Senior Applied Scientist

MSAI organization plays a key role in Microsoft to build products that help boost Enterprise users’ productivity. We help users find relevant artifacts and get their daily jobs done in timely and efficient manner. MSAI is now responsible to deliver M365 Chat Copilot which uses LLMs and Retrieval Augmented Generation (RAG) to help users find, summarize, act upon their work data in an interactive pattern. 

As a Senior Applied Scientist specializing in ranking and recommendation ML models, you will play a pivotal role in shaping the future of our ranking systems. You will collaborate closely with cross-functional teams to design, implement, and evaluate state-of-the-art algorithms that power our retrieval and ranking engine. Leveraging your expertise in machine learning, you will drive innovation and continuously improve the performance and relevance of our retrieval stack. 

Our work requires implementation in production and so the ideal candidate will have experience in both Applied Science and Software Engineering. 

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

• Develop ML algorithms and techniques to enhance the ranking accuracy and effectiveness of retrieval systems – which in turn gets fed into LLMs for response generation. Evaluation considers factors such as user engagement, diversity, and fairness. 
• Conduct rigorous experiments and analysis to evaluate the performance of ranking models, identify areas for improvement, and iterate on existing solutions. 
• Integrate experiments into production systems and optimize their performance. 
• Stay abreast of the latest advancements in machine learning, information retrieval, and recommendation systems, and contribute to the company's intellectual property through patents and publications. 
• Provide technical leadership and mentorship to junior team members, fostering a culture of innovation, collaboration, and continuous learning. 

Qualifications

Required Qualifications:

• Bachelor's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field 
  • OR Master's Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field  
  • OR Doctorate in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field 
  • OR equivalent experience. 
• Practical experience in developing and deploying models for search, information retrieval, ranking, recommendation, or related field in real-world applications. 

Preferred Qualifications:

• Experience with Software Engineering in addition to applied science. 
• Experience with big data processing using tools such as PySpark. 
• Experience working with and utilizing LLMs. 
• Experience with data visualization. 
• Experience with experimentation using AML, MLFlow, or similar. 

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.

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. 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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