Principal Research Software Engineer

Microsoft Research (MSR) AI Frontiers is inviting applications for a Principal Research Software Engineer to join our team. We are focused on solving real-world problems and pushing the boundaries of agentic Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems and research. 

The mission of the AI Frontiers lab is to expand the pareto frontier of AI capabilities, efficiency, and safety through innovations in foundation models and learning agent platforms. Some of our projects include work on multi-agent systems (e.g. AutoGen), small language models (e.g. Phi, Orca), foundation models for actions (e.g., in gaming, robotics, and Office productivity tools), and evaluation (e.g., Eureka).

We are seeking exceptional candidates to advance the state-of-the-art in foundation model-based agentic systems and interaction research. Focus areas include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Multi-agent systems and applications
• Foundation model-based agents
• Reliable and general-purpose agentic capabilities
• Human-AI/agent interaction and experiences
• Agentic evaluation and tooling
• Responsible AI

As a Principal Research Software Engineer on our team, you will work hands-on on challenging and impactful projects. You will apply your strong software engineering skills and expertise to a range of problems including rapid prototyping and testing of research hypotheses, contributing to, releasing, and maintaining high-quality open-source libraries and frameworks, and building and deploying robust practical solutions to real world problems. Additionally, you will collaborate closely with other researchers and engineers across the company to amplify your impact and grow your career in a supportive and stimulating environment.

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.

In alignment with our Microsoft values, we are committed to cultivating an inclusive work environment for all employees to positively impact our culture every day.

Responsibilities

• Apply software engineering skills to build, test, and deploy robust and intuitive AI-based technologies, libraries, and applications.
• Work closely with researchers and engineers to rapidly prototype and test new AI research ideas driving a high-impact agenda.
• Collaborate hands-on with other researchers, engineers, and product group partners on high-impact projects that deliver real-world impact to people and society.

• Embody our culture and values.

Qualifications

Required Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or relevant field AND 6+ years related technical engineering/research experience 
  • OR equivalent experience. 
• 4+ years of experience in Python. 
• 2+ year(s) hands-on experience building applications with AI features, experience with machine learning (ML) frameworks (such as Pytorch, Tensorflow, or scikit-learn), OR experience with AI/ML model development or evaluation.

Preferred Qualifications: 

• Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 8+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python, JavaScript , C#, or C++
  • OR Master's Degree in Computer Science or related technical field AND 6+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python, JavaScript, C#, or C++
  • OR Doctorate (or currently pursuing) in Computer Science or related fields AND 2+ years technical engineering experience with coding in languages including, but not limited to, Python, JavaScript, C#, or C++
  • OR equivalent experience.
• Demonstrated software engineering excellence building and deploying prototypes, applications, or open-source (OSS) technologies. Providing a link to GitHub profile (if available) and/or code samples, is highly encouraged.
• Hands-on experience building and working with large foundation models (e.g., OpenAI GPT models, LLAMA etc) and related prompting techniques, frameworks and toolkits (e.g., ICL, CoT, ReACT, Langchain, AutoGen).
• Experience building applications with foundation models – from collecting data/labels, measuring task performance to deploying models as api’s that address concrete problems.
• Experience building user interfaces or front-end development.
• Experience working in multi-disciplinary teams along with a team player mindset, characterized by effective communication, collaboration, and feedback skills.
• Experience publishing academic papers at relevant conferences and journals (such as CHI, UIST, AAAI, NeurIPS, ICML, ACL) is welcome but not required.

Software Engineering IC5 - The typical base pay range for this role across the U.S. is USD $137,600 - $267,000 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 $180,400 - $294,000 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 November 19, 2024. 

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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