Principal Applied Scientist

Microsoft's mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Microsoft believes that artificial intelligence will play a critical role in accomplishing that mission. The Microsoft Search, Assistant, and Intelligence (MSAI) group is leading this effort. We are working to change the lives and work of hundreds of millions by building deep intelligence into M365 Chat, Search, Recommendation and Knowledge powered scenarios that people use every day in Outlook, Teams, Windows, Edge, Office, SharePoint, and OneDrive.

We are looking for a Principal Applied Scientist who can bring deep applied science expertise and a proven track record of shipping at-scale, AI-enabled, intelligent user-facing experiences to drive vision and execution for Microsoft 365 AI. As a Principal Applied Scientist in MSAI, you would work in an exciting and fast-paced environment, collaborating closely with teams across the company, including Microsoft Research. You will work as part of an organization that brings together talent in the areas of large language models, recommender systems, machine learning, deep learning, graph learning, information retrieval, software engineering, and responsible AI. We value and encourage diversity in the belief that it leads to both great workplaces and great products.

This role is flexible in that you will be able to partner with your manager to define the way that you’d like to work, whether in the office or from home.

 

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

• Conduct applied science experiments, create and validate metrics, develop ML pipeline and modeling algorithm in the area of moderm reinforcement learning, reasoning and CoT (Chain of Thoughts) optimization, and Large Language Models.
• Synthetic data generation for supervised fine tuning, rewards model training, PPO (Proximal Policy Optimization), and other reinforcement learning
• Push the boundaries of AI platforms through innovation and partnership.
• Following and advancing best practices for Responsible AI and Privacy Preserving Machine Learning.
• Collaborate closely with Microsoft Research, Azure, AI platform teams, and product teams to create the next generation of AI innovation in our products and services.
• Support and develop a thriving applied science culture within the MSAI organization to encourage experimentation, scientific process, and innovation.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 4+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 3+ year(s) related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 3+ years of SFT (Supervised Fine Tuning) and/or RL (reinforcement learning) modeling experience.
  
• 6+ years of Python coding skill.

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:

• Master's Degree in Statistics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field AND 9+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering or related field AND 6+ years related experience (e.g., statistics, predictive analytics, research)
  • OR equivalent experience.
• 3+ years experience creating publications (e.g., patents, libraries, peer-reviewed academic papers).
• Experience designing and implementing agentic AI models and systems.

Applied Sciences IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $139,900 - $274,800 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 $188,000 - $304,200 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      Microsoft will accept applications for the role until June 3rd, 2025. 

 

Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran status, race, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable laws, regulations and ordinances.  We also consider qualified applicants regardless of criminal histories, consistent with legal requirements. If you need assistance and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application or the recruiting process, please send a request via the Accommodation request form.

 

Benefits/perks listed below may vary depending on the nature of your employment with Microsoft and the country where you work.

 

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