practical focus on developer ergonomics as well as end-user experience.
10 years of coding experience
12 years of employment as a software developer
Bachelor of Science (BSc), Computer Science with Industrial Experience, Bachelor of Science (BSc), Computer Science with Industrial Experience at University of Hull
German, Norwegian, English
Stackoverflow
1,680reputation
57kreached
82answers
6questions
uwp
top-5%
Github Skills (15)
uwp10
windows-app-sdk10
uid10
winui10
csharp10
front-end-development10
xaml10
ui-design10
dotnet-core10
mvvm9
windows6
microsoft-band6
windows-phone6
animation6
visual-studio6
Programming languages (20)
Github contributions (5)
CommunityToolkit/WindowsCommunityToolkit
May 2016 - Jul 2021
The Windows Community Toolkit is a collection of helpers, extensions, and custom controls. It simplifies and demonstrates common developer tasks building .NET apps with UWP and the Windows App SDK / WinUI 3 for Windows 10 and Windows 11. The toolkit is part of the .NET Foundation.
Role in this project:
Front-end Developer
Front-end DeveloperContributions:42 reviews, 69 commits, 5 PRs in 5 years 3 months
Contributions summary:James contributed to the implementation and porting of the SearchBox control, focusing on UI components within the Windows Community Toolkit. Their work involved importing core components from other Windows App SDK (WAS) sources and adding documentation. The user's commits reflect changes to the control's properties, code style, template application, and automation peer to make it more functional and accessible. These changes included updates to the display mode, text visibility, and layout of the search box.
mvvmwindows-sdkc-sharpcustom-controlswindows-10
Azure-Samples/azure-ai-document-processing-samples
Oct 2024 - Mar 2025
A collection of samples demonstrating techniques for processing documents with Azure AI including AI Studio, OpenAI, Document Intelligence, etc.
Contributions:11 reviews, 41 PRs, 94 pushes in 5 months
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